This article appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of Pulse Crop News.

Janet Krayden

Grain Growers hires new Executive Director

After toiling diligently throughout the summer, the Grain Growers’ hiring committee has hired Jim Facette as its new Executive Director (ED) to replace Richard Phillips, GGC’s outgoing ED who is moving to his new position as President of the Canada Grains Council. Jim officially starts with the Grain Growers September 3rd.

His qualifications and experience made him an excellent choice. He is an experienced government and public relations professional with 18 years of industry association experiences in various sectors including construction and airports. Most recently he was President and CEO of the Canadian Propane Association. He is passionate about working with farmers and the grain industry and he looks forward to getting to know the GGC Board and Staff.

Grains, Oilseed & Pulses Sustainability Summit, Winnipeg, July 9th

Grain Growers and several member organisations participated in the Sustainability Summit in Winnipeg on July 9th. “Sustainability” is an increasingly popular buzz word and also gaining pre-dominance as an issue. Led by industry and organized by the Grains Roundtable Sustainability subcommittee, the one day conference had a mixture of retailers, farmers, ag associations, exporters and non-government organization representatives.

Many retailers such as General Mills, McDonalds, Unilever are independently organizing sustainability standards. New international sustainability standards and requirements are also increasing pressure on exporters. Pulse Canada has done a lot of work in the form of a sustainability calculator that was also discussed and the Canadian Cattlemen also presented the program they are launching called Ecosystem Services Programs.

Sustainability is challenging to define. One area where more work needs to be done is outreach to engage retailers and environmental groups. Farmers at the summit explained they realise that they need to do more work educating the public regarding substantial sustainability progress made but they don’t want a new regulatory burden and the cost of sustainability programs downloaded on farmers.

Also, if there is a marketing advantage and premiums are paid for participation, this will make voluntary participation a lot more attractive to farmers.

Grain Growers will need to continue to be engaged on this file and this may become more of a “hot” issue at AAFC’s Grains Roundtable and potentially also at the Canada Grains Council in the future.

Be Confident and Proud about how you farm!

Learn to speak confidently about how you farm today by joining the Grain Growers and Croplife in Calgary for the afternoon of Sunday, December 1st!

Grain Growers and Croplife are holding a workshop designed for farmers to help farmers be prepared to better communicate the benefits of plant science and modern agriculture technologies. This special session will be held from 11:30 AM – 5:00 PM, the day before the Grain Growers Board meeting, which is prior to the Grow Canada Conference, held the same week. Focusing on being prepared on these topics will help us to answer questions from our friends, our neighbours, and the media, that arise in our daily lives regarding biotech and other modern farming technologies.

The workshop is for Grain Growers’ Directors and member staff and if any Alberta Pulse Growers farmers are interested they are welcome to join the session, but space is limited. If interested, please contact Janet Krayden at 613-233-9954 or office@ggc-pgc.ca.