After saying good-bye to three senior field crop specialists in the last year, Ontario’s agriculture ministry has hired three individuals to fill the corn, cereal crop and canola/edible bean vacancies.
Joanna Follings is joining the Agriculture Development Branch as the Cereals Specialist, replacing Peter Johnson (who joined RealAg as resident agronomist). Follings, who holds a MSc. in Weed Sciences from the University of Guelph, has worked with OMAFRA as a research analyst. Her previous experience includes working with the Agricultural Adaptation Council, as well as Dupont and BASF.
Her first day on the job will be October 26, working out of the Stratford office. You can find her on Twitter here.
Joining OMAFRA as the Corn Industry Program lead, replacing Greg Stewart, will be Ben Rosser. As a research technician at the University of Guelph, Rosser’s focus has been on applied corn agronomic research, which included working together with Stewart and other extension staff.
Rosser has a MSc. in Plant Agriculture from the University of Guelph and will be based on the University of Guelph campus starting on October 26.
Meghan Moran, who most recently served as the research coordinator for Grain Farmers of Ontario, has been hired as the new Canola and Edible Bean Specialist, filling the position left by Brian Hall.
Moran also holds a MSc. in Plant Agriculture from the University of Guelph. She will be based out of the Stratford office starting on October 27. She’s also on Twitter, here.
Back in February at the Canadian Dairy Xpo, Agriculture Minister Jeff Leal called filling extension vacancies “crucial in order for us to meet our challenge of 120 thousand new jobs(in the agri-food sector) by 2020.”
Related: What’s the Future of Extension in Ontario? A Media Scrum with Ag Minister Jeff Leal
