“We are so pleased to honour a visionary and well-respected leader in ag and food whose work has demonstrated how innovation, leadership and a deep respect for his field can lead to inspiring results and impact across a sector,” said Gina Grandy, dean of the Haskayne School of Business, in a April 10 news release.

“We celebrate not only his achievements throughout a storied career, but also his commitment to nurturing a sustainable future for all of us.”

McConnell, a graduate of the University of Manitoba who is now based in Alberta, launched an agriculture communications and marketing business from his basement in 1984. This company grew into AdFarm, one of North America’s largest agricultural marketing companies, the release said.

He has also served on boards such as that of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI), 4-H Canada and the Calgary Stampede Foundation, CCFI’s website says.

McConnell was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2012, and was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada in 2017.

He said is personally inspired by family and “the entrepreneurial spirit.”

“Helping and inspiring entrepreneurs is something I truly enjoy and something I find extremely inspiring,” McConnell said in the news release.

McConnell will receive the award at a banquet in Calgary on June 20.

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“We’re very proud that our team received that award,” said John Basarab, head of beef cattle operations at Livestock Gentec. “We’re hoping that it is recognized by producers and funders, and the industry and other researchers, and what we hope that will do is allow us to do a lot of good things for the livestock industry in Canada.”

The Best in Agriculture Sector Award recognizes the discovery, development and commercialization of new technologies or processes that significantly benefit ag. Livestock Gentec was selected from among five candidates.

As a centre for applied research and commercialization based at the University of Alberta, Livestock Gentec was co-founded in 2010 by Basarab and current chief executive officer Graham Plastow.

The goal is to help beef producers improve profitability and sustainability, Basarab said.

“The study of genomics is the study of DNA, and essentially what we do is look for the relationships between the variability that occurs within the DNA and traits that are important for agricultural production,” he said.

“For beef cattle, it’s things like growth, carcass characteristics, meat quality, fertility, feed efficiency, even methane emissions.”

Researchers at the centre aim to eliminate much of the guesswork faced by beef producers when they select cattle for preferred traits, he added. However, the beef industry has been slower to adopt the technology compared to the dairy industry.

“Essentially, in 2009, the Canadian dairy industry started to incorporate genomic evaluation in their genetic selection at a very high level, and as a result of that, really made tremendous progress in their milk profitability index,” Basarab said.

Part of that comes down to fewer breed options in dairy. That sector mostly revolves around two cattle breeds, compared to more than 20 in the beef industry, Basarab said, adding that “when you’ve got many different breeds, your industry becomes fragmented.”

The information transfer from packing plants to cow-calf producers and breeders is also limited in the beef sector due to compartmentalization, he said.

“In other words, it’s lost. And so, the industry is what we would call not vertically integrated and, of course, there are exceptions, but basically the industry is less co-operative and less vertically integrated just purely because of how it’s fragmented.”

That’s changing in a number of big cattle operations in Alberta, he noted, purely through the selection of bulls.

“For example, when these producers buy beef bulls, they immediately will be looking at their, what we call, breeding values. In the beef industry, they’re called expected progeny differences, but their breeding values are there … Breed associations, all of them, use genomic technology. They all use lots of genotyping in the production of their breeding values to increase their accuracy.”

Genomics technology is essential to ensuring Alberta has a thriving beef industry, said David Chalack, chair of the provincial Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR) agency.

“In the face of challenging economic conditions and drought, genomic advancements will enable our producers to compete globally. That is why genetics are a major focus of RDAR,” he said in a statement.

RDAR has provided more than $3.5 million over the last three years for projects at Livestock Gentec, including research to enhance meat quality. Other projects include boosting resilience to diseases and extreme temperatures, along with increasing production sustainability while reducing the environmental footprint.

Livestock Gentec has been working with different vendors and partners in the beef industry to create genomics tools for cow-calf producers, said Basarab, who is also an RDAR research professor in livestock genetics at the University of Alberta. He pointed to the Replacement Heifer Profit Index, which was developed from nearly 10,000 mating opportunities involving commercial cows.

It aims to improve the ability of cow-calf producers to reliably pick replacement heifers “that are going to conceive and then calve, and then stay in the herd for quite a while, and that index has been successful,” he said.

“If you got rid of those bottom-indexing cows and, instead of having 30 open, you had 23 open, essentially you’ve got seven more calves … Right now, a weaned calf is worth $1,800, so [it’s] a lot of income.”

Fertility traits are about 10 times more important than carcass traits in terms of improving profitability for cow-calf producers, and five times more important than growth traits, he added.

Livestock Gentec would also like to work on new and novel traits, such as finding a breeding value for reducing methane from beef cattle, “which is a socially important thing to do,” Basarab said. “And so, that’s probably one of the things that we would be looking at next.”

– Doug Ferguson is a reporter with The Western Producer.

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As well as being the keynote speaker at the conference, Undersander has worked as a forage specialist for 48 years, having shared his knowledge across Canada, partly through his Alfalfa Intensive Training course.

Undersander tells Glacier FarmMedia that he is glad to see the Canadian Forage Council pushing ahead with greenhouse gas (GHG) initiatives and says there is an urgent need for cooperation across Canadian livestock and forage production sectors to quantify their efforts relating to GHG mitigation.

Undersander has published over 1,600 papers related to forage production and utilization. He led the development of the University of Wisconsin Team Forage website, the most widely recognized source of forage information for temperate regions around the world.

Undersander developed the use of the relative feed value (RFV) index in 1990 and the relative forage quality (RFQ) index in 2000, as indices of energy intake by ruminants.

His work with the National Forage Testing Association and its chemical analysis methods has resulted in more dependable analysis of forages. Undersander and a colleague also developed the Milk-per-Acre spreadsheet for evaluating forage yield and quality changes. He led the writing of the Alfalfa Management Guide and worked with grazing groups internationally, which led to a 44-page grazing document. He developed a program to encourage contract harvesting of forage and he conducted numerous studies showing that forage dried more rapidly in a wide swath than conditioned forage in a windrow.

Undersander also developed the concept of stem density to determine when an alfalfa stand density was limiting yield, as a determinant to when the field should be turned over.

The CFGA AGM is hosted in conjunction with the British Columbia Forage Council (BCFC). This event brings together key participants and leaders in the both the forage and livestock sectors to focus on climate solutions for these interdependent industries.

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He was also praised for making “extraordinary contributions to bovine health through his research projects, including on Histophilus somni (a disease-causing bacterium) and the prevention and treatment of undifferentiated fever/bovine respiratory disease. Booker is the general manager of services and research with Feedlot Health Management Services, a division of Telus Agriculture.

The award is given by the Western Canadian Association of Bovine Practitioners and Boehringer Ingelheim Canada.

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Yousef Papadopoulos, a research scientist at Ag Canada’s centre in Truro, N.S., “is known across North America for his contributions to forage development and ruminant livestock sustainability,” said the Beef Cattle Research Council, which created the award in 2015.

Papadopoulos has developed several legume varieties, including AAC Trueman, which can tolerate both flood and drought, and AC Langille, a high yielding, early spring birdsfoot trefoil cultivar.

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A teacher by training, Hamilton provided “more than 40 years of standout leadership roles with key organizations,” the hall of fame said in a release. 

That includes service with the Alberta Cattle Commission (now Alberta Beef Producers), developing a classroom agricultural program for Grade 4 students, leading the Canadian Angus Association, working with the Beef Information Centre and helping to create the national livestock traceability system “that was crucial when BSE was discovered in 2003.” 

The Innisfail resident was nominated by the Canadian Angus Association.

For more info on Hamilton and other inductees, visit cahfa.com.

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The award is given to “a person or organization that has worked to help nurture and shape the pulse industry and has helped contribute to the success of the industry,” Alberta Pulse Growers said in a release.

That can include production, marketing, research, extension, processing, management, and promotion of pulses. This is the ninth year for the award. Recent winners have included a researcher, district agriculturist, an extension person and a grower.

The nomination form can be found at albertapulse.com. The entry deadline is Dec. 6.

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The biennial award honours those who have significantly contributed to agriculture, the agri-food industry and rural life in Alberta.

Since its inception in 1951, the Hall of Fame has recognized 138 people for accomplishments such as groundbreaking farming techniques, scientific advancements, creating value-added products and other contributions that have had a lasting, positive impact on agriculture and rural Alberta.

Nomination forms and a list of past inductees are available at alberta.ca. Nominations close on May 6.

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The Beef Cattle Research Council is looking for nominations for the Canadian Beef Industry Award for Outstanding Research and Innovation. The award recognizes contributions in a host of areas such as animal health and welfare, environmental stewardship, feed efficiency, and forage production.

Anyone in the sector can nominate a researcher or scientist for the award. The nomination form and with more information can be found at beefresearch.ca.

The seven previous winners are a who’s who of the beef research sector: Surya Acharya, Karen Beauchemin, John Campbell, Eugene Janzen, Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein, Tim McAllister, and John McKinnon.

The deadline for nominations is May 1 and three letters of support are required.

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But while the Oscars, Grammys and the rest are a lot of fun, the really important people in our communities are the ones who quietly make contributions at the grassroots level.

There are, of course, more community-minded Albertans (most of them unsung) than there is space in this newspaper to list them. The following examples are just that, a sampling of individuals who quietly give back in a host of different ways.

One of the honours handed out recently was the Stars of Alberta Volunteer Awards, which “recognize extraordinary Albertans whose volunteer efforts have contributed to the well-being of their community and fellow community members.” Ten individuals were recognized this year, including Bill Jackson of Turner Valley.

Jackson has volunteered in numerous ways for six decades but his Stars of Alberta award detailed his efforts for the Millarville Racing and Agricultural Society, which began when he was 16 and became a director of the beef cattle committee.

That was the start of a lifetime of volunteering, and Jackson’s award citation lists a host of projects that he has led or contributed to. They include 4-H, the annual Millarville Christmas Market, serving as the ag society’s president and on the maintenance and hall committees, and leading an extensive landscaping effort (and subsequent maintenance duties) for the Millarville Christ Church, a vertical log structure built in 1896.

“For all this and more contributed over a lifetime of service, much of it behind the scenes hidden from view, it is time for Bill Jackson to take centre stage,” the award announcement states.

Another Albertan who has demonstrated dedication — along with an infectious enthusiasm — was also honoured last month when she was named one of two athletes of the year by Special Olympics Canada.

Over the past 18 years, Red Deer’s Thomasina Payne has competed in curling, athletics and speed skating, and has represented the province at two national games as well as the world summer games in 2011. She is also a member of the training squad for Special Olympics Team Canada for the World Winter Games 2022, slated to be held in Kazan, Russia later this month.

In a Shaw Spotlight video from 2020, Payne talks about how a chance meeting led to her joining Red Deer’s speed skating club and joking “the rest is history” as she describes winning one gold and three silver medals in speed skating at the national championships.

“When I won the gold medal, it was actually a surprise because I was really nervous going into the nationals and I was actually the fourth member of the team and didn’t expect to be winning a lot,” she says in the video. “I actually didn’t know my potential until I won my first medal.”

Her award citation notes Payne “has enthusiastically taken on the role of training partner for athletes going to national and international games, even when she did not qualify herself,” and has been a frequent speaker at business events, schools, and fundraisers for Special Olympics.

“We can be functioning community members,” she says before adding with a laugh: “and we can win at really cool sports.”

The video can be found by Googling ‘Shaw spotlight Thomasina Payne.’

Another award recently handed out was the distinguished service award given to those who have served 20 or more years on the council of their village, town or city. This year Alberta Municipalities handed out 21 of the awards, which is more than the last three years combined. They were given to Al Campbell, Stettler; Bill Chapman, Coaldale; Bill Robertson, Okotoks; Bob Foley, Wainwright; Bob Regal, Grimshaw; Clem Fagnan, Westlock; Connie Butcher, Redwater; Dennis Cassie, Coalhurst; Dwight Kilpatrick, Redcliff; Edward Sands, Okotoks; Gordon Reynolds, Bow Island; Jim Steinke, Redcliff; Kim Plaquin, Breton; Lyle Tuchscherer, Bow Island; Mel Smith, Redwater; Richard Ireland, Jasper; Robert Blagen, Youngstown; Rodney Pepper, Valleyview; Stuart Houston, Spruce Grove; Tony Steidel, Duchess; and Will Taylor, Blackfalds.

If you’ve ever thought about running for a municipal office, Alberta Municipalities has a guide and FAQs (see the Governance section of abmunis.ca).

Finally, Alberta Beef Producers’ magazine recently had a story on a cattle producer who came up with a different take on charitable giving.

The story profiles Bob Hahn, “accountant by day, Angus producer by night” who sells beef direct to consumers (in addition to bull sales). While steaks and roasts are big sellers, round steaks and ground beef don’t sell as quickly, so Hahn has donated hundreds of meal portions to two service agencies in nearby Edmonton (Old Strathcona Youth Society and the Jellinek Society). An official with the youth society says food hampers have a lot of items “full of carbs and sugar” but “red meat is something that our youth often don’t get because they can’t afford it.”

“Rather than a monetary donation, I rethought my donations and now I am doing something very specific and giving to those who I think could use protein as a part of their program,” the owner of Hahn Cattle Co. told ABP Magazine (available at abpdaily.com).

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