I I

RALL GiliE PH

GR , ~ATES! I

I \ WE'RE MAKING I \ A GRAND E~TRANcE

I INTO A SYMBOL

OF ALUMNI PRIDE I

I '

THE PORTICO BELONGS TO ALL GUELPH GRADUATES

FROM THE COVER

Graduate Alejandra Regand, M.Sc. '01. Originally from Mexico, she is now completing a PhD in Guelph's Depart­

ment of Food Science. Wedding couple Kate Millie, BA '04, and her new husband, Terry. They were married june

12; he wori<S in Guelph and she is completing a master's program in education. Sitting couple Tamima Ashraf,

an international student from Bangladesh, is an undergraduate student in molecular biology and genetics and

hopes to pursue a career in cancer research. Shawn Murphy of London, Ont., is enrolled in Guelph's drama pro­

gram and works on campus as an information technology assistant. He plans to become a teacher. Ball player

Rory Barnes, a fourth-year student in hospitality and tourism management, is from Kingston, Ont., and plans to

work in human resources consulting. Alumni visitor Dudley Gibbs, M.Sc. '90, wori<S on campus as concert and

special events co-ordinator for the College of Arts; he completed his degree in rural extension studies as a

mature student. Running child Audrey Palmer is the seven-year-old daughter of Guelph photographer Dean

Palmer. Wrapped Editor Mary Dickieson. Photo by Dean Palmer/The Scenario

WE ARE TURNING THE PAGEOnanewerain

the life of the University of Guelph alumni

magazine. After 36 years of publication as the Guelph Alumnus, the magazine will now be called The Portico. It will continue to be produced by the University three

times a year and mailed to you at no charge. Our goal

is to keep you informed about what's happening at your

alma mater and to share stories about the lives and

accomplishments of Guelph graduates.

As the University celebrated its 40th anniversary this

year, we took a close look at our current alumni base

and re-evaluated how we want to represent U of G

through the magazine.

More than 3,300 degrees and diplomas were

awarded in 2004. That's almost double the entire student

population when the University was incorporated in

1964, and it's indicative of how quickly our alumni

family is growing. The magazine is now reaching out to

almost 78,000 readers; 47 per cent of them earned degrees

within the last 15 years. As a reflection of today's student

population, more than half of our readers are women.

We've chosen a new name that reflects our campus

history, but is gender neutral and has meaning for grad-

uates of all disciplines. Recent surveys and focus groups

identified the portico as a positive symbol of tradition

and an entryway to the University community.

In fact, the portico is the only piece of architecture to

endure since the inception of the campus. The first stu­

dents walked through these limestone columns to begin

classes in 1874. For every generation of living Guelph

alumni, the portico has been a sentinel on Johnston Green.

Today's students may pass the structure with little notice

of its history, but they rest and study and play in its

shadow. Tens of thousands of family photo albums have

pictures of the portico used as a backdrop for a group of

Guelph friends, new graduates with their proud parents,

wedding parties, alumni reunions and family outings.

The portico belongs to everyone who has sought

learning at the University of Guelph. Its enduring

presence is symbolic of our great strength as an

educational institution, the traditions we cling to and the

welcoming campus environment we want to maintain.

This historical entryway is now represented on the

cover of your University of Guelph magazine. We hope

you will respond to The Portico as an invitation to come

inside, read about your alma mater and stay in touch.

Emily and Rob know they can't pred ict their future. But they know how to protect it. Emily and Rob know there are no guarantees in life. They make the best financial decisions they can for their future and accept that some things are out of their control. The future security of their family isn't one of those things. That's why Emily and Rob invested in their Alumni Insurance Plans - the ones that support their alma mater. They benefit from the low rates and the security of knowing that help will be there, just in case it's ever needed. After all , the future is too important to be left to chance.

Term Life Insurance

Major Accident Insurance

Income Protection Insurance

To find out more about these Alumni Insurance Plans that support University of Guelph, visit the Web site designed exclusively for University of Guelph alumni at:

www.manulife.com/affinityuoguelph ... Or call Manulife Financial toll-free, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, at:

1 888 913-6333 ... Or e-mail am_service@manulife.com any time.

Recommended by: Underwritten by:

rJ1J Manulife Financial The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company

THE PORTICO • FALL 2004

CONTENTS [ 3 - president's page ] • [ 8 - letters ] • [ grad news - 34 ] • [ alumni benefits - 41 ]

IN AN D A RO UN D T H E UN I VE R S I T Y

U oF G is crowing

about a faculty

member named to the

Royal Society of Canada

and another who received

a 3M Teaching Fell owship.

Two 2004 graduates

received Commonwealth

Scholarships, and an

undergraduate student

was chosen as a ro le

model for aboriginal

youth.

[ the changing face of rural communities ]

True to its 130-year-old roots, the University of Guelph

maintains a special responsibility for nurturing rural

communities, but the routes to prosperity are heading

in new directions and farm neighbourhoods are con­

verting cow pastures into greener pastures for urban

commuters. In this series of stories, we look at both

sides of the farmyard fence to see what's happening

to the people, the land and the economies of rural

communities in Canada and beyond.

11 - rura l economies • farmers - 14

24 - land preservation • global comm unities - 26

ALU MN I M ATTERS

M ANY of the Uni­

versity's most loyal

alumni were honoured at

a campus ceremony this

summer. Afterwards, they

told great stories about

removing all the hot

water taps in Macdonald

Hall, eating jellied tongue

in the Creelman dining

hal l and painting the old

campus water tower

under cover of darkness.

on the cover Three Guelph grads, three

current students and a prospect

for the class of 2019 help us

launch a new name for the U of G

magazine that keeps alumni

in touch with the campus.

Photo by Dean Palmer I The Scenario

Fall 2004 1

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Science@ Guelph Experience (S®GE Camp) For entire Grade 7 & 8 classes

• Interactive and stimu lating academic and recreational modules

• Topics augment Ontario Science Curricu lum

• Faculty developed, taught by graduate students

• 3 day on-campus residential

• 11 Camp choices from May to

mid-June

• Special rates for teachers and chaperones

• Save with ea rl y bird registration

Visit our on-line registration page at www.open.uoguelph.ca/sage or for more information

call (519) 824-4120 (ext. 53133) or ema il gjoseph@open.uoguelph.ca

\te.. OPEN ~lNG ·- -Your Laoming ConnKtion-

2 THE PORTICO

.s PORTICO Fall2004 • VoLUME 36 IssuE 3

Editor Mary Dickieson

Director Charles Cunningham

Art Direction Peter Enneson Design Inc.

Contributors Jennifer Brett Fraser

Barbara Chance, BA '74

Rachelle Cooper

Stacey Curry Gunn

Lori Bona Hunt

SPARK Program Writers

Andrew Vowles, B.Sc. '84

Advertising Inquiries Scott Anderson

519-827-9169

519-654-6122

Direct all other correspondence to:

Communications and Public Affairs

University of Guelph

Guelph, Ontario N1G 2Wl

Fax 519-824-7962

E-mail m.dickieson@exec.uoguelph.ca

www.uoguelph.ca/news/alumnus/

The Portico magazine is published three

times a year by Communications and

Public Affairs at the University of Guelph.

Its mission is to enhance the relationship

between the University and its alumni and

friends and promote pride and commit­

ment within the University community.

All material is copyright 2004. Ideas and

opinions expressed in the articles do not

necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of

the University or the editors.

Canada Post Agreement# 40064673

Printed in Canada by Contact

Creative Services. ISSN 1207-7801

To update your alumni record, contact:

Alumni Affairs and Development

Phone 519-824-4120, Ext. 56550

Fax 519-822-2670

E-mail alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

UNIVERSITY gr-GUELPH

SOCIETY NEEDS OUR RURAL POINT OF VIEW

CONVOCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY ofGuelph

is always a moving experience, but it was particu­

larly so this year. Not only did we graduate the largest

class in Guelph's history, but we held a special ceremo­

ny to acknowledge those who graduated from the

founding colleges before the campus gained universi­

ty status in 1964.

The sea of faces at the honorary companion cere­

mony were certainly more mature, but no less enthu­

siastic than the 2004 graduates.

Most of our honorary companions came to the col­

leges at Guelph from family farms and small rural

towns. Some returned to the farm, but more have

enjoyed careers analogous to the University's develop­

ment. From its agricultural base, Guelph has grown into

a comprehensive institution where academic endeav­

ors embrace the whole of the human experience.

In kilometres, the University of Guelph is a long way

from the small village where I grew up in Britain. They

are not so far apart in fundamental values and aspira­

tions. Many Guelph alumni will agree that we have derived

great value- individually and collectively- from the

life experiences of growing up in a rural environment.

Guelph's agricultural heritage remains a defining fea­

ture of this institution, both in physical appearance and

campus atmosphere, which still has many characteris­

tics of the close-knit rural community we once were.

Our history as educator for the sons and daughters

of Ontario farmers is also evident in the University's

ongoing commitment to providing a practical, inte­

grated education. One of Guelph's greatest strengths is

the understanding that involving students in the process

of discovery can ignite classroom learning. We believe

our collaborative approach stimulates critical thinking,

leads to new ideas and, yes, begins the process of change

within our society.

Changing rural communities is the theme addressed

throughout this publication. In the stories to follow,

you'll hear from alumni who represent the backbone

of rural Canada, the farming communities that are fac­

ing tremendous economic challenges. Guelph faculty

evaluate the way rural communities here and abroad

are adapting to social change, new technologies and

global competition.

The University of Guelph maintains a special rela­

tionship with rural Ontario and a responsibility to help

strengthen rural communities. U of G scholarship and

research contribute to the social network within rural

communities and to the work of innovators in indus­

try who are adding value to the raw products of agri-

culture. Perhaps most importantly, the University's rur­

al responsibilities include taking a leadership role in the

stewardship of our natural resources.

Because of this University's considerable strengths

in agriculture and related sciences, we must take the

lead in debates and in actions on a number of critical

issues, including developing and sustaining environ­

ments and the life sciences agenda that will impact

everything from human health to food production,

water quality and the development of bio-products to

reduce our dependence on petroleum-based resources.

We're promoting an integrated approach to research

initiatives in the life sciences and drawing on expertise

from every discipline on campus. Guelph's new science

facilities will contribute to this focus by providing

improved equipment and new opportunities for collab­

oration. These are important steps in the University's con­

tinued development as an educational institution and its

role in helping to achieve a sustainable environment.

Society needs our rural point of view. It also needs

our graduates- people who are arn1ed with knowl- ~ ~ edge and experience, people who are willing to be open- o

minded, level-headed and concerned about the world. ~ G')

It is my fervent belief that the University of Guelph ~ z

has a vital role to play in the health and welfare of our --<

~ society and in the care of our natural world. "' :::!

ALASTAIR SUMMERLEE 2

PRESIDENT

+

-

Fall 2004 3

t I

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS • RESEARCH • CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS

IN &AROUND Royal Society Inductee

GUELPH CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR

jacek Lipkowski will be inducted

into the Royal Society of Canada in

November. It's the country's highest

honour for academic scholarship and

research.

He's being recognized as "a pioneer

in the area of electrochemical surface

science," a field he started studying

more than three decades ago. Most

recently, his research has focused on

biophysical chemistry.

AU of G professor since 1983, Lip­

kowski has earned numerous accolades

for his research, but he prefers to talk

about the 20 graduate students he has

supervised.

"All of them enjoy successful pro­

w fessional careers in the private sector,

':] government laboratories and acade-~ :r: u Vl

mia," he says. "Four of them are pro­

fessors at Canadian universities. This

"" ::;: is my proudest accomplishment as a ~ professor." >-~ Lipkowski received his master's

~ degree and PhD in chemistry from the :r: "- University of Warsaw. He was a visit-

ing professor at the Fritz-Haber Insti­

tute in Berlin from 1989 to 1990 and a

Humboldt Fellow in electrochemistry

at Germany's University of Ulm in

1996. That same year, the Internation­

al Society of Electrochemistry award­

ed him its Prix jacques Tacussel Award

for developing a new electrochemical

technique.

Lipkowski edited the journal of Elec­troanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Chemistry from 1996 to 2003. His con­

tributions to electrochemistry have been

recognized with the Canadian Society

for Chemistry's Alcan Award and a gold

medal from the Canadian section of the

Electrochemical Society.

In 2001, he was named one of

Guelph's first Canada Research Chairs,

receiving a seven-year $1.4-million

award to develop sensors and biosen­

sors and new electrodes for fuel cells.

His research lab was the focus of a 2002

feature in U of G's alumni magazine.

View it at http://www.uoguelph.ca/

news/alumnus/backissues/Winter02.

3M Award Winner

PROF. DANA PARAMSKAS,Lan­

guages and Literatures, has

received a prestigious 3M Teaching Fel­

lowship for outstanding leadership in

teaching, education and academic pro­

gram development.

She has taught French as a second

language at U of G for more than 30

years and is considered a leading expert

in technology-enhanced learning.

In the 1970s, Paramskas developed

a concept for a computer program that

is still widely used today in helping

people learn French. The Clef French

grammar program is used by 200 insti­

tutions in Canada, including the fed­

eral government.

In 2001, she and two colleagues

released a CD-ROM called La chaise benrante (The Rocking Chair), which is

used by secondary schools and post­

secondary institutions across the coun-

try. The program is based on the short

animated film Crac, the story of a rock­

ing chair built in Quebec in the late

1800s that observes the art and culture

around it for more than I 00 years.

"A very, very beginning person with

no French at all can build up a solid

vocabulary just from the visuals in this

film," Paramskas says.

She also developed the award-win­

ning distance education course "Basic

French: Listening Comprehension"

through U of G's Office of Open Learn­

ing. The course was honoured by the

American Distance Learning Association

in 2002. In 2003, she created an online

course that introduces the techniques of

translation from French to English. Paramskas is a graduate of George­

town University and Universite Laval,

but her 35-year career rests with U of

G, where she has also earned teaching

awards from the Ontario Confedera­

tion of University Faculty Associations

and the U of G Faculty Association.

4 THE PORTICO

UNIVERSITY 'W ' ALKIN

THE FLOOR

OVER YOU '

R esearchers at the Ontario

Veterinary College are strapping

pedometers on to the legs of

dairy cows to find out when they're

ready to breed. lfs well-known - in

agricultural and veterinary circles, at

least - that cows step up their activity

when they're in heat. Population medi­

cine professor Stephen LeBlanc, gradu­

ate student Rob Walsh and recent U of G

graduate Melanie Quist are tracking this

evolutionary behaviour to determine a

cow's optimal breeding time relative to

the peak walking activity. MEN WITH STICKS There's no need to go to Japan or to watch The Last

Samurai or Kill Bill to see some of the world's lead­ers in samurai training. Every spring for the past 14 years, swordsmen from Japan, the United States and across Canada have come to U of G to partici­pate in jodo and iaido

training seminars. Led by the world's

highest-ranked swordsmen, the workshops encourage people to keep practising more traditional schools of Japanese swording, says organizer Kim Taylor, who founded U of G's Sei Do Kai martial arts club. He holds Canada's highest

LEADING

NATIVE YOUTH

E NY I RON MENTAL biology PhD student Cara (Cham­

berlain) Wehkamp was chosen this summer to be one of Cana­da's 12 national aboriginal role models. The National Aboriginal

Health Organization invited her to join their "Lead Your Way!"

program to share her success with other aboriginal youth.

A 26-year-old from Hanmer, Ont., Wehkamp is of Algonquin heritage. She completed a B.Sc. in plant biology at U of Gin 2001 and a master's degree in environ­mental science in January before beginning her PhD. She is also the founder of U of G's Aboriginal Student Association.

Her photo will appear on posters and trading cards, and she will attend community cele­brations and visit schools to ta lk about her experiences.

ranking in jodo and a sixth dan in iaido. laido is a solo martial art

that focuses on drawing a

Japanese sword from its

sheath and cutting it

through the air in one

-c I

8 0 Vl

CD -< motion. Kim Taylor, in blue,

says students are allowed to \ici wield a real sword only in

)> z -<

individual advanced training. ~ "' :j z

Fall2004 5

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IN &AROUND the UNIVERSITY

Amazing eggs

CRUISERS NEED SPACE When you're trying to select the best cruise ship package, think like a live-stock farmer. Just like pigs and cattle, people are happier when they have comfortable living quarters and ample space to move around.

That's the finding of Prof. Joe Barth of the School of Hospitality and Tourism Manage-ment and Reg Swain, a 2002 graduate of the school's MBA program. They studied various cruise ship guides and found that each guide's rating system is different and can confuse readers considering a vacation cruise. Rather than look for a four-star rating, your best bet is to look for newer ships in your price range (they're bet-ter designed and have

6 THE PORTICO

U of G researchers have discovered that a simple way to eliminate the danger of Salmonella in poultry products is to feed egg yolks to the chickens.

Prof. Yoshinori Mine and PhD candidate Zeina Ghattaskassaify of the Department of Food Science found that non-immunized egg yolk powder added to regular poultry feed for one week eliminated food-borne bacteri ­al pathogens (disease-causing agents) such as Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli 0157:H7, which are often present in the gut and can be transmitted to humans who consume contaminated poultry products.

The secret ingredient, says Mine, is something called granule proteins, a major component of egg yolks. As egg yolk powder is digested, granule proteins are reduced to a smaller protein component known as a peptide. It's this peptide that boosts the animal's immune system and excludes bac­teria from the chicken gut by attaching to these pathogens and making them vulnerable to natural disintegration inside the animal.

more amenities) with Strathclyde and laying NewVP named large space-to-passenger the groundwork for a ratios, Barth says. career in medicine.

While at U of G, she gained research experi-ence by analyzing the dynamic properties of horses' hooves in a pro-ject designed to help people build better racetracks that will put less stress on the horses.

Wagg, who earned his Guelph degree in biomedical science, is joanne Shoveller joined U of G in August

GUELPH beginning a master's as vice-president (alumni affairs and devel·

GRADS program in public opment). She was previously director of the health at the University TRAVEL MBA program office at the Richard lvey of Ghana. His African School of Business at the University of

FAR studies are also support- Western Ontario. There's no telling where ed by a Bombardier Shoveller held several senior positions the future will lead new Internationalist at lvey, including director of alumni and cor· graduates Kate Morgan, scholarship. He was porate development, manager of the lvey B.Sc.(Eng.) '04, and Jan involved in campus life campaign and director of Asian develop· Wagg, B.Sc. '04, but this in a number of ways, ment. She holds a bachelor's degree from fall, they're off to Scot- including working as a Wilfrid Laurier University and an MBA from land and Ghana as Com- peer he I per for the Western. monwealth Scholars. library's supported At Guelph, she heads a team of 45 staff

Originally from learning groups to help in Alumni Affairs and Development, who are Toronto, Morgan is younger undergraduates responsible for U of G's institutional studying wrist prosthet- with particularly advancement, including all fundraising activ-ics at the University of d i ffi cui t courses. ities and alumni relations.

Educating the police Police officers in Ontario can now com­plete a university degree part time

through an innovative new program at

the University of Guelph-Humber. "Increasingly, police officers are

called on to have advanced knowledge of criminology, social policy, manage­

ment, research methods and the legal

system," says Prof. Ron Stansfield, co­ordinator of the University of Guelph­

Humber's justice studies program and a former police officer. "This program

makes it possible for experienced offi-

W ELC O ME THE SC O T

WHEN HISTORY professor Graeme Morton joined the

U ofG faculty in August, it

marked a milestone in the University's

20-year relationship with the Toronto­

based Scottish Studies Foundation. That

organization led the parade of private donations that created a $2-million endowment to fund Morton's academ­ic position at Guelph. He holds the first

academic chair in North America ded­

icated to the study of Scottish and Scot­tish-Canadian culture and heritage.

Morton was previously a senior lecturer in economic and social history

at the University of Edinburgh, where

he specialized in Scottish national identity and nationalism.

cers to complete a university degree

while continuing to work full time."

The program gives police officers credit for their on-the-job experience

and education and combines distance

learning with intensive weekend classes held at the Guelph-Humber facility in

Toronto.

The first students began the pro­

gram this fall. On graduation, they will

receive an honours bachelor of applied science degree in justice studies from

the University of Guelph.

OB ESE MALES AT R IS K

0 BESE MALES areatahuge

risk for type-2 diabetes, but

human biology professor

Terry Graham has found they can

change their insulin sensitivity with only moderate exercise and a small

reduction in daily calories.

A study by Graham and graduate student Heather Petrie found that

obese males who began walking for

about an hour every other day and eat­

ing the equivalent of two fewer slices

of bread a day increased their insulin

sensitivity by 60 per cent. Obese individuals have a resistance

to insulin and require higher levels of it to adjust their glucose levels, putting

them at great risk for type-2 diabetes.

• The $45-million building that houses the University of Guelph­

Humber was officially opened

May 21 at the Humber College

campus in Toronto. Guelph-Humber

had 850 first- and second-year

students last year and plans to

have 2,ooo students by 2007. • U of G president Alastair Summerlee

received an honorary doctor of

laws degree from his alma mater,

the University of Bristol, in July. He earned B.Sc., B.V.Sc. and PhD

degrees from the British university

and taught there before joining

U of G in 1988. The honorary

degree recognized him as a leader in higher education in Canada

and an internationally renowned

scientist whose research has made a significant contribution

to biomedical sciences. • Guelph's industrial-organizational

psychology PhD program has

been ranked No. 2 in North Ameri­ca in a first-ever survey. Guelph

was the only Canadian university among the top 20 schools. The

survey, conducted by researchers

at the University of Tulsa, exam­

ined 100 schools in North America

that offer graduate programs in the field.

• U of G was one of 26 schools

across Ontario to be awarded an Intramural Achievement Award by

the Canadian Intramural Recre­

ation Association in May. Schools were selected based on school­

wide intramural/recreation pro­

grams that offer a variety of activ­ities and use students in some

form of leadership capacity.

• The original musical It Was All A

Dream: A Hip-Hopera, written by

drama students Ben Taylor and

Michelle Smith, is one of more than

soo Canadian adaptations of Shakespeare's plays that are docu­mented on a new website launched

by U of G's Canadian Adaptations of

Shakespeare Project. Check it out

at www.canadianshakespeares.ca.

I

Fall 2004 7

SUSTAINING THE ENVIRONMENT • BUILDING A CAREER

We must listen to our conscience ! READ THE WINTER 2004 edition

of your magazine with much interest, particularly the column by president

Alastair Summerlee titled "We must Lis­

ten to Our Conscience." I was impressed

by his detailing of priorities and actions

that would guide the University in the years ahead, particularly "developing

and sustaining environments."

My initial sense of optimism was

quickly replaced by sadness, however, as I read in the magazine's "Research

Notes" about a U of G study aimed at

enhancing plastic bottles with a UV­blocking resin.

When I was a student in the 1970s,

the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) ran a regular column

in the Ontarian on environmental issues.

I recall in particular several columns

about plastic drink containers.

The government had just relaxed restrictions on the percentage of non­

refundable containers allowed by the soft drink and brewing industries,

opening the floodgates for plastic bot­

tles and cans. OPIRG provided figures

for annual production numbers of

plastic bottles in both volume and weight and the effect these non­

refundable containers would have on

landfill sites, roadsides and waterways

over the years and decades ahead. Their staggering figures on the

volume of these non-biodegradable

disposable containers over a 25-year

period were followed by a plea to revert

to a totally reusable system to protect the environment.

Today, their predictions have all

come true. Our roadsides, ditches, streams and waterways are all pollut­

ed with virtually millions of plastic

bottles and other plastic items.

Would the University of Guelph's

research money not be better spent on

the development of biodegradable materials so that at least some of our

roadside garbage would revert to com­

post? Imagine, Tim Horton cups with

biodegradable lids!

8 THE PORTICO

Would this mandate not be more in line with president Summerlee's

concept of"developing and sustaining environments"? We must listen to our

conscience. )OEL RuMNEY, B.Sc. '75,

B.Sc.(AGR.) '78, DVM '83

MIDLAND, 0NT.

Guelph BA got the ball rolling WHEN I RECEIVED UofG'scam­

paign donor report, I was prompted to

write this letter to document the fun­

damental way Guelph altered my life

and, in so doing, prove that it has been a leader and innovator for decades.

Back in 1966, when I was in my first

year at the Ontario College of Art (OCA), I met with a buddy of mine

who was enrolled at Wellington

College. What he told me about his

experience at U of G made me realize

I was missing a lot, so I approached the authorities to explore ways of com­

bining my art studies in Toronto with

liberal studies at Guelph. My efforts eventually led to a part­

nership between OCA and U of G that

was surely among the first of its kind

in Canada. As a result, in 1967 I became

one of the first spring-semester stu­

dents at Guelph who continued with an art program at OCA during the rest

of the year.

Had I not pursued a university edu­cation, my life would undoubtedly

have unfolded far differently. My deci­

sion to pursue a master's degree in art

education would not have been possi­

ble without my BA from Guelph. Fur­thermore, my 1970 master's degree

from Sir George Williams University

in Montreal would later prove instru­mental in my obtaining a lectureship

in fine arts at the University of Toron­

to's Scarborough College. I enrolled at

OISE to pursue a PhD in philosophy of education (conferred in 1980).

So you see, U of G's BA got the ball

rolling in a decisive direction.

Now retired, I can look back at a rich

and varied career in education that

spans three decades. I've had the privi­

lege of working in elementary, sec­ondary and post-secondary education.

While teaching in high school, I became

involved in the Toronto catholic teach­

ers' association, serving as president and

past president for more than 13 years. Whatever joys and vocational sat­

isfactions 1 have had since 1970, I can

thank U of G for.

SALVATORE AMENTA, BA '70

STOUFFVILLE, 0NT.

Honouring a president I AM WRITING TO EXPRESS my

deep concern and disappointment with

the minimal coverage given to former U of G president Burton Matthews's

death in the summer 2004 Guelph

Alumnus magazine. It is a real slight to

his memory to share his obituary with

five others on the second to last page of the magazine. His passing should

have been the cover story. BEN McEwEN,

BSA 's6 AND M.Sc. '57 EDMONTON, ALTA.

Remembering Guelph buddies FoLLOWING MY Guelph graduation,

I worked for a while but eventually

decided to pursue a part-time executive

MBA in food and agribusiness offered by Wageningen Business School (part of

Wageningen University and Research Centre) in The Netherlands in co-oper­

ation with Purdue University in Indiana.

This Wageningen/Purdue experience is fantastic, but my real university mem­

ories will always be from the mighty

University of Guelph! I enjoyed every

single day of my six-year journey from an underage dipper to B.Comm. grad­

uate. Some of those great memories

came back during a visit to the Guelph

campus a few weeks ago! I picked up

the summer 2004 alumni magazine and spotted nine dipper classmates in a

picture on page 19. Incredible!

CoR KRAMER, ADA ' 97 AND B.CoMM. 'o1

THE NETHERLANDS

"On a clear day, over one-third of Canada's best agri­culturalland can be seen from the top of Toronto's CN Tower." Statistics Canada, 1999

W HY CARE ABOUT RURAL CANADA? The answer - and the challenge - begins to become clear in the paradox that much of

our country's prime farmland lies within view of its largest city. In the middle of the glass and concrete, we are closer to the farmer's field than we think.

You don't need to climb the CN Tower to see that. Just look at all that food in your neighbourhood super­market. But there's more. Farmers and rural commu­nities are environmental custodians of basic resources. They're also esthetic caretakers in a sense, as more city mice look to the countryside for recreation, leisure

and, increasingly, a new kind of home away from urban stresses.

"Rural" still means cows and crops. But more and more, it means new kinds of enterprises that sustain small towns and communities- and support the wider world beyond them. Those ventures may stem from farming, including the growing field ofbioproducts (using plants and animals as feedstocks for new mate­rials), pharmaceuticals and energy sources. Elsewhere, an auto parts plant in small-town Canada bears less relation to the farm fields around it than to the urban vehicle manufacturer located down the highway.

"Strong rural communities are key to the health and vitality of Ontario," says a draft discussion paper called "Growing Strong Rural Communities," which was released this summer by the provincial government.

The University of Guelph claims a long continual

role in nurturing and strengthening rural communities,

going back 130 years to the agricultural roots of the

Ontario Agricultural College. Those roots remain strong

at Guelph and at its regional campuses in Alfred,

Ridgetown and Kemptville. But this year's new OAC logo

and tagline- "Food, Life, Leadership"- underlines

OAC's mandate not just in production agriculture but

also in food, the environment and rural communities.

Much of the college's rural research, teaching and

extension stems from its School of Environmental Design

and Rural Development, whose three constituent parts

address aspects of rural issues: understanding how

people and land fit together (School of Landscape

Architecture); enhancing the quality of rural life (School

of Rural Extension Studies); and tackling rural

development issues (School of Rural Planning and

Development). Today, rural issues- from farmland

preservation to rural sociology- go far beyond those

boundaries to include departments and colleges

across campus. And they go beyond U of G to involve

teaching and research partners in other universities,

governments, organizations and the private sector.

In this issue, you'll read about some of those ini­

tiatives in a variety of stories about rural communi­

ties. You'll also meet Guelph graduates from across

Canada who talk about farm life, what's changing in

their rural communities and how they connect to urban centres.

OAC dean Craig Pearson has his own way of depict­

ing the closeness of the relationship between city mice

and their country cousins. His father was raised on a

remote farm in Australia and was still farming part time

when Pearson was growing up in Perth, a city of 300,000.

Raised among Sydney's three million souls, Pearson's own

children are urban to the core, but still only two genera­tions away from the farm.

As a longtime city dweller, Pearson says occasion­

al forays beyond Guelph's boundaries help him recon­

nect with small-town Ontario and rural life. That's a

connection he says more urban and rural residents should make.

"We need to re-create a common sense of what's

important in life and what's important to preserve in the landscape."

His words evoke another reason for taking the

wider rural view, one that probably resonates with

many of the people living and working in Canada's

financial capital. As the city's shadow continues to

lengthen over all that prime farmland, are we living

off interest while sustaining our natural endowment or are we eating into our capital?

[ rural economies • by andrew vowles ]

Don't tell Guelph prof Tony Fuller about the impending death of rural Canada

"It's not true that rural communities are

dying," says the longtime faculty member

in Guelph's School of Environmental Design

and Rural Development (SEDRD). "Nine­

ty-two per cent of them are still there."

Fuller acknowledges that various com­

munities are struggling to meet challenges

wrought by larger economic, social and

political forces across much of Canada's

countryside. Still, he remains largely san­

guine about the long-term view, a sentiment

shared by a number of U of G researchers

studying aspects of rural communities:

"They're not dying, they're changing."

Travel beyond the suburbs and you need

not go far to see evidence of those changes,

for better or worse. A 2002 report by the Agri­

cultural Odyssey Group highlighted the evo­

lution of a new kind of farm and farming

community. Those changes have been

prompted by factors that include interna­

tional trade liberalization, shifting consumer

demands, growing environmental concerns,

rationalization of supply chains, reduced gov­

ernment funding and the introduction of new

technologies to the farm. Although some of

the results on the farm might not be imme­

diately evident to the Sunday driver, those

changes have meant fewer farmers, but they're

working larger acreages, often more closely

integrated with agri-food corporations than

with the nearby rural community.

More evident are the kinds of changes that

Jennifer Kirkness witnessed while growing up

on the family hog farm in Strathroy, Ont., west

of London. Now aU ofG master's student in

rural planning, she watched as subdivisions

crept across the fields, turning her hometown

into a bedroom community for London com­

muters and hobby farmers. She's seen new

roads shrink travelling times to once-faraway

places like Woodstock, Guelph and Toronto,

and new stores and other amenities spread

until halted by farmers' fields.

"You have cars literally feet away from a

dairy farm," says Kirkness, whose parents'

farm is one of only two full-time family

homesteads left on the concession. Even their

closest neighbour is an urban commuter, who

last fall bought the house built three decades

ago on land her grandfather had severed from

the farm as a wedding gift for her aunt.

"We're surrounded by houses," says

Kirkness, who moved to Guelph after com­

pleting her undergraduate anthropology

degree at the University of Western Ontario.

(Bucking a trend herself, she plans to

eventually return to Strathroy as the third

generation to run the farm.)

Although farmland still dominates much

of the rural landscape, it's in the adjoining

towns and villages that many other changes

have occurred. Many of those centres grew

up specifically to serve farmers, but that link

to agriculture has weakened as rural com­

munities have expanded and attracted new

kinds of businesses. This new rural economy

can bring mixed benefits, says Prof. Tony

Winson, Sociology and Anthropology. In an

award-winning 2002 book called Contingent

Labour, Disrupted Lives, he and colleague

Prof. Belinda Leach wrote about the struggles

of small manufacturing-dependent commu­

nities in southern Ontario. Five towns in par­

ticular- Harriston, Elora, Mount Forest,

Arnprior and Iroquois Falls- have suffered

plant shutdowns and downsizing caused by

a combination of global economic restruc­

turing, free trade agreements and the 1990s

economic recession. Well-paying manufac-

turing jobs have been replaced by what the

Guelph researchers call contingent labour,

from part-time jobs to work in the lower-pay­

ing service sector.

Elsewhere, other communities have

lured auto parts plants, particularly along

the Highway 400/40 I corridor and around

the greater Toronto area. Some 50 plants

are now dispersed around southern

Ontario, supplying the major automakers

in larger centres. Leach is studying those

plants to determine how stable they are over

the long term or whether many are simply

capitalizing on the need for jobs in rural

communities. She points to American

examples, where meat-packing plants have

moved out of Chicago into rural areas, pay­

ing people minimum wage to labour in

what she calls "horrific" working condi­

tions. Beyond the general fallout of job

losses, she's particularly interested in the

challenges facing women.

"There's a web of issues that come togeth­

er to disadvantage women in rural commu­

nities," says Leach, who holds a University

Research Chair in Rural Gender Studies. Her

studies show that rural women suffer greater

income loss (as much as 60 per cent of their

former wages) than men but are less willing

or able to commute to better-paying jobs out­

side the community. Many opt instead for

lower-paid service jobs such as in nursing

homes, a new growth industry in rural com­

munities. She plans to study the role of rural

women's organizations, hoping to provide

information to help policy-makers deliver

appropriate services from transportation to

retraining.

Despite problems for men and women

alike in rural Ontario, Leach and Winson

Fall 2004 11

say rural communities have been surpris­

ingly resilient to change.

"Single-industry communities have par­

ticular problems," says Winson. "We need a

nuanced approach that accounts for differ­

ent places."

What much of rural Ontario needs is a

commitment to economic development,

says SEDRD professor David Douglas.

Referring to the results of his comprehen­

sive three-year assessment of economic

development in Ontario's countryside com­

pleted last year, he says: "Across all rural

regions, there's a lack of know-how as to

how to do local economic development.

They know how to do land-use planning,

public works and service clubs, but only

about one-third have an economic devel­

opment plan and only about five per cent

have an economic development officer."

(Notable exceptions in Ontario are

Brockville, Kirkland Lake, Wasaga Beach

and the Nottawasaga Community Eco­

nomic Development Corporation.)

Douglas says that, although the rural

economy is diverse and dynamic, opportu­

nities are unevenly distributed and often out

of reach for many communities. In what he

calls a relentless global economy, small rur­

al communities are susceptible to the whims

of mobile and largely faceless corporations

that can easily move to follow lower labour

costs or less stringent environmental regu­

lations. Many towns have also seen provin­

cial funding fall from about one-third of

overall revenues in the early 1990s to about

15 per cent, leaving them more reliant on

scant local resources to pay for services.

"Bring those pieces together and we have

a significant economic challenge;' says Dou­

glas, who has presented his findings to the

Rural Ontario Municipalities Association,

1 2 THE PORTICO

[ rural economies ]

the Association of Municipalities of Ontario

and the Canadian National Summit on

Municipal Governance held this summer in

Ottawa. His prescription includes more

provincial and regional funding and other

resources to be devoted to rural communi­

ties, especially in economic development

support and training, and strategic plan­

ning and management.

That meshes with results from the

Odyssey report. Although that document

dealt mostly with food and agricultural poli­

cies, it also called for measures intended to

develop more co-ordinated rural policies and

leadership training programs, to provide

needed infrastructure to rural communities,

and to promote more co-operation among

agricultural and rural organizations.

The policy adviser for the Odyssey

Group was Terry Daynard, a former U of G

crop science professor who recently

returned to the University as associate dean

(research and innovation) for the Ontario

Agricultural College. (As a part-time farmer,

he grows corn, soybeans and wheat on a

200-acre spread near Guelph that he's

owned for 30 years.) He says the group's

report calls on rural communities to look

beyond agriculture, including exploring new

value-added processing markets and even

new kinds of markets altogether.

Indeed, rural communities and individ­

ual farmers are already looking further

afield. Fuller, a rural geographer who is U

of G's representative on the Ontario Rural

Council, says more farmers are making

money from non-farm sources, so much so

that some observers have even coined a term

for the phenomenon: pluriactivity.

"Sixty-eight per cent of Canadian farm­

ers derive at least 40 per cent of their total

income off the farm," says Fuller, who is

director of the University's Sustainable

Rural Communities Project. (The U ofG

researchers involved in the project study var­

ious aspects of rural economic development,

response to change, capacity building, rur­

al leadership and information technology.)

Some of that pluriactivity might surprise

our urban Sunday driver.

Take innovation, a word more often asso­

ciated with the new urban economy than

with its country cousin. Fuller hopes to spark

ideas through a new three-year research pro­

ject intended to map the range of innova­

tive activities in rural communities. He's

thinking not just technological widgets but

also social innovations that contribute to the

livelihood and welfare of small-town

Ontario- perhaps including the Waldorf

school that his wife runs in a former one­

room schoolhouse in Dornoch, a village of

some 200 people about J 'f, hours north of

Guelph. Funded by Sustainable Rural Com­

munities and the Ontario Rural Council, the

innovation research project is meant to yield

tools to help communities consider inno­

vation and ways to attract entrepreneurs.

"Massey and Ferguson and Harris and

literally hundreds of other innovators came

from rural areas;' says Fuller. "There are zil­

lions of innovations going on right across

rural Ontario."

Ask Daynard about innovation and he's

quick to mention bioproducts, a hot topic for

researchers at Guelph and elsewhere. Bio­

products- synthetic materials and energy

sources made from plants and animals instead

of conventional petroleum-based sources­

include biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel derived

from plant materials), biofibres to replace

materials in car parts or building components,

and bioplastics made from sugars rather than

from petroleum feedstocks.

"That could change the whole basis of

our dependency on petroleum," Fuller says.

Pointing out that much of the processing

typically occurs in urban or suburban areas,

he says he'd like to see more of that value­

added processing take place closer to the

farm, in places like Stratford, Owen Sound

or even Guelph. U of G hopes to lead devel­

opments through a planned bioproducts ini­

tiative that will include cross-campus

researchers as well as industry, government

and commodity representatives. Plant geneti­

cists, for instance, are interested in examin­

ing crop plants and looking for ways of

selecting or modifying them for genetic traits

that will lend themselves to processing to

make specialty chemicals, fue ls, plastics and

other materials. Prof. Larry Erickson, Plant

Agriculture, envisages working with process

engineers at the University of Toronto, for

example, to develop processes for using plant

fibres to make new materials. "We're making

some new connections," he says.

Daynard also hopes to see U of G take a

bigger lead in developing and supplying the

market for organic produce, another poten­

tial winner for rural communities looking

for ways to diversify. Organic produce still

accounts for only one to three per cent of

supermarket sales (and about 85 per cent

of it is imported), but it's the fastest-grow­

ing segment in the food market, says Prof.

John Smithers, Geography, who points to

the larger and more prominent organic sec­

tion at his local Zehrs outlet as evidence.

"] like to know I can get food products

produced in Ontario," says Smithers, who

belongs to the farmers' market advisory

committee in Guelph.

In a return to first principles, he sees

food itself as a key to developing sustain­

able rural communities. His studies have

[ rural economies ]

uncovered what he considers a worrisome

estrangement between farmers and residents

of the adjoining towns and villages. In

northern Huron County, for example, he

found that farmers forced to intensify their

farm operations are less likely to be involved

in local clubs or sports. They also spend

more of their money further afield rather

than support local operations such as the

co-operative farm outlets.

Smithers's studies of town-farm percep­

tions in the southern part of the county sug­

gest that emphasizing ties between farmers

and non-fanning residents can benefit both

sides. That can happen through seemingly

simple means, including farmers choosing

jennifer Kirkness plans to be the third genera­

tion to run the family farm near Strathroy, Ont.,

despite the fact the farm is already surround­

ed by new subdivisions built for urban com­

muters.

to support their local farm goods co-op store

and residents shopping at the local farmers'

market or visiting pick-your-own operations.

"Keeping the co-op open matters;' he says.

"There's a mutual commitment required."

Recent research funding will allow

Smithers and Prof. AJun joseph, dean of the

College of Social and Applied Human Sci­

ences, to study those possible connections.

Strengthening rural connections is one

thing, but why should urbanites- the over­

whelming majority of Canadians- care

about what's going on beyond the city lim­

its? Smithers, a self-described farm boy, says

his studies probably have nostalgic roots.

But it's more than sentiment for the former

100-acre homestead outside Parkhill, Ont.,

that now propels him along the back roads

on his daily commute from Cambridge to

Guelph.

"It's like asking: 'Why do we invest mon­

ey in Kluane National Park?' It's because we

see value in preserving farming communi­

ties. There's also value in knowing our food

is not produced by monolithic corporations."

From a purely pragmatic standpoint,

Winson says farmers and rural areas play a

key role in sustaining urban populations,

from their more obvious part in food pro­

duction to conservation and environmen­

tal protection of resources, even our leisure

and recreational assets.

"In a sense, rural areas are custodians of

our water and environment, and we want

them to take care of that;' says Winson, who

grew up in small mining towns in northern

Ontario and Quebec's Eastern Townships.

"I think they represent a different way of life

that maybe is a useful counterpart and an

alternative to not-so-successful urban

arrangements that have unfolded. A lot of

people want to leave the cities." •

Fall 2004 13

I

[ farmers • by tori bona hunt ]

Guelph graduates talk about rural life and the economic conditions in farming

[ farmers ]

ities across Canada • Don Carlyle : It's a grim, grim situation for the cattle industry

DON CARLYLE,ADA'63,hasbeen

a cattle rancher in Alberta for more

than 50 years. His father, his grand-

father and an uncle were also farmers.

The latter two preceded him at Guelph:

William L. Carlyle, BSA 1891, and William

T. Carlyle, DVM '39.

"My dad was the innovator of cross­

breeding in Western Canada," says Don

Carlyle. "He was doing it in the 1930s, and

it was unheard of then." Carlyle now has a

herd of 300 Angus/Simmental and

Angus/Bran gus cows.

After spending his childhood sur­

rounded by farmers and five decades in the

business, he thought he had seen it all. But

then a single case of mad cow disease

detected in Alberta in May 2003 and anoth­

er case reported in the United States

changed everything.

"I've never seen a wreck like this in my

entire life," he says from his farm near

Blackfalds. "Our entire industry has been

changed; everyone around us has been

affected. It's a grim, grim situation."

Mad cow disease is the commonly used

name for bovine spongiform encephalopathy

(BSE), a slowly progressive, degenerative and

fatal disease affecting the central nervous sys­

tem of adult cattle. The infected Alberta cow

was destroyed at slaughter, so it never entered

the food chain, but in the months that followed,

the nation's $7.6-billion beef industry went into

turmoil. Farmers in Alberta and across

Canada experienced a flurry of government

inspections, public relations blitzes, closed inter­

national borders and plummeting domestic

prices. At press time, the situation for the

Canadian cattle industry was critical and get­

ting worse, with Prime Minister Paul Martin

blaming American cattle producers for aggra­

vating the financial picture by lobbying the

U.S. government to retain the closed border.

Carlyle says there have been times in the

past when the cattle industry has lost mon­

ey, such as when foot-and-mouth disease

struck in the 1950s. "But it wasn't anything

like this. This is the biggest crisis to hit our

industry- ever."

Some farmers have had to declare bank­

ruptcy, feed lots are in terrible states, com­

munities are losing residents and business,

and enrolment is down at local schools, he

says. Subsidies help a little, but he says it's

frustrating to see most government support

bypass the local community.

"Our industry is controlled by big meat­

packing companies, usually American com­

panies, who own the most cattle." As a result,

many small cattle producers feel they no longer

have a voice in their own industry, he says.

Like most other cattle farmers, Carlyle

is feeding and caring for "carry over" adult

cows and calves that couldn't be sold last

season due to record-low prices.

"There are a million extra cows in Alber­

ta right now," he says, noting that he has an

additional 30 animals. "How do you afford

Don Carlyle says Alberta's independent cattle producers feel helpless as they watch their indus­

try decline in the wake of a single case of BSE detected more than 16 months ago.

Fall 2004 15

[ farmers ]

• Tony Scott : I'd like to see a new generation of organic farmers taking the reins fr

such a backlog? I owe more money now

than I did when I started out. It's just crazy."

Still, he can't see himself doing anything

else. "But going to work isn't fun anymore.

And the way things are now, I couldn't quit

if I wanted to. In cattle farming, your mon­

ey is tied up in your animals, not your land."

Adding to Carlyle's frustration is his

belief that the border closure has always had

more to do with public relations than pub­

lic safety. "Canada has the best health record

in the world for our livestock," he says.

He has also had to cut back on his hob­

by of breeding bulls for use in rodeos. The

bull-riding competition at this year's Cal­

gary Stampede ended on a bucking bull

raised by the Carlyle Cattle Company (the

rider earned more than $85,000 in prize

money), but the bull will no longer be avail­

able to rodeos south of the border. Live bulls

aren't allowed into the United States, no mat­

ter what the purpose.

"It's a terrible mess, and it seems to me that

nothing is being done about it other than just

sitting back and waiting for the border to

open;' says Carlyle. "We need more capacity

for slaughtering cows and bulls in Canada."

And it's not just the cattle industry that's

being affected, he adds.

"There's a human side to this, too. If you

want to know how bad it is, just go to a

local auction. People used to laugh, carry

on and have a good time, but now it's like

~ a morgue. No one even speaks to each oth­

~ er. To quote one local cattle buyer: 'It's just

~ not fun anymore."'

Q_ Carlyle worries that the issue and the

i;; farmers are being forgotten.

5 "When BSE was first detected, the sto-

6: ries and the effects of the aftermath used to

16 THE PORTICO

make the front page and the evening news.

Now, if you're lucky, you might see some­

thing on page 15. Most people don't under­

stand what's happening. They go to the gro­

cery store, where food is still cheap and they

can find anything they want. They think the

issue has gone away and that the farmers

are just a bunch of whiners. But it 's not

going away. It's getting worse every day, and

no one is paying attention."

He also worries about what lies ahead

for agriculture. Already, the average age of

farmers in his community is about 60, and

oil has replaced farming as the number one

Quebec grower Tony Scott sells his organic veg­

etables across the border in the United States.

industry in the province. "Young people

don ' t want to go into the business; they

don 't see the point."

One of his sons-in-law wanted a career

in agriculture, "but he didn't think he could

make enough money to support a family,

so he went into the oil business. And that

was before BSE."

Indeed, a june Statistics Canada report

said BSE was the number one reason for the

lowest recorded farm incomes in Canada in

25 years. Other factors included years of

persistent drought in Western Canada and

international trade barriers. Canada's cat­

tle industry lost about $2.1 billion in exports

of beef and live cattle in 2003.

Overall, Canadian farmers' net cash

income was $4.2 million in 2003, down

from $7.3 million the year before- a 43-

per-cent plunge. In Alberta, net cash income

fell by 72 per cent. At the same time, farm

operating expenses increased by $1 billion

between 2002 and 2003 due to higher prices

for fuel, seed and fertilizers.

"The whole future of the cattle business

has just been devastated;' says Carlyle. "Peo­

ple have been devastated. It's a bleak picture."

TONY ScoTT, B.Sc.(Agr.) '86, is

a naturalist in every sense of the

word. He lives in the tiny town of

Ayer's Cliff, Que., population around 700,

and has been running Way's Mills Market

Garden since graduation with his partner,

jacqueline Heim, BA '84.

They grow a variety of organic vegeta­

bles. Scott works the land with the help of

a small crew, has "you pick" strawberry

fields and sells his products through an

organic co-operative.

[ farmers ]

their parents • Frank Curtis : I enjoy the farm work, being outdoors and the freedom

The Ottawa native says he and Heim

chose the farm in Ayer's Cliff after travel­

ling through Quebec, New Brunswick and

Nova Scotia, looking for a place to live and

for a piece of land to grow organic vegeta­

bles on.

Living in a small town and working in a

speciality field has its benefits, says Scott.

"We're part of an organic vegetable

growers co-op in Vermont (we live about

five miles from the border), so I'd say that

we sell about 90 per cent of our products in

the United States."

He is also the president of Ayer's Cliff

Farmers' Market, a local market located

about 15 minutes from his farm.

"The whole organic marketplace is real­

ly changing," he says. "It's becoming much

more voluminous. There's more respect for

-and a whole lot more cash in - the

industry now. I think people are generally

becoming more sensitive to health issues,

and there have been some high-profi le issues

in agriculture that have caused people to

stop, think, act and eat more carefully."

Scott's community is made up mostly of

dairy operations and some small mixed

farms. In the more traditional agricultural

industries, there's been a lot of change,

including more large farms and fewer fami­

ly-run operations, but he's seen some posi­

tive changes as well.

"We've had some traditional farmers

convert to organic farming. It's neat to see

that happen. These farmers end up being

even stronger spokespeople for organic

farming because they are well-known in

their community and have a history there,

unlike many organic farmers."

He adds that most organic farmers have

found a niche in selling directly to the

consumer, something that doesn't occur as

frequently in conventional farming.

"But I'm hoping it becomes more of a

trend. I'd like to see a new generation of organ­

ic farmers taking the reins fi·om their parents."

IN THE FARMING WORLD, Frank

Curtis, ADA 78, is considered a bit of

a late bloomer. He worked as a stone-

mason and bricklayer for years before his

brother-in-law convinced him to give

agriculture a try.

" I just fell in love with it," he says. "I

enjoy the farm work, being outdoors, the

variety and the freedom."

Curtis worked as a farmer for several

years before enrolling at OAC as a mature

student. His wife, Linda, is also a U of G

graduate, earning a BA in 1978.

They moved to British Columbia after

Frank Curtis was offered a job with Ritchie

Smith Feeds Inc. in Abbotsford, a city of

about 130,000. ''I'm an animal husbandry

person," he says. "My job is to help farmers

learn to farm." Most of his clients are pig

farmers.

When Curtis first came to B.C. in 1980,

Frank Curtis works at a local feed mill to help support the small British Columbia farm that he

operates with his wife linda. They love the farm environment and say it provided a good foun­

dation for their children, Emily and lan.

Fall 2004 17

[ farmers ]

• lan Mcisaac : If farming takes a hold of you, that's it. There is no other life • Ar

~

the swine industry was just gaining momen­

tum. "A lot of people got into the business

because it was cheap at the time, but they

didn't know anything about pigs. Many of

them found themselves in the deep end very

quickly and needed help."

His new diploma and his background in

farming proved to be an invaluable combi­

nation. Although he's been able to help new

farmers learn the ropes, there's little he can do

about the changes and challenges plaguing

the industry.

"It's a losing battle. There are no quotas

and no price protection, and costs are

CJt'llllllllo·'\1-::;< z ~ >­t/1 u.J >-"' :::J 0 u 0

b I ~ ~--~~~~~~~

incredibly high. It's crazy. It's always a strug­

gle economically, and as a result, a lot of

farmers are drifting away from it."

Most disappointing is the loss of the

family farm, says Curtis. "It's very much a

dying breed here. There are more corporate

farms and farmers who are specializing to

be more efficient and to make a nickel."

He's managed to stay connected to his

love of the land by running a small hog

operation. But it's more of a hobby than

a business. "It's too expensive to stay

small; to be economically feasible, you

have to be big."

One of the 270 dairy farms on Prince Edward Island is operated by the Mcisaac family. From left

are Sarah, Daniel, Grace, lan, Carolyn and Janet. Like other farms on the island, theirs has grown

bigger to stay competitive.

18 THE PORTICO

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, Jan

Mcisaac, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80, was one of

about 1,200 dairy farmers working

in and around Charlottetown. Nowadays,

there are only about 270 dairy farms on

Prince Edward Island.

The funny thing is, the population

hasn't really changed all that much in the

past couple of decades, and farmers are still

churning out the same amount of milk.

"Many of the farms have gotten bigger,

but margins are a lot slimmer;' says Mcisaac,

who, along with his brother, operates

Sunny Isle Farms about I 0 kilometres east

of Charlottetown. "There was a time when

you had to either get bigger or get out.

That's what some producers did; they sold

their quotas and got out of it."

Mcisaac decided to get bigger. He con­

verted the beef farm his father once ran to

dairy cows "back when quota was cheaper."

He and his brother now milk about 70 cows.

But there have been some growing pains,

most of them financial.

"I keep spending and expanding, but I

haven't made a lot of money yet," he says.

"To make a living at this, you have to be

comfortable with being in debt."

One thing that has really changed in

agriculture over the past few years is the

concentration of power in the processing

and retail sectors. He says producers must

continue to work closely together in shar­

ing markets and revenue if they are to have

any say in the prices that products get in the

marketplace.

In P.E.I., a lot of young people arc inter­

ested in taking over their family farm or

working in agriculture in some way, says

Mcisaac. A father of four, he says one of his

[ farmers ]

Versloot : There are quite a few young farming families around. It's a nice community

daughters is interested in following in his

footsteps, but it's a career decision she'll have

to make on her own.

"It isn't really a choice;' he says. "Farm­

ing is something that is just in your blood.

Either you like it or you don ' t. Maybe it's

because I'm producing something that's

essential- food. Everyone has to eat. I like

to be my own boss, and I enjoy farming. It

seems that if farming has a hold of you,

that's it. There is no other life."

T H E M 0 R E T H I N G S C H A N G E, the

more they stay the same. That's how

Arthur Versloot, B.Sc.(Agr.) '89,

describes farming life in New Brunswick.

"It's still a seven-days-a-week, 24-hours­

a-day job," says Versloot, who runs a fami­

ly dairy farm in Keswick Ridge. " I don't

think that will ever change."

But he's used to the brutal schedule. He

grew up on the dairy farm, and his father

kept the same work hours. It's the only

lifestyle he's ever known.

"My dad emigrated from Holland in

1951 and started this farm in 1959," says

Versloot. "He had nothing when he started,

and he built it up slowly."

Versloot 's three brothers and three sis­

ters also grew up on the farm, but none was

interested in making it a career. "My taking

it over was always the plan."

First, however, he left the family farm to

attend Nova Scotia Agricultural College for

two years before heading to U of G to fur­

ther his education. It was a last-minute

decision.

"! had a friend who was going, and a

week before school started, he called and

said: 'Are you coming?' So I packed up my

things and away I went."

He returned to the farm after gradua­

tion, eventually buying it from his father.

He's expanded a bit since then , building a

new barn and modernizing the facilities. He

has 180 cattle and milks about 65 of them.

Versloot says the community hasn ' t

changed much over the years, and that's fine

by him. He and his wife, Karen, have three

young children, aged five, four and one.

"There are quite a few young farming

families around," he says. "It makes for a

nice community."

He knows he's one of the lucky ones.

Arthur and Karen Versloot - with children

Josie, Austin and baby Hannah - share their

New Brunswick community with several young

farming families.

"These days, it's almost impossible to get

into dairy farming without having a fam­

ily farm to buy into. If you have to start

from scratch, you'd need a million dollars

at least. And if you have a million dollars,

well, I'm not sure you'd want to be a dairy

farmer anyway."

M A R G A R E T A N D G 0 R D 0 N are

accidental dairy farmers. Co me to

think of it, they're accidental

residents of Manitoba, too.

The pair are both natives of Ontario, and

neither studied agriculture at U of G.

Gordon earned a B.Sc. in 1969 and an M.Sc.

in 1973, and Margaret graduated a year

later with a BA. Farming wasn't something

they saw in their future.

That all changed when Gordon came to

Manitoba to do master's research on Aythya

affinis, a wild duck commonly called the

lesser scaup. " He really liked it here, so I

came out to visit him and I liked it, too,"

says Margaret. They decided to stay.

She was casting about for a career and

recalled with fondness her roommates at

Guelph. "They came from dairy farms and

they were such nice girls, so I said: 'Maybe

we should get some dairy cows and give it

a try.' So we bought a farm. It was an adven­

ture, sort of a back-to-the-land thing."

In 1972, it was still possible to buy a farm

and chalk it up to adventure. "The Manitoba

government was into recruiting young farm- .,

ers;' says Margaret. "They would give you quo- 6 .., ta for free. For about $8,500, you could get a ~

quarter section with a house and a barn." -< -<

Three years after buying the farm, the ~

couple added six cows. "We'd milk the cows, ~ and every second day the milk truck would §i

Fall 2004 19

[ farmers ]

• Margaret and Gordon Hammell : It was an adventure, sort of a back-to-the-land th

come by and pick up the milk," she says. "We

started out very slowly. You can't do it that

way now. You have to be up to snuff from

the beginning, so people have to borrow a

lot of money. Starting a farm is now a huge

investment."

The Hammells named their Erickson,

Man., homestead Aythya Dairy Farm, after the

duck Gordon came to Manitoba to research.

They soon added two children to the mix.

Back then, there were a lot of other

young families living nearby.

"Now we have fewer neighbours and not

a lot of people around who are under 40,"

says Margaret. Their own children are now

grown and living in Winnipeg.

"People want more money, they want to

get more things, so they're leaving the farm

to work, much to the detriment of the com­

munity," she says.

In recent months, the local hospital had

to close the emergency ward, which means

people have to travel to another town for

after-hours emergencies.

One thing that hasn't changed is the milk

"' schedule. The trucks still come by every sec­a >' ond day. Today, the Hammells have about 25 <(

~ cows and do most of the work themselves.

~ They may be living a life they never envi­

~ sioned, but the couple wouldn't have it any

~other way.

~ "I love getting up in the morning and not

~ having to drive anywhere to get to work;' says

~ Margaret. "I wake up and I'm already here:' 0 <.9

>-~ T OM TAYLOR,B.Sc.(Agr.) '7l,never ~ envisioned doing anything but

~ farming. Both his grandfather and

~ father were beekeepers, and Taylor grew up

5: on the same honey farm as his father in

20 THE PORTICO

Nipawin, Sask.

"Honey put me through university," he

says. " I'd spend the winters in classes in

Guelph, and I'd go home every summer and

work to keep the family farm going and to

make enough money to pay for what seemed

at the time to be modest tuition fees."

While at U of G, Taylor paid for every­

thing in "honey" currency. Tuition cost a

summer's worth of farm labour. The new

truck he bought the year he graduated was

priced at I 8,781 pounds of honey. "Today,

it would take about 33,684 pounds of

honey to buy that same truck."

Top: Manitoba dairy farmers Margaret and

Gordon Hammell just walk out the back door to

go to work. Bottom: In Saskatchewan, jacqueline

Taylor runs a veterinary clinic, and Tom Taylor

retails beekeeping supplies and products.

About a decade after he graduated, the

"price of honey fell out of bed and never

got back in," he says. It was the result of a

change in a long-standing U.S. policy of

stockpiling honey that literally flooded the

market. "The supply of honey simply

exceeded the demand."

He had to give up the farm that had been

in his family for so long. At the time, he had

1 ,800 hives. "It wasn't really a decision at all.

It was forced on me. The bank said: 'We

need the money."'

Taylor did the only thing he could: he

sold all his equipment, bees and supplies to

other farmers. He's managed to stay con­

nected to the bee world by providing sup­

plies and equipment to honey farmers and

by manufacturing candles and other mate­

rials from beeswax.

But it's not the same. There are few agri­

cultural industries in the province that have

emerged from the last couple of decades

unscathed, he says. Years of drought and

excessive grasshoppers, low commodity

prices and, most recently, BSE have taken

their toll. There are fewer family farms, and

even big agricultural operations are going

out of business.

Taylor's wife, jacqueline, is a 1973 gradu­

ate of the Ontario Veterinary College who

runs her own veterinary clinic and sees the

impact of hard times on her clients. Not sur­

prisingly, the couple's two daughters have cho­

sen non-agricultural careers. One is a hotel

administrator; the other is a tax attorney.

Tom Taylor says he supported their

choices. "I wish I could say agriculture is a

good future, but by golly, unless you have a

million bucks in your pocket, it's not a place

to start out."

[ farmers ]

Tom Taylor : The price of honey feU out of bed • Ross Traverse : We built a green-

Ross TRAVERSE, M.Sc. '70, says

farmers in Newfoundland are in

a race these days, a race for the

bottom, that is.

"There's a big squeeze on commodities not

controlled by quotas;' says Traverse from his

hometown ofTorbay, located about 10 kilo­

metres from St. John's. "I guess it's typical of

what's happening all across the country. Farm­

ers are really being pushed to the limit:'

He's had a unique view of the changes in

the agricultural industry in his province. After

graduating from U of G, he spent 30 years

working as an agricultural adviser for the

government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

In addition, he and his wife, Marcella, have

run a retail plant nursery in Torbay for more

than 25 years. Ross is also a well-known radio

personality, hosting both local and CBC

Radio programs on gardening.

"People call in from all over Newfound­

land and Labrador with their gardening ques­

tions, and I answer them;' he says, adding that

he's sort of an "accidental gardener."

"I never intended to get into the busi­

ness. We built a greenhouse on our proper­

ty and started selling a few plants to our

friends. Somehow, it just sort of expanded

into a business."

Traverse Gardens now consists of six

greenhouses. Both he and Marcella, a former

nurse, now work at the business full time.

As the owner of a speciality nursery, Ross

notes that he hasn't suffered the same types

of hardships traditional farmers have faced.

Most farmers have had to learn to get by on

less and change the way they do business.

"At one time, a vegetable grower could

simply sell products to the local grocery store.

Now, a farmer has to drive 100 kilometres and

sell to the wholesaler, who turns around and

brings the vegetables right back to the local

supermarket. It doesn't make a lot of sense."

But farming is still very much a way of

life in Torbay, he says. "People who really

like the lifestyle have stuck with it. They're

doing OK- not as well as their high school

classmates who went into the high-tech

industry are doing, but OK:'

I< EN AND GERI ROUNDS are liv­

ing their dream. The couple, who

met while studying agriculture at

Guelph, always hoped to one day own a farm

of their own. They both grew up on farms,

but neither one was "next in line" to inher­

it the family business. So the couple came

by their dream the old-fashioned way: they

saved their money and waited for a farm that

was right for them.

They both graduated from the B.Sc.(Agr.)

program in 1984, and their dream became

reality 10 years later when they bought a poul­

try farm outside of Elmvale, Ont., near the

tourist town of Wasaga Beach. For the first

couple of years, they made their living by sell­

ing eggs locally to grocery stores, restaurants,

bakeries and variety stores. In 1996, the

" I 0 -< 0 co -< 0 rn

~ co co 0 z ."' -< I rn

~~::~::r-~~~r-~~~~ -~~--~ 8

When Marcella and Ross Traverse let their backyard garden get out of hand, it grew into a spe­

cialty nursery with six greenhouses. Ross also hosts a radio program on gardening that answers

calls from people all over Newfoundland and labrador.

Fall 2004 21

;o )>

s:

[ farmers ]

house and it just expanded into a business • Ken and Geri Rounds : This was alwa

Roundses built a little market on their prop­

erty and started selling eggs, meat and baked

goods directly to the public. The next year,

they bought another farm and started grow­

ing fruits and vegetables such as strawberries,

corn, asparagus, pumpkins and peas.

In 1998, the couple turned an old barn

into a nursery for small animals and opened

a petting zoo. In 2001, they bought a fourth

farm and added a number of"agri-enter­

tainment" attractions, including a corn

maze, a pedal cart racetrack, a mist maze,

pony rides, a rope maze through trees,

horseback riding, farm animals and barn-

yard boxcars. They offer school tours and

corporate and group events, as well as lead­

ership and youth programs. In 2000, the

Rounds family, which includes 16-year-old

Carla, was named Canada's Outstanding

Young Farmers.

"This was always our dream- it's just

changed a bit over the years and in ways

we never imagined;' says Ken Rounds. "But

I'm grateful for all the opportunities we've

had. I wouldn't trade what we have now

for anything."

He exudes enthusiasm for his industry,

saying farming and country living are still

Ken and Geri Rounds have made consumer service the top priority on their Ontario farm since

they started selling eggs and baked goods 10 years ago.

22 THE PoRTico

the highest-quality lifestyle around. But he

acknowledges that agriculture is a challeng­

ing and often stressful career, especially in

fields where costs continue to grow and prod­

uct prices seem to be in constant decline.

Ken says the secret to his family's success

and happiness is simple: "ow· faith and an abil­

ity to adapt and change. I think the biggest

challenge in the industry today is that many

farmers are resistant to change. They want

things to be the way they were. But there's been

a paradigm shift. On our farm, we decided to

diversify, not put all of our eggs in one basket,

so to speak. We spread the risk out."

The biggest change came when the

family decided to open the farm to the

general public and explore the world of

agri -entertainment.

"People just love it," he says. "There's

something about coming out to the country."

He admits that opening up your farm­

and your private life- isn't for everyone. "But

it is for us. There are just so many opportu­

nities out there. In fact, we're often disap­

pointed because we can't do half the things

we dream up. There just isn't enough time."

DOUG NICHOLS, B.Sc.(Agr.) '81, is

part of a family that has been farm­

ing in the same area in Nova Scotia

for four generations.

He lives with his own young family on

the original Nichols farm purchased by his

grandparents in 1930. Doug himself grew

up just down the road on a second farm

owned by his father. He remembers help­

ing with chores in many areas of their

diverse family farm and says the communi­

ty life was filled with optimism.

In the late 1970s, he left the farm to

[ farmers ]

our dream • Doug Nichols : There isn't the support for rural communities •

attend OAC. A few years after graduation

and soon after marriage to Marlene, he

bought a portion of the family farm that

included feeder hogs and apple and pear

orchards. The couple is now raising four

children and caring for about 90 acres of

fruit trees and 1,000 feeder hogs.

In recent years, there have been some

changes. A few years ago, a farm injury and a

subsequent job offer took Doug Nichols away

from the farm. He now commutes a half hour

to Kemptville to work for the Nova Scotia

Fruit Growers' Association. Marlene manages

the farm on a daily basis, but for Doug, it's

now an evenings-and-weekends job.

"I don't like working off the farm and

having a farm because there are a lot of

demands on your time," he says. But he's

understandably sentimental about the farm

that has been in his family for so many years.

"We're willing to keep struggling along."

His family isn't alone. Nichols's home­

town has become a combination of inte­

grated farms, part-time farmers and com­

muters, with most households having at

least one family member working off the

farm. Several families have given up their

farms. Aside from integrated farms, farm­

ers who remain have either leased out part

or all of their holdings, or they've expand­

ed and specialized.

Food production units continue to be

pressed to produce food for the same return

as 20 years ago, while the cost of doing busi­

ness has increased dramatically.

"Costs are just increasing so fast, and

product prices aren't keeping up," says

Nichols. "Because of global competition,

the opportunity to get ahead is limited to

fewer people willing to risk large amounts

of capital and invest in large production

units that are supposed to reduce the unit

cost of food they produce. The larger a farm

becomes, the greater the demands on the

manager to provide a positive bottom line.

It's a vicious cycle. I'm amazed that farm­

ing still exists at all."

About I 0 years ago, before his accident,

he was considering taking a gamble and

making a significant investment in his farm.

"Looking back now, I am so thankful I

didn't move ahead. I think I would have

ended up losing what I had."

Nichols says there are still people work-

adidOS

ing the farms in Morristown, but several of

them live outside the community. The com­

munity he once considered progressive and

filled with optimism is no longer.

"The vibrancy is gone. When I was

growing up, the farmers who owned and

operated the farms were the backbone of

the community. They set goals and sup­

ported events. But now, farmers are driven

so hard to make a living, they're not as

community-minded as they would like

to be. The support system for this rural

Nova Scotia community is eroding." •

Doug Nichols is the fourth generation of his family to farm in Nova Scotia, and he and his wife,

Marlene, are raising a fifth generation. Pictured from left are Robert, Allyson, Marlene, Doug, Elaine

and Elizabeth.

Fall 2004 23

[ land preservation • by andrew vowles ]

Caring for the land : Farmland trust to protect Ontario's agricultural land

I T' S BEEN S 0 M E T H R E E decades since

Helen Martinic left the family farm for

a career as a dietitian in Toronto. Three

years ago, the U of G graduate retired from

her job and returned to the 150-acre home­

stead near Totten ham, Ont., roughly mid­

way between Toronto and Lake Simcoe. Not

to farm: that's the job of her cousin, who

has rented the property for a mixed farm­

ing operation since Martinic's father died

in 1968. But she feels no less responsible for

the fate of the homestead, which has been

in the family since her forebears emigrated

from Ireland in the mid-1800s.

"I feel like I'm the custodian of the land;'

she says.

But without children to inherit the farm

and with the inevitable developers eyeing the

property for housing or perhaps a golf course,

how could she preserve her legacy? The answer

came through an acquaintance renovating the

farmhouse for her. He hooked her up with a

friend involved in planning for a new organi­

zation devoted to preserving farmland in the

province- one that, coincidentally for this

1960 Macdonald Institute graduate, was being

established by principals in the Ontario Agri­

cultural College. That was in spring 2003. This

summer, Little Rock Farm became the show-

Q case property for that new organization, called

~ the Ontario Farmland Trust (OFT). u.J

~ Inaugurated during a farm preservation

~conference held at U of G, the OFT is

~ intended to help protect agricultural lands

~ for farming, a pressing issue across the coun­

~ try but particularly in Ontario, where more

~ and more prime farmland is coming under >-~ the wheels not of tractors but of bulldozers.

[5 If you want to learn about dwindling agri-

6: cultural lands in Ontario, you might start by

24 THE PoRTico

looking around Toronto. In the greater Toron­

to area alone, more than 2,000 farms and

150,000 acres - about 18 per cent of

Ontario's Class I farmland- were plowed

under by urban development between 1976

and 1996, says Prof. Stew Hilts, chair of land

resource science at U of G and director of the

OFT. But development has hardly spared the

apparently wide-open countryside across

southern Ontario. More acreage is being lost

or constricted by growing numbers of rural

severances being granted for building lots for

individual homes or housing clusters- often

built, ironically enough, to accommodate city

dwellers looking for a taste of country living.

Prof. Wayne Caldwell, School of Envi­

ronmental Design and Rural Development

(SEDRD), conducted the first Ontario study

to look systematically at the cumulative

impact of severances on farming in 34 coun­

ties and regions across the province. That

study (called "Ontario's Countryside: A

Resource to Preserve or an Urban Area in

Waiting?") found that a total of 15,500 lots

were created during the 1990s, with more

than 80 per cent for residential purposes.

Although the individual number of sever­

ances granted per year declined slightly

between 1990 and 2000, the cumulative

impact is rising, says Caldwell, who notes that

tens of thousands of housing lots had already

been created in agricultural areas before 1990.

Besides the absolute loss of farmland,

there's a concern about the wider effects of

severances in rural areas, where minimum

distance restrictions mean that each resi­

dential severance can effectively restrict farm

operations over a much larger area. Refer­

ring to the combined effects of urban sprawl

and rural severances, Hilts says: "We feel the

issue of farmland preservation in southern

Ontario has been ignored, allowing urban

expansion to continue unchecked."

The idea of a province-wide trust arose

during a 2002 forum on farmland preser­

vation. A land trust is a charitable, non-prof­

it organization that holds or protects land

in trust, explains Hilts. Similar bodies have

been used to protect woodlands, wetlands

and other natural habitats, or heritage build­

ings. A notable example is the Nature Con­

servancy of Canada. Other farmland trusts

have been established in Canada, including

the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society,

which preserves rangelands and wildlife

habitat, and the Delta Farmland and Wildlife

Trust in southern British Columbia .

Unlike those regional organizations, the

-

... ~. ""' ~ ,.,,~ •• ~~~ ',J.,,J'"'/...... "'

1''.-.li-~·JI'/ •··Y'·'-·'.Lfi'· .(' ~·n· . \ ·. g.• .. "··-- ·.- · ·t · · n ·· ··· · : ·· ·· ·· · e c a ··~~\·· ;: .. .'. . . : .~ - .. ' ' -

1' .. ~·- • • • _ ..

OIT is Canada's first province-wide agricul­

tural land trust. Among the tools it will use

to preserve farmland is a voluntary agricul­

tural easement, a legal agreement spelling out

permitted and restricted uses on a farm.

Negotiated between the trust and the

landowner, the agreement allows the owner

to retain ownership, but ensures that the land

remains free of development, even when it

passes to different hands. Occasionally, a

farmland trust will buy a property to protect

it, renting it out to farm operators. Farmland

might also be donated to trusts. Stressing that

participation in the trust is voluntary,

Caldwell says entering this kind of agreement

means farmers recognize that their options

might be more limited when they go to sell

their property.

For all their potential importance as

demonstration projects, Hilts says easements

can realistically protect only a few small and

scattered properties. "Besides easements, we

want to promote improved policies."

He says the new farmland trust will push

for improved land -use protection policies at

municipal and provincial levels. For exam­

ple, Ontario's Planning Act currently provides

only guidelines for land use rather than strict

policies meant to protect agricultural lands

from development. That's likely to change

under proposed amendments to the Provin­

cial Policy Statement (enacted under the Plan­

ning Act) designed to protect all Class 1-3

farmland and eliminate farm severances.

Pointing to a copy of the proposed

changes, Hilts says: "This proposal refers to

the most sweeping policies to protect farm­

land in Ontario."

Adds Caldwell, a farmer and planner in

Huron County and a leading expert on agri­

cultural land-use planning: "It's important

that people see the land trust as one com-

[ land preservation ]

ponent of preserving farmland. But the

most important protection will occur

through sound policies, developed with

provincial input but enacted locally."

He and Hilts co-chaired this summer's

conference at Guelph, called " Protecting

Farmland for Farmers." The event brought

together farmers, planners, academics, politi­

cians and conservationists from Canada and

abroad to discuss such topics as American

farmland preservation policies, "smart

growth" policies in British Columbia and

farmland preservation programs in Australia.

The conference was organized by

Guelph's Farmland Preservation Research

Project (FPRP ) and the OFT. The FPRP is

an interdisciplinary project of U of G's

Centre for Land and Water Stewardship.

Involving researchers from both the Depart­

ment of Land Resource Science and SEDRD,

the project documents farmland loss in

southern Ontario, considers alternative

policy options and raises awareness of

farmland protection in the province.

"The increasingly rapid loss of farmland

and encroachments on farming communi­

ties make it imperative to develop a long­

term plan and vision of how Ontario's farm­

land will be used in the future," says Melissa

Watkins, research associate with the FPRP

and acting executive director of the OFT

(she has studied land trust issues for her

master 's degree at U of G).

As part of the project, Bronwynne Wilton,

a PhD student in rural planning, is studying

census data, hoping to learn more about the

extent of farmland loss and what it means to

the farming community. She suspects the

numbers are more dire than accepted figures.

" It makes sense to keep farmers on the

land," she says, referring to the need to

maintain food safety and security and sup­

ply. Not to mention that we're distancing

ourselves from the source of our food.

"Kids don 't know where their food is

coming from," says Wilton, the mother of

three children under eight. "Think of the

kind of province and society we're going to

leave to them."

That's the kind of thinking that has

impelled Martinic, now 66, to draw up the

land preservation agreement on Little Rock

Farm for the OFT. The easement says future

owners may use the land for farming or agri­

culture-related endeavours but not for devel­

opment. Martinic is free to sell the proper­

ty at any time, but she's viewing the farm not

as an investment but as a retirement home.

" I could sell it for a lot of money, but I

don't feel l did anything to merit it. It's a

beautiful place. l would hate to see it bull­

dozed for any reason." •

Fall 2004 25

[ global communities • by rachelle cooper ]

Finding small-scale access in a global market : food-safety standards can shut out deve

>-

''THE SORT OF RETAIL CHANGE

we've seen in Canadian super-

markets over the past 50 years is happening in five to 10 years in developing countries," says Prof. Spencer Henson of

Guelph's Department of Agricultural Eco­nomics and Business. "This is presenting huge

challenges for small producers and processors:' Small-scale farmers in developing coun­

tries are being shut out of high-value mar­

kets because they can't meet the demands

for high-quality food and stronger food­safety standards from both domestic and international supermarkets.

"This could push small farmers and

processors out altogether unless they are

able to change the way they've traditional­ly done things," says Henson. "The problem

is, they have to invest in new practices, but

in many cases, they are poor and don't have

access to the credit needed to upgrade." A report for the United Nations that

Prime Minister Paul Martin presented in March 2004 as co-chair of the Commission

on Private Sector and Development showed

that the development of many poorer coun­

tries depends on small enterprises. i:5 "We want to kick-start a process to

6 unleash the entrepreneurial potential that

~ lies untapped in so many people living in ;7i poverty or very difficult circumstances in 0

~ developing countries," said Martin.

i5 Henson has been travelling around the Vl

~ world in search of "good practice" models I

~ that fill the needs of both small farmers and ~ their customers. He's hoping to facilitate Bi small producers' abilities to meet new stan­>-~ dards and make their way out of poverty. [5 In his research trips to Africa, India, the ~ Caribbean and Latin America, Henson has

26 THE PoRTico

seen many more examples of models that

exploit small farmers than successful exam­

ples of small farms benefiting from provid­

ing food for export or domestic high-value markets. But he recently found a group of

4,500 small farmers in Murewe, Zimbabwe,

who are supplying vegetables not normal­ly grown in Zimbabwe, such as baby corn,

to one of the country's top exporters. Unlike most exporter/farmer pantnerships,

this is a win-win situation, says Henson. "Because the export company is provid­

ing expert advice, the farmers are gaining knowledge that they use to improve their

Peter Chikwanwa, a native of Zimbabwe, has

been growing for export since 1987, using low­

tech tools like this handmade water pump.

own crops. The exporters are getting better­quality products from these smaller farms."

When the exporter/farmer partnership began in 1997, there were 200 farmers grow­ing for export. Today, there are 4,500 farmers,

60 per cent of whom are women, with one to two hectares of land supplying food to the

exporters, says Henson. For most of them, the financial returns represent five to 10 per cent

of their income because they're not growing

large plots. The farmers also grow food for

their own consumption and for local markets. To get the farmers started, the export

companies provide them with inputs under

credit and offer training in areas such as water use, soil conservation and fertilizers.

"That allows them to improve all the

other crops they grow for their own con­sumption and sell locally," Henson says.

One of the biggest benefits in the farm­

ers' eyes is that they have a guaranteed mar­ket and minimum price, he says.

"Growing food for export also gives

them a sense of elevated status. They get satisfaction from knowing they're growing

a green bean that's going to be eaten in London or Paris."

The downside is that the farmers still

have to pay for failed crops.

"These are very vulnerable people with few alternatives," says Henson. "Most fail the first time they grow for export, so they

get locked into it, but they usually eventu­ally succeed and learn a lot in the process."

The exporter could get cheaper food from two large farms rather than thousands

of small ones, but in addition to getting higher-quality products from small farms, the exporter doesn't have to deal with man­

agement problems, says Henson.

[ global communities ]

~ countries • Turn the radio on in Africa

"The food is produced by women who are

used to growing kitchen gardens. You can't

mechanize the type of work they're doing."

He believes small producers can meet

western standards if they're just given a chance.

"Countries like Canada need to be sen­

sitive to the impact of the regulations they

enforce," he says. "It can be as simple as

someone at the Canadian Food Inspection

Agency laying down a requirement farmers

have to meet, without thinking about small

producers because we don't have one­

hectare farms here."

M ANY RuRAL African farmers

can't afford television and can't

read a government agriculture

fact sheet, but thanks to radio, they're learn­

ing how to improve crop production and

tap into global markets.

Rural extension studies professor Helen

Hambly Odame began a program called

"Linking Agricultural Research and Rural

Radio in Africa" while working for the Inter­

national Service for National Agricultural

Research, based in The Hague, and brought

the project to U of G when she joined the

faculty in September 2003.

In Cameroon, Ghana and Uganda, the

program has helped teams form among agri­

cultural researchers, extension workers and

radio employees to improve communication

with farmers. Scientists sometimes broad­

cast from farmers' fields to deliver up-to-date

agricultural research to rural farmers.

One of the teams in Uganda is working

on preventing infestations of malaria by

promoting the propagation and planting

out of neem trees, says Hambly Odame.

Medicinal properties of the neem are used

to combat the disease.

"They also talk about the importance of

cleaning up stagnant water where malarial

mosquitoes breed;' she says.

Her research shows that the project is

helping farmers gain valuable information

and communication they wouldn't other­

wise have access to.

"Most people in Africa are so remote,

resource-poor and without access to educa­

tion that television and newspapers are irrel­

evant in their lives," she says. "Radio broad­

casts in local languages, so even if people have

never been to school, they can understand

Community radio in Cameroon reaches rural

people who would otherwise be isolated from

important farming information.

the information being presented and engage

in discussion by providing feedback. For peo­

ple who can't read a newspaper, radio is some­

times their only means of access to the out­

side world. It also creates a sense of cultural

identity that can strengthen social and polit­

ical accountability within the community."

Rather than setting up a program that

relies on guidance from Hambly Odame and

her team, "Linking Agricultural Research

and Rural Radio in Africa" is designed to

develop self- reliance.

"That's why we believe in the partner­

ship/teamwork methodology," she says. "We

provide backstopping in terms of commu­

nicating with these teams and helping them

raise money locally and internationally."

Hambly Odame admits that team-build­

ing among groups that rarely talk to one

another wasn't easy when she began this

project in 2000, but she now knows that the

long-term impact of rural development lies

in such local partnerships.

Scientists and journalists realize that

only by working together can they provide

rural people with information needed to be

successful farmers, she says.

All over the world, new biotechnologies

and changing food-safety standards have

made the need for well-informed and open

agricultural communication processes even

greater, says Hambly Odame.

"Radio plays an important role in cre­

ating dialogue around these issues. Organ­

ic honey production in central-eastern

Africa, for example, has benefited from

radio because farmers hear that if they're

not using any agri-chemicals, they can pro­

duce honey that's potentially certified as

organic and export it to Europe." •

Fall2004 27

[ global communities • by penny williams ]

Making a world of difference: skills honed at the University of Guelph are harvested arot

AFTER A 33-YEAR CAREER spent

cultivating students at the Ontario

Agricultural College, Mike Jenkinson,

BSA '63 and M.Sc. '67, is now harvesting his

skills and experience on the road.

The retired assistant dean of OAC trav­

elled to Bolivia this winter on his first trip

to the country and his first assignment as a

volunteer with CESO, the Canadian Execu­

tive Service Organization. There, he worked

on agriculture and veterinary medicine cur­

riculum redesign with two of the country's

public universities, located in Cobija and

Trinidad, both in the Amazon Basin.

Founded in 1967, the volunteer-based

CESO provides economic development

expertise in Canada, the new market

economies of Central and Eastern Europe,

and developing nations around the world.

With Jenkinson in Bolivia was retired

crop science professor Neal Stoskopf, BSA

'57 and MSA '58, doing similar work with

the public universities in Tarija and Potosi,

the former tucked in a mountain valley and

the latter high on the altiplano. Stoskopf,

who retired 10 years ago, was also on his

first trip to Bolivia, but it was his 20th CESO

assignment. He has completed numerous

projects in China, but has also volunteered

in the Philippines and Bulgaria. This sum­

mer, he also shared his wheat-breeding

expertise with colleagues in Armenia.

z "I do it for adventure, challenge, to keep 0 ~ current in my field and, above all, because

~ I believe one person can make a difference,"

;; he says.

::;: Stoskopf is too modest to add that he >-~ has been nominated by CESO for the 2004

i3 Lewis Perinbam Award for International

iE Development, in recognition of just how

28 THE PORTICO

much difference he has made.

He and Jenkinson were in Bolivia from

Feb. 18 to March 31, 2004, under the

umbrella of CESO's multi-year Public Sec­

tor Reform Support Project. It is one of the

organization's four bilateral projects, each

a contract between CESO and the Canadi­

an International Development Agency

(CI DA), in which CESO volunteers execute

a component of the larger CIDA program

for the country in question.

"Pa rt of our work in Bolivia is with

municipal governments, helping them build

the infrastructure needed for sustainable

Neal Stoskopf, left, and Mike Jenkinson, right,

with interpreter Sergio Fernandez Ruelas at

a flag-raising ceremony to mark their CESO

project in Bolivia.

communities, so people don ' t have to

migrate to the cities;' says Enrique Williams,

CESO's area manager for the Americas. " In

education, our focus is at the university level.

The question is how to reform a system

based on old European models into a more

responsive market-oriented one that trains

Bolivians for real jobs and meets real needs."

Says Stoskopf: " I call it 21st-century cur­

riculum. Bolivia belongs to the World Trade

Organization, and it wants the agricultural

sector to earn hard currency. The potential

exists. The country is rich in natural gas and

mineral products, and it produces high­

quality beef and wines. But look at the uni­

versities! There's no concept of international

marketing or export standards and little idea

of economics. They're out of touch with the

real world."

He and Jenkinson went there to help fac­

ulties better connect with that real world,

recognize its opportunities and demands,

and explore more appropriate curriculum

and structural models. They had consider­

able relevant experience to offer.

Jenkinson specialized in curriculum

development and administration during his

career and learned about structural change

first-hand when the founding colleges

joined to form the University of Guelph.

During his years on campus, Stoskopf

taught 27 different courses in the Depart­

ment of Plant Agriculture's two-year, four­

year and master 's programs. His 13 years'

experience as director of the two-year

diploma course reinforced the down-to­

earth approach that both men were trying

to encourage in their Bolivian colleagues.

Take outreach activities, for example.

"There 's a network of outreach farms

[ global communities ]

t the globe through the Canadian Executive Service Organization

around the country, which is very encour­

aging, but they're sending four-year degree

students out there for a whole semester,"

says Stoskopf. "I suggested they create a

highly practical two-year program and have

its students handle the farm activities. Leave

the degree students to their studies, then

stream the best of those grads into a clearly

separated master's program, which would

be devoted to research on the farms."

Before leaving Bolivia, the men submit­

ted reports to the country's Ministry of

Higher Education (having first shared the

contents with their university contacts).

They're too experienced to expect that all

their recommendations will be accepted­

or even that all the accepted ones will be

implemented- but they're also experi­

enced enough to be hopeful.

"Change takes time," says Jenkinson.

"You plant ideas, and some develop. I could

see people really buying into our workshop

discussions because they were already think­

ing about these things."

Adds Stoskopf: "Now that I'm home, I'm

answering e-mails from some of the more

visionary professors, asking for further

information."

Jenkinson, the rookie volunteer adviser,

says he was a bit apprehensive before he

went to Bolivia, but CESO prepared him

well and supported him in the field.

Stoskopf, the old hand, just smiles. "You

can expect some trials and tribulations, an

upset stomach and probably a missed flight

as well. If you're going to be a volunteer

adviser, you have to be able to cope."

Both of them cope- in fact, they thrive.

"It's a chance to do real work that makes a

difference, to visit a country I'd never

In Mike Jenkinson's photos, the blue waters of

lake Titicaca contrast with the dry landscape

of the altiplano that surrounds it. This is one

of the most popular tourist destinations in

Bolivia. Agricultural terraces date to pre-Colom­

bian agricultural technologies that attempted

to use the most rugged and rocky areas of the

mountains for food production. In the flattened

bowl area around the town of Copacabana,

potatoes and fava beans are staple crops, while

grazing lands are central to a cattle-breeding

program at the Technical University of Beni.

otherwise see and to learn something about

its people," says Jenkinson.

Stoskopf notes that although the travel

"doesn't excite me anymore, the intellectual

challenge always does. It keeps me sharp."

He adds that he's sometimes criticized

for giving away knowledge and giving away

an opportunity to sell surplus food.

"!can't hope for crop failure elsewhere

just to make us richer," he says. "Further­

more, trade will occur only when countries

have the resources to buy our goods. The

people we help now will be our trading

partners tomorrow."

MORE THAN 50 ofCESO'scurrent

volunteer advisers have aU of G

connection, and together they have

completed almost 125 assignments. In addi­

tion to Neal Stoskopf and Mike Jenkinson,

the list includes plant agriculture professor

Lyn Kannenberg and retirees john Van Esch

of the Department of Food Science, David

Mowat of the Department of Animal and

Poultry Science, and Edwin Gamble, BSA

'52 and MSA '54, of the Department of Plant

Agriculture. In another role, Prof. Parvathi

Basrur, Biomedical Sciences, served as a

CESO board member from 1983 to 1991.

Pam Koch, CESO's contract director for

Asia (an area of high demand for volunteers

with agricultural expertise), praises Guelph

volunteer advisers for their "flexibility, adapt­

ability, high professional qualifications and

relevant experience." She note that CESO

assignments typically last one to four weeks,

with all related expenses fully covered.

In all sectors, the focus is increasingly on

economic impact. Agriculture assignments,

for example, stress agribusiness aspects such

as rural extension, value-added food pro-

cessing, breeding, quality/disease control, and

compliance with international standards.

To date, Stoskopf has completed 21

assignments. "Why do I bother?" he asks

with a grin. "Surely I've earned the right to

a quiet, relaxing retirement!" The grin fades

as he answers his own question. "We live in

an age of open systems. CESO offers a

means to penetrate old boundaries, form

new linkages and help shape this global civ­

ilization. As volunteers, we go without greed,

and we are welcomed."

For more information, visit www.ceso­

saco.com. •

Fall 2004 29

-

ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENTS • EVENTS • NETWORKING

uofguetph ALUMN The three alumni chosen to receive the 2004 University of Guelph Alumni Association (UGAA) awards share an entrepreneurial spirit and a drive for excellence.

Alumnus of Honour Donal McKeown, DVM '58, built a

career in both the United States and

Canada as a small-animal practition­er, orthopedic surgeon, educator and

specialist in animal behaviour. He

taught at OVC for many years and

has founded four business ventures

focused on small-animal health and

~ nutrition. He was recognized by the N UGAA for his leadership in the vet­

::c erinary profession, his contributions :i! z to education and his community :g; :'5 involvement. ..: z z :s ..:

Alumni Medal of Achievement Sue-Ann Staff, B.Sc.(Agr.) '94, took

over her family's estate winery in the

Niagara region in 1997 and has since

become one of Canada's most deco­rated winemasters. Her wines have

claimed top prize in several interna­

tional competitions, including her

Riesling icewine, which won double gold from the American Wine Soci­

ety. She was named Ontario Wine­

maker of the Year in 2002, becoming

the youngest winner and the first

woman to receive the award.

~ To read full citations for the UGAA alumni awards, visit www.uoguelph.ca/news/alumnus. z 0

~ "' f-V)

~ z Recycled ~ coffee ::;;:

~ Coffee is the most important

"' <.9 agricultural commodity >-~ in the world, says food

5 scientist Massimo Marcone, ii: and Kopi Luwak coffee

30 THE PoRTico

beans from Indonesia are

the most prized. Marcone

gave Alumni Weekend guests a taste of this

$600-a-pound coffee and

described his lab analysis that proved there really is

something different about

Alumni Volunteer Award Bruce Stone, BSA '53 and MSA '54,

has been a quiet but effective leader since his student days at OAC.

During his 41-year career as an OAC

faculty member, he taught courses in

dairy cattle production and managed

research funds from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Over the years, he has championed

numerous fundraising projects for the college and its students. His vol­

unteer work also extends to 4-H

Ontario and community groups.

coffee beans that travel through the digestive tract

of the small cat-like Luwak.

The animal has a taste for

ripe coffee cherries, but excretes the bean inside.

Not all of Marcone's guests

had a taste for the coffee.

MATTERS Canada, several from the United States

and an international contingent that

included Dorothy Barrales, DVM '52 and

M.Sc. '83, of Chile; Doodnath Kanhai,

DVM '56, of Trinidad; Gwendolyn Tonge,

DHE '59, of Antigua; and Peel Holroyd,

ADA '61, of England.

U of G received greetings from many

graduates who were unable to attend.

Here are comments from three of them:

"Three generations of my family we11t to Guelph. This started with my father; who was there from 1898 to 1902. I was very proud to see my grandson graduate in 1995."

MARY A.M. REGAN, DHE '38

Several graduates in their 90s attended the Honorary Companion ceremony, including 94-year­

old Marie Hardacre, DHE '30, of Toronto, who was both the oldest and earliest graduate to

receive a certificate from U of G chancellor Lincoln Alexander, left, and president Alastair

Summerlee.

"It is a long time si11ce the day we walked behind the barbed wire to War Memorial Hall to receive our degrees from The Hon­ourable William Mulock. In his kindly voice, the chancellor said: 'God bless you, my boy.' We in year '42 needed that blessing because the war raging was to claim the lives of four of those graduates, as well as many others who did not complete their four years. To them, we owe the privilege that you now afford to those of us who have survived."

SPECIAL EVENT,

MORE THAN 400 people who graduat­

ed from Guelph's founding colleges

attended a special convocation ceremony

june 25 as part of the University's

40th-anniversary celebration.

Prior to the establishment of the Uni­

versity of Guelph on May 8, 1964, degrees

and diplomas were awarded by the Uni­

versity of Toronto, but the loyalty of the

OVC export earns kudos Ted Valli, DVM '62, M.Sc. '66

and PhD '70, began his academ­

ic career as a professor in OVC's

Department of Pathology, later

serving as department chair and

SPECIAL ALUMNI

LLOYD MITTON, BSA '42 graduates of Macdonald Institute, the

Ontario Agricultural College and the

Ontario Veterinary College has always

been to Guelph. The University chose to

recognize that loyalty and the contribu­

tions of those college alumni by awarding

them the Honorary Companion of the

University of Guelph.

"The fact that the University of Guelph continues to grow and command respect throughout the world gives me a deep feeling of both humbleness and pride that such an honour will be bestowed 011 me. My most sin­

cere thanks and gratitude to the University." The event drew alumni from across NoRMAN LEw McBRIDE, DVM '38

associate dean of research. He the OVC Alumni Association's

left the college to serve as dean Distinguished Alumnus for

of the College of Veterinary 2004, Valli said much of his pro-

Medicine at the University of fessionallife has been modelled

Ill inois, a position he held for after that of his mentor, Bernard

two terms. Valli continues to McSherry, DVM '42 and MSA

teach diagnostic pathology at '57, who stimulated Valli's inter-

Illinois. When he was named est in clinical pathology.

Fall 2004 31

-o I 0 --; 0 Vl

co -< Cl

"' J> z --;

s: J>

"' ::::! z

u of g AI,UMNI MATTERS ALUMNI WEEKEND: A GOOD TIME HAD BY ALL!

Enjoying the Saturday-night alumni pub, from

left, are: Paul Reeds, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79; Timothy

Ross, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79; Tracey Whiting; and

Diane Reeds.

Catching up at the welcome barbecue are,

from left: Gerry Green, DVM '59; Betty

Maidment; OVC alumni officer Elizabeth

Lowenger; Guy Giddings, DVM '59; and

Mary Green, ADA '6o.

~ Alumni who toured the President's House

~ were greeted by president Alastair Summerlee

~ and his wife, Catherine, right. Visitors,

~ from left, are: Andrew Macdonald; Allyson

~ McElwain, MA 'o4; Patricia Eton-Neufeld,

i B.Sc. 'So and BA '86; and Gerald Neufeld.

~ The 1882 stone house is being redecorated

C3 and furnished with Canadian antiques and >-~ art and campus artifacts to enrich its histori-

::::' cal significance to the University and the City 0

~ of Guelph.

32 TH E PoRTI CO

Tours of the Hagen Aqua lab were well·

attended by younger visitors.

The phased restoration of the conservatory

greenhouse was completed this summer,

thanks to additional gifts from Don Ruther·

ford, BSA '51; Sandra and Peter Hannam,

B.Sc.(Agr.) '62; June Laver, DHE '40, and Keith

Laver, BSA '40; and Wendy Shearer, BLA '81.

Once again functioning as a teaching green·

house, the conservatory features limestone

from the old barn removed from the site of

Rozanski Hall.

After eight hours of making floral arrange·

ments for Alumni Weekend dinner tables,

these volunteer florists still had a sense of

humour. From left are Danielle Angel;

Johanne Blansche, B.H.Sc. '82; and Lisanne

Dore. The roses were donated by Peter and

Andrew Thiessen, B.Sc.(Agr.) '97. of Thiessen

Greenhouse and Flowers in Leamington, Ont.

Enjoying their first visit to campus in 25

years, Margaret, B.H.Sc. '69, and Murray

Ellis, B.Sc.(Agr.) '69, helped paint the

cannon . Now retired, the Ellises live in Des

Moines, Iowa, where she was a financial

planner and he was retail sales manager

for Monsanto.

KooKee the Clown entertained the kids

at Alumni Weekend. In real life, he's Ken

Cooke, an electronics technologist on

campus with Teaching Support Services.

SEPT. 24

SEPT. 25

Networking for HTM grads

HAFA AND HTM

graduates are invited to the alumni association's

24th annual hospitality

reception Oct. 18 from 5 to 8 p.m. at

the Toronto Marriott "rport, 901 Dixon Rd.

Co-hosted by the School of Hospitality

and Tourism Manage­ment, the evening will

include a guest speaker,

annual general meeting and silent auction in

support of the Tim Horton Children's

Foundation and HAFA

Alumni Association

scholarships. The cost

of the reception is $10; RSVP to eventrsvp@

uoguelph.ca. If you can donate an auction

item, contact Brenda York, MBA '00, at

brendayork@

pkfcanada.com.

HOSPITALITY grads

will get together again

Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m.for a meet-and-mingle

evening at Vinnie's Bar

and Grill in downtown Toronto- Duncan

and Adelaide near

King Street in the entertainment district.

No cover charge; bring a friend. For more information , contact

Eric Chou, B.Comm. '96, at chou@cvb.com.

J'M ALUMNI otunteers are needed

for the school's careers

night Jan . 25, 2005, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the new atrium.

Meet old friends,

visit campus and help

to mentor current

students. If you can help out, contact

Brenda York at brendayork@ pkfcanada.com.

THE PORTICO Editor, Mary Dickieson m .d i cki eson@exec. uoguelp h. ca

519·824·4120. Ext. 58706

GRAD NEWS UPDATES

alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

U OF G ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

~ alumni@uoguelph.ca www.alumni.uoguelph.ca

('[) ALUMNI AFFAIRS

Director, Susan Rankin

~ sran ki n@uoguelph.ca College of Arts, Deborah Mas kens dmaskens@uoguelph.ca CBS/CPES, Sam Kosakowski -c alumni@uoguelph.ca CSAHS, Laurie Malleau lmalleau@uoguelph.ca OAC, Carla Bradshaw cbradsha@oac.uoguelph.ca OVC, Elizabeth Lowenger lowenger@uoguelph.ca Events/Co mmunications, Jennifer Brett Fraser jbrett@uoguelph.ca Chapters, Mary Feldskov mfeldsko@uoguelph.ca

DEVELOPMENT

College of Arts, Deborah Maskens dmaskens@uoguelph.ca CBS/CPES, Katherine Smart smart@uoguelph.ca CSAHS, alumni@uoguelph.ca OAC, Paulette Samson psamson@uoguelph.ca OAC, Cathy Voight cvoight@uoguelph.ca OVC, Laura Manning lmanning@ovc.uoguelph.ca Student Affairs, Susan Lawrenson alumni@uoguelph.ca

ALUMNI ONLINE COMMUNITY

www.olcnetwork.net/uoguelph.ca

CENTRE FOR

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

Job postings, Jan Walker jwalker@uoguelph.ca -ALUMNI HOUSE

519·824·4120. Ext. 56934

U OF G WEBSITE

www.uoguelph.ca

Fall2004 33

~· -- -

CAREERS • FAMILIES • LIFE EXPERIENCES • MEMORIES

t university of guelph

"" L.U

:5 g: z <t L.U 0

0 z

Order of Canada

TWO GuELPH GRADUATES and

two faculty made us proud this

summer by being named to the Order

of Canada. Audrey McLaughlin, DHE

'55, and Terry Clifford, BSA '61, accept­

ed their insignias May 14. Biomedical

scientist Parvathi Basrur and English

professor and writer Thomas King

were appointed July 29 for investiture

at a future ceremony in Ottawa.

• A former member of Parliament for

Yukon Territory and the first woman

~ Audrey Mclaughlin was leader of the L.U

~ New Democratic Party when she spoke to

f§ Guelph alumni in 1999 about the leader~ >-~ ship role of women in federal politics. ~ -----------------------------

~ elected leader of a federal political par­

~ ty, McLaughlin worked to represent

~ northern interests and advocate for

~ social justice. Since leaving politics, she

~ has worked with the National Demo­

g cratic Institute to encourage peace and

~ democracy in developing nations. In "' i5 2000 and 2003, she travelled to Koso-

~ vo to work with women running in the <t ~ region's first democratic elections.

~ • Clifford has dedicated himself to

[3 working with Canadian youth. He has

it been a teacher and administrator and

34 THE PoRnco

served as a member of Parliament for

several years. After leaving public life,

he founded Global Vision International

Terry Clifford was a keynote speaker at

the 2002 Recognition of Leadership

Conference that hosted the first class

in U of G's post-graduate diploma

program in leadership.

in London, Ont., an organization that

offers mentoring and educational

opportunities. Regional training cen­

tres, located in universities across the

country, have connected thousands of

students with sponsor corporations

and allowed many to participate in

Team Canada trade missions to learn

first-hand about globalization.

Parvathi Basrur received a lifetime

achievement award in 2003 from the

YMCA-YWCA of Guelph's Women of

Distinction awards program.

• Basrur is a world-recognized and

highly respected authority on veteri­

nary genetics and its application in

livestock production. Born in Kerala,

India, she became the first female pro­

fessor to join a Canadian veterinary

college when she came to Guelph in

1959. She officially retired from the

Department of Biomedical Sciences in

1995 but has continued her teaching

and studies. Basrur has received near­

ly $2 million in research grants over

the years and has represented Canada

on international projects that have

improved global food production.

• King is one of Canada's most well­

known and respected authors. In May,

he won Ontario's premier prize for lit­

erary excellence, the Trillium Book

Award. His book The Truth About Sto­

rieswas published from his 2003 Cana­

da Massey Lectures, which were pre­

sented over nine days in five provinces.

They were recorded and broadcast on

Through his writing, Thomas King has

demonstrated the power of stories and

the vitality of Aboriginal culture.

the CBC Radio program Ideas. King

has written four best-selling novels,

numerous television scripts and the

award-wining Dead Dog Cafe Comedy

Hour, a popular CBC Radio show. In

January 2003, he received the Nation­

al Aboriginal Achievement Award for

arts and culture.

DNEWS

Three members of the Guelph dragon boat team, from left: Donna Castled ine,

Maureen Smith and Sylvia Willms, BA 'So.

Rowing for the survivors A Guelph dragon boat team that includes

several U of G alumni and employees was

photographed this summer at the end of

a Belleville, Ont. , race support ing breast

cancer research. This boat carrying the U

of G co lou rs was one of six crewed by

teams of breast cancer survivors. They're

listening to the wo rds of Sa rah Mcl ach­

lan's song I Will Remember You as pink

carnations are tossed into the lake in trib-

A NOBLE SuMMER

ACCLAIMED CANADIAN

actor Peter Donaldson, BA '75,

a graduate of Guelph's drama

program, spent the summer on stage at

the Stratford Festival of Canada, where

he played the lead role in Shakespeare's

Timon of Athens. The play was well­received by critics, both for Donaldson's

portrayal of the extravagant nobleman and for the set design, which displayed

the talents of another Guelph drama grad, Lorenzo Savoini, BA '97.

ute to the ir co urage and in memory of

those who did not survive. More than so

women belong to Gue lph BreastStrokes

teams. They use U of G facili ties for year·

round tra ining and are coached by Pat

Richards of the Department of Ath let ics

and Linda Caston, An imal and Poultry Sci­

ence. BreastStrokes is part of a cross­

Ca nada effort to raise funds and spiri ts

in the fight against breast cancer.

Gryphons play for Canada

Current rugby Gryphon Leanne

Ashworth and former Gryphons

Brooke Hilditch, B.Sc. '03, and Leigh­

Anne Swayne, B.Sc.'o1, represented

Canada at the inaugural Federation

internationale du sport universitaire

World University Women's Rugby

Championships in China Sept. 15

to 18. The Canadian team included

all-star players from 10 universities.

History thrives on diversity wo U of G history graduates ran

in the Guelph-Wellington riding

during the 2004 federal election :

Peter Ellis, MA '70, for the Christian

Heritage Party and Phil AUt, MA '83,

for the New Democratic Party. Liberal

incumbent Brenda Chamberlain held

on to the seat.

Graduates take the stage

The june 2004 graduating class at

U of G was larger by a third than

the entire student body of the Univer­

sity when it gained degree-granting

privileges in 1964. More than 2,6oo

degrees and diplomas were awarded,

including honorary degrees to six:

john (ripton, BA '70, a Canadian

producer and arts advocate;

Robert Gordon, president of

Humber College in Toronto;

Burnley "Rocky" jones, a lawyer

and human rights activist;

Eric Hultman, an internationally

renowned exercise

biochemistry researcher;

Fuller Bazer, an animal scientist

at Texas A&M University; and

Pedro Sanchez, co-chair of the

United Nations Millennium Pro­

ject Task Force on World Hunger.

Guelph has granted 246 honorary

degrees over the past 40 years to

honour recipients and provide impres·

sive examples of accomplishments to

graduates.

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Fall 2004 35

1950 • Eleanor Knott Crabtree,

B.H.Sc. '56, was awarded an

Eleanor Knott Crabtree

honorary doctor of divinity

degree by the Presbyterian

College of McGill University in

May. She spent 23 years work­

ing as a missionary in India, in

both educational and medical

settings. She returned to Canada

in 1981 and worked with inter­

national students at Carleton

University and the University

of Ottawa for 12 years. She now

lives in Meaford, Ont., with her

husband, Alan Crabtree, and

is president of the Women's

Missionary Society Presbyterial.

In 2003, U of G presented her

with a Macdonald Institute

Centenary Award.

1960 • Radhey Lal Kushwaha, MSA

'64, received the Maple Leaf

award for distinguished leader­

ship from the Canadian Society

Radhey Lal Kushwaha

of Agricultural Engineering

(CSAE/SCG ). He has been a

professor of agricultural and

bioresource engineering at the

University of Saskatchewan

smce 1986 and has served

CSAE/SCG in various capaci­

ties, including two terms as

president. The recipient of

numerous professional awards,

he is currently a councillor of

the Association of Professional

Engineers and Geoscientists of

Saskatchewan, a member of the

qualifications board of the

Canadian Council of Profes­

sional Engineers and the Cana­

dian secretary on the board of

the International Society for

Terrain-Vehicle Systems.

• Rick McCracken, B.Sc.(Eng.)

'69, received the BASF Innova­

tive Farmer of the Year Award

in February at the Innovative

Farmers Association of Ontario

conference. He and his wife,

Betty, BA '69, farm with his

parents near Melbourne, Ont.

They raise laying hens and pul­

lets and grow corn, soybeans,

wheat, white beans and hay.

Rick also runs a custom plant­

ing business. He was praised for

his promotion of soil conser­

vation practices and encour­

agement of agricultural stew­

ardship in Ontario.

1970 • Bob Bernhardt, B.Sc. '74,

became president and CEO of

the Canadian College of Natur­

opathic Medicine in North

York, Ont., July l. He was pre­

viously vice-president at DeVry

College of Technology and

director of education at the Law

Society of Upper Canada.

• Christy Doraty, BA '74, paint­

ed the Great Hall in Toronto's

Union Station as part of a series

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of four watercolours that com­

memorated the building's 94

Christine Doraty takes detailed

photographs to help guide her

architectural paintings.

years of service in 2000. The

paintings are now on display in

the train station. Over the last 20

years, Doraty has created an

extensive portfolio of more than

100 watercolour paintings of

homes, buildings and landscapes

that form a detailed collection

of Canadiana. Her work looks

into everyday life, the reality of

people's lives and all that goes

.SP

with a rural or urban lifestyle.

She lives in the rural communi­

ty of Arthur, Ont., with her artist

husband, Michael, BA '74, and

their three daughters, Bridget,

Samantha and Maggie, who is

studying child studies at U of G.

• Marie Hardy, DVM '80, and

her husband, Jim, B.Sc. '78, live

in Waterloo, Ont., with their

children, Matthew, Rachel and

Michael. After graduation,

Marie worked in a large-animal

practice in Woodstock for three

years, then moved to small-ani­

mal medicine in Waterloo.

• James Ho, M.Sc. '72, is divi­

sion manager for Weng Shung

Tradings in Malaysia. He writes

that he is proud to be a grad of

Canada's top comprehensive

university.

• Julianne Koivisto, B.A.Sc. '79,

received a master of divinity

degree in May from Luther

Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. In

June, she was ordained as a

parish pastor at First Lutheran

Church in Calgary.

• Melanie Macdonald, BA '70,

was recently appointed president

and CEO of World Neighbors,

Inc., in Oklahoma City, Okla.

She joined the organization after

operating her own consulting

company, the Hopetown Group,

in Lanark, Ont. She has more

than 26 years' experience in non­

profit management, from local

to international organizations.

For more information, visit

www.wn.org.

• Susan (Thompson) Roy, BA

'74, mourns the loss of her hus­

band, Robert Roy, B.Sc.(Agr.)

'73 and M.Sc. '75, after his

courageous battle with cancer.

He died June 16. Susan lives in

Simcoe, Ont., with her daugh­

ter, Melissa.

1980 • Suzanne Barwick, BA '84, says

life is busy in Montreal. She had

a baby girl in June 2003, six

SEND A NOTICE TO GRAD NEWS

months after adopting a baby

boy. She'd like to hear from

U of G friends at suzanne.bar­

wick@sympatico.ca.

• Tom Droppo, B.Sc.(Agr.) '80

and M.Sc. '82, resigned from his

17-year position as dairy spe­

cialist with Manitoba Agriculture

and Food to take on a new

position with Managro Harves­

tore Systems Ltd. as its manager

of business development. He

lives in Winnipeg and has two

daughters, Megan and Saman­

tha, both at university.

• Bruce Drysdale, BA '89, has

been appointed vice-president,

government and public affairs,

at Inco Limited in Toronto. He

had served as director of gov­

ernment affairs since 1999.

Before joining lnco, he worked

for GPC International, a public

affairs consultancy, and has

been an adviser to various cab­

inet ministers in the Canadian

government.

Name ______________________________________________________ _

reaches 78,000 Guelph graduates

Degree -----------------------------

Address _______________________ ___

To place your business ad, contact Scott Anderson 519·827·9169. theandersondifference@ rogers. com www.uoguelph.ca/adguide

City _________________________ _

Prov./State -----------------------

Postal Code _________ Home Phone ___________ _

E-mail _________________________ __

Occupation ________________________________________________ ___

Grad News Update ___________________ _

Send update to:

Alumni Records, University of Guelph, Guelph ON N1G 2W1

Phone: 519-822-2760

E-mail: alumnirecords@uoguelph.ca

Fall2004 37

-

• Leslie Drysdale, BA '85, recently won a commission to

create a life-sized bronze statue

of Ontario pioneer Augustus

jones and an accompanying bronze of a hawk, tree stump

and rattlesnake. }ones was a

provincial surveyor in the

1790s. The statues were com­

missioned by Drysdale's home­town of Hamilton, Ont., and

will be placed at the Stoney Creek Olde Town Square. The

artist has completed several

outdoor bronze sculptures in Toronto, Burlington and Bar­

rie, but this will be his first

installation in Hamilton.

• Cecily "Cissy" Flemming,

M.Sc. '88, and her partner, David

Fleguel, announce the home

birth of their big baby boy, Adam Emerson Flemming, Feb. 17,

2004. Friends can contact them

at cflemming@nalco.com.

• Lesley Healy, BA '81, lives in

Pompano Beach, Fla., and is a

teacher for Palm Beach Coun­

ty. She would like to hear from friends at lahbaa@aol.com.

• Bruce Hobin, M.Sc. '88, became executive director/regis­

trar of the Saskatchewan Insti­

tute of Agrologists in Saskatoon in june. He continues his posi­

tion with the extension division

of the University of Saskatchewan

on a part-time basis.

• Kevin Hosler, B.Sc.(Agr.) '83 and M.Sc. '99, has relocated to

Cornwall, Ont., to become an

area supervisor for the Ministry

of the Environment in the

operations division. He joined

the ministry in the Halton-Peel

district office in Burlington in 2001. The previous 18 years of

his career were largely spent

researching and developing

environmental remediation

technologies at the Canada

Centre for Inland Waters in

Burlington.

• Colin Okashimo, BLA '82, continues his consulting prac­

tice of landscape architecture in

Singapore. He completed a master's degree in sculpture at

the London Institute in Eng­

land and is now completing his

second year of doctoral

research. He also teaches in the

architecture college at the National University of Singa­

pore and maintains a studio

practice in sculpture.

• Adrian Park, B.Sc. '85, has

been named head of general

surgery at the University of

Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore and has joined the

faculty of the University of

Maryland School of Medicine.

He was formerly at the Univer­

sity of Kentucky, where he spent

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six years as a professor of surgery and director of the

Center for Minimally Invasive

Surgery. Prior to that, he was on

the faculty of McMaster Uni­

versity, where he earned his medical degree. In 1999, Park

was awarded the University of

Guelph Alumni Association

Medal of Achievement.

• Oswald Schmitz, B.Sc. '82 and M.Sc. '85, has been

appointed associate dean of

academic affairs in the School

of Forestry and Environmental

Studies at Yale University.

1990 • Darlene Cober, B.A.Sc. '99, recently moved to Pennsylva­

nia, where she is an emergency

room nurse at the Mercy Hos­pital in Scranton.

• Heidi (Maj) Dening, B.Sc. '98

and '00, completed a master's

degree in biomedical commu­

nications at the University of

Toronto in 2003 and is cur­

rently working on an educa­tional website at the Hospital

for Sick Children in Toronto.

She and Ryan Dening were

married June 26. Visit their

website at www.dening.ca.

• Stephen, B.Sc. '91, and Stacy Favrin, B.Sc. '94 and M.Sc. '98,

are celebrating the birth of a

son, Trenton James, on May 29.

They live in Guelph.

• Lee Gould, B.Sc. '93, has been

named executive director of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital

Foundation in Cambridge, Ont.

• Vineet Gupta, B.Sc. '94, is a middle school teacher in Mis­

sissauga, Ont., and is working

on a master's degree at Brock

University. He says he has

attended five universities, "and

my experience at Guelph was by far the best one."

• Andrea Kirkham, B.Sc. '95,

has been named the 2004 recip­

ient of a graduate award spon­

sored by the Dietitians of Cana­

da . She is an M.Sc. student in nutritional sciences at the Uni­

versity of Toronto, where she is

studying how women engaged

in a healthy lifestyle manage the

many, often conflicting messages

about weight in our culture.

• Jane Lewis, BA '95, has pub­lished four books for young

adults and recently began a

singing career. She recorded an independent CD, Feel, with her

partner, Sam Turton, and also

performs with his band in

Guelph, southern Ontario and

even in New York City. When

not writing or singing, she works

as a freelance editor and design­er. To follow her career, visit

www.tealeafpress.com or e-mail

to lewis@tealeafpress.com.

• Sarah Jane Meharg, BLA '96,

is the senior research associate

in the department of research

and program development at the Pearson Peacekeeping Cen­

tre in Clemenstport, N.S. She is

an expert on post-conflict

reconstruction theory and com­

bines her Guelph degree with an MA in war studies from the

Royal Military College of Cana­

da and a PhD in cultural geog­

raphy from Queen's University.

She is designing curriculum taught to both military and

humanitarian peace operation

workers and is co-authoring a

book on "identicide;' the inten­

tional destruction of culturally

symbolic places during armed conflict, such as the World

Trade Centre and the Iraq

National Museum.

• Karen Morrison, M.Sc.(Eng.) '95, was recently inducted into

the University of Toronto Sports

Hall of Fame. When she enrolled

at Toronto in 1987, she compet­ed with the Blues men's water

polo team for two years before a women's team was launched.

She later coached the women's

team, earning the OVA Coach

of the Year award for 2001/02;

was a member of the Canadian women's national team from

1989 to 1997; and played semi­

pro water polo in both France

and Mexico. With the Canadian

squad, she participated in four

World Cups and two World

Championships. She was also a decorated competitive swimmer

and was an OWIAA medallist

and CIAU finalist in 1994 and

1995 while completing a

master's degree at Guelph, where

she is currently enrolled in a

PhD program. Outside the pool

and the classroom, she has

served as associate director of the International Council for

Local Environmental Initiatives.

• Joni (Stephen), B.Sc. '96, and Steven Poplawski, BA '97, have

been married for five years and

have two children. They live in

Georgetown, Ont. She develops

management software pro­grams, and he is a fraud inves­

tigator with the Peel Regional

Police. Friends can contact them

at j.poplawski@sympatico.ca.

• Greg, B.Sc.(Agr.) '95, and Mary Lou (Stewart) Ricard,

B.Sc. '96, have both a new baby

and a new home in Seaforth,

Ont. Gavin James was born Jan. 19. Friends can contact them at

ricardfamily@tcc.on.ca.

Laura Taylor

• Laura Taylor, BA '99, launched her first book, A Taste for Paprika, at the Eden Mills

Writers' Festival Sept. 12. The

book is a non-fiction narrative

about the layered relationships

among a grandmother, a moth­

er and a daughter. Taylor stud­

ied creative writing at U of G and at the University of Alber­

ta, where she earned a master's

degree. She lives in Guelph and

works as a freelance writer and

photographer. She is also writ­

ing a science book on cottage culture with U of G zoology

professor Gerry Mackie.

• Julie Gold Steinberg, PhD '96,

is a plant pathologist with Agri­

culture and Agri-Food Canada

at the Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg. Her current project

involves assessing more than 12,000 Avena (oat) accessions

from 23 species for resistance to

new virulent races of oat stem

rust. She married psychiatrist

Bob Steinberg in 2002. She has

two grown children and seven

grandchildren, three of whom she and her husband have

adopted. She welcomes e-mail

at jgold@agr.gc.ca.

• Kathy Walls, BA '97, has

earned a degree in library sci­

ence as a part-time student at

the University of Toronto. This fall, she plans to remarry and

begin a new job as a librarian at

the Burlington Public Library.

One of her three children is

currently attending U of G.

• Kyle Walters, B.Comm. '01, returned to U of G this summer

as assistant football coach. A

member of the football Gryphons from 1992 to 1996,

he was a two-time OUA All­

Star and All-Canadian. After

graduation, he played for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats and began

his coaching career with the team as assistant special teams

coach. He is also a personal

trainer and is completing an

education degree. 2000 • Jason Dunkerley, BA '03, was honoured by the Sport Alliance

of Ontario as a finalist in the

Ontario Male Athlete With a

Disability category in 2003 and

recipient of a James Worrall Award in 2004. At the Interna­

tional Blind Sports Federation

World Championships in Que­

bec City in 2003, he won gold

in the 800m event and later won the I ,500m event after los­

ing a shoe early in the race. He

has been training and com pet-

Fall2004 39

ing with his guide, Greg Dailey, since 1998. Dunkerley was a

member of the cross-country

Gryphons from 1998 to 2003, won the gold medal in the 1,500m at the International

Paralympic Committee Worlds in 2002 and was a silver medal­list in the 1,500m at the Para­

lympic Games in 2000.

among low-income Canadians, particularly on the relationship

between housing affordability and food security.

• Gord Lovell, B.Comm. '00, manages Montana's Cookhouse in Winnipeg and was married

July 2 to Karen Schnell.

places in Guelph," says Peasley. They met as students on a bus excursion to Oktoberfest in 1998.

She is now completing a master's degree on her way to a PhD in counselling psychology, and he is working on a master's in neu­roscience. They can be reached at chrisandelysegetmarried@

sym patico.ca.

• Sharon Kirkpatrick, B.A.Sc. '00, is the 2004 recipient of a Dietitians of Canada graduate award sponsored by McCain Foods (Canada). Her research

focuses on food security issues

• Sandra (Venneri) Schultz, B.Sc. '02, and her husband,

Michael, celebrated the arrival

of their first child, Emily, in December 2003. Sandra is cur­rently writing a book on nutri­tion while enjoying their daugh­ter at home in London, Ont.

Elyse Peasley and Christopher Scott • Robin (Smith) Shutt, B.Sc. '00, is completing a PhD pro­

gram in pharmacology at Dal­housie University in Halifax.

She was married in October

2003 to Tim Shutt.

John Alexander, BSA '57, in 2004

Alan Appleton, B.Sc. '77, in 2004

EdwardAtril, DVM '52, Dec. 19,2003

Malcolm Baker, DVM '50, July 11, 2004

Donald Broadfoot, BSA '50,

Dec. 16, 2003 Jeanne (Doane) Bulman, DHE '50,

in 2003 Ivy (Campion) Burt, DHE '33,

Feb.25,2002 David Cameron, B.Sc. 'SO, April I, 2004 Edward Casey, BSA '57, Oct. 21,2003 Daniel Coxon, BA '77, in 2004

Gertrude (Stephenson) Demorest,

DHE '29, September 2003 William Derry, BSA '38, Nov. 12,2003

Kathryn Easton, DHE '28, in 2002

Florence Endico, DHE '29,

September 2000 John English, ADA' 41, date unknown

Morris Frankel, DVM '54, June 2004 Lawrence Gosnell, BSA '49,

March 23, 2004 Clifford Grey, DVM '59, in 2003

Marilyn Hamilton, B.Sc. '74, in 2002 Peter Harshman, M.Sc. '71,

July 29, 2004 Richard Hellings, DVM '40, in 2004

Howard Horton, BSA '34,

September 2003 Isabelle (Habkirk) Howson, DHE '38,

Feb. 13,2004

40 THE PoRTico

• Christopher Scott, B.Sc. '03, and Elyse Peasley, BA '01, were

married June 5 at the Arbore­tum-"one of our favourite

PASSAGES

Richard James, BSA '38, April 15, 2004 Joan Johnson, BA '77, Nov. 12, 2003

Robert Kaill, MSA '63, May 5, 2004 Thomas Kalm, DVM '59, May 14, 2004

John Kelso, B.Sc.(Agr.) '67 and M.Sc.

'69, May 18, 2004

Johan Koeslag, M.Sc. '51, date unknown

Kristjan Kristjanson, MSA '45, in 1999 Betty (Gibson) Leadlay, DHE '34,

July 9, 2004 Jean (Miller) Leask, DHE '47,

Dec. 31, 2003

Bruce McCutcheon, DVM '54,

Jan. 23, 2004 William McEwen, BSA '43,

June 17,2004 James McKee, ADA '55, Nov. 2, 2002 William McMillan, BSA '45,

date unknown Isabel Millage, DHE '58, Jan. 17, 2004 Susan Morton, BA '76, in 2004

Murray Nicholson, PhD '81,

Dec. 9, 2003 Wilmer Nuttall, DVM '46,

June 27, 2003 Nina Paxton, DHE '39, Feb. 12, 2004

Edward Phelan, BSA '39,

March 2004 Ralph Pieper, B.Sc.(Agr.) '79,

Feb.26,2004 Arnold Reinke, BSA '34, May 18, 2002

William Robbins, BSA '48,

April IS, 2004

Robert Roy, B.Sc.(Agr.) '73,

June 15,2004 David Scott, B.Sc. '77, May 26, 2004 Anne (Albinson) Sheldon, DHE '34,

Dec. 28, 2001 Harry Shortt, DVM '49, july I, 2004

Alexander Simpson, BSA '42,

March 24, 2004 Margaret L. Smith, BA '78,

May 17, 2004 Roland Stannard, ODH '65,

May 14,2004

Jean Steeds, DHE '36, date unknown Douglas Stewart, DVM '51,

May 22,2004 John Stinson, BA '87, April 5, 2004

Margaret Strang, DHE '36, in 2004

Margaret Suggitt, DHE '39, Jan. 6, 2002

Douglas Tipper, BSA '48, june 20,2004 Robert Weber, BSA '41, May 11, 2004

Elizabeth Whitley, B.H.Sc. '57, April 2, 2004

Gaye Wiebe, B.H.Sc. '65, Feb. 28, 2004

Donald Wright, BSA '54, April 2004

Deceased notices for University of Guelph

graduates are printed in The Portico

following notification to Alumni Records

at 519-824-4120, Ext. 56934, or alumni

records@uoguelph.ca.

h personal care a d attention!

As a member of the University of Guelph Alumni Association, you have a

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THE PORTICO LINKS THE PAST WITH OUR FUTURE

I N 18 55, Guelph stonemason Matthew Bell crafted and built a limestone entrance for the farmhouse on

a 500-acre property owned by Frederick W. Stone. When

the Stone farm was purchased as a college site in 1874, the house was used as both classroom and residence.

Additional storeys and wings were added over the years,

and in 1929 the whole building was razed to make way

for the construction of today's Johnston Hall. The por­

tico was saved. It was stored until 1934, when it was

rebuilt in its present location and dedicated by alumni

as a connecting link between the past and present. A

later generation of alumni chose the portico to serve as a symbol for the first University of Guelph develop­

ment fund in 1969, and a restoration project in 1999

saw still another group of alumni save the weathered

landmark from deterioration. Today, as it has been for

nearly 70 years, the portico is a favourite place to take

convocation photos.