Features

During his time at Ridgetown Campus, Andrew Vokes (Associate Diploma in Agriculture, 2018) discovered the variety of club and association opportunities available to youth interested in agriculture and farming in southwestern Ontario. After returning home to Manitoulin Island, he decided to form his own association to support people ages 16-40 who are interested in collaboratively learning about production agriculture. We recently chatted with Andrew about his new association and his hopes for the future.

Horses are highly-adapted performance animals, but one unexplained adaption – a very delicate gastrointestinal tract – is their Achilles heel.

Like humans, horses’ stomachs contain acid to digest and break down their food and mucus to protect the stomach wall against the acid. But for a vaguely inexplicable reason, horses do not have mucus on the top half of their stomachs. This causes all sorts of issues, including gastric ulcers.

In fact, gastrointestinal diseases are the leading cause of death in horses.

After 10 years as chief environmental officer, Karen Clarke-Whistler (M.Sc. in Land Resource Science, 1980) recently retired from TD Bank. She sat down with us to talk environmental business strategy and recap the role.

On November 24 and 25, 2018, the annual University of Guelph Alumni Hockey Tournament took place. OAC alumni throughout the years gathered at the University of Guelph Arena to try their luck at this year’s title. The graduates of OAC 1984 were short a few alumni and allowed me, Anna, to join the “Old Mules” for the tournament and the festivities that followed. Here's a re-cap on the day's events.

We asked U of G experts to share some of their favourite holiday recipes. Check out the below for some tried and true recipes recommended by the experts.

Shelby Avann is a graduate of the equine management major who sat down with us to share her career experiences so far. She currently works at Chiefswood Stables Thoroughbred Breeding Farm, which focuses on foaling and raising fillies and colts for racing. The foals she helps birth go on to race at Woodbine here in Ontario and also in Florida, Kentucky and New York. She’s been in the role for three years, with a year in between working abroad in Australia.

Dylan Sher, food and agricultural business student, is improving life through informative storytelling of the food system.  

Joe Ippolito is a graduate of the Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management program who we recently sat down with to talk about his career with the family business: the Ippolito Group. OAC alumni are probably most familiar with the business, which grows and packages fresh produce throughout North America, through their retail brand Queen Victoria.

Researchers from U of G and Western University will study water arrangements between First Nations and municipalities in Ontario through new funding from the Insight Grants program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

“On many First Nations reserves across Canada, lack of safe drinking water is a chronic problem,” said Prof. Brady Deaton, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, who will lead the project with Prof. Sheri Longboat, School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. The researchers received $371,300.

​We asked experts in the Department of Food Science and the Department of Plant Agriculture to share some of their favourite recipes that highlight an ingredient they work with each day. Check out the below for some proudly Canadian recipes.