Features

A Department of Animal Biosciences study has discovered that dairy herd health may be linked to the farmer’s mental well-being. The study, published in the journal Animal Welfare, focused on Ontario dairy farms that had adopted robotic milking systems, an automated technology becoming more popular across Canada. “Both the automated milking and feeding systems have already become crucial to providing farmers with more time flexibility,” said lead author Dr. Meagan King, who was a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Animal Biosciences during the study.

Kitty and Jenny Lin, naturalist interns with the Arboretum, were recently featured on a segment of CBC's Fresh Air. Kitty and Jenny provide tips on how to spot a snowy owl, while also giving these special birds the space they need to thrive.

Dr. Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, professor of agri-food trade and policy in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, recently co-authored a peice for Conversation Canada on the effects of the U.S. presidency on agirfood-trade.

Justine Richardson is the new director of the University of Guelph’s Arboretum. She started on February 3, 2020, and a lot has happened in the last year. She recently took some time to tell us all about the Arboretum’s activities during an unconventional, but very busy year.

Tom Armitage (B.Sc. (Agr.) in Organic Agriculture, 2013) is a lifelong learner and advocate for local food security. He works as the Social Enterprise Development Coordinator at The SEED, a not-for-profit food project at the Guelph Community Health Centre. We recently chatted with him about his role and the importance of providing accessible food to the community.

James MacGregor (Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, 1970) has led a rich career as both a landscape architect and a sustainable tourism planner. He founded North Africa's leading sustainable tourism planning, development and marketing firm, ecoplan:net, and has improved the sustainability of the tourism industry in over 40 countries.

Rosalind Morris and Erika Gaertner graduated from OAC at a time when women rarely pursued agricultural education. But, these talented women went on to lead impactful and prolific careers in botany, all while maintaining a lifelong friendship. Here are just a few brief highlights from their careers. 

Economist, data analyst, researcher, statistician. Bishnu Saha says all these roles complement each other and are appropriate titles for his work. His daily tasks as director of the Yukon Bureau of Statistics require a clear understanding of the intertwined systems of production and consumption. They also require the ability to analyze data for insight on issues, such as the effects of a new policy on trade or the reasons for trends in the labour market.

In 1970, the first tree, an ironwood, was planted in the newly established University of Guelph Arboretum.

Today the 400-acre site is almost unrecognizable from its beginnings as farm fields anchored by woodlots planted in the early days of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC).

Establishing an arboretum had been a dream of many OAC professors, dating back to 1939 when Prof. Leslie Hancock proposed a plan for a small arboretum near Watson Hall at the north east edge of campus.

Latin America is biodiverse, with prosperous agricultural industries. The region is a world leader in food production and exportation. But local populations, including Indigenous peoples and rural communities, face significant food security problems.

Prof. Silvia Sarapura, two-time OAC alumna (M.Sc. Capacity Development and Extension ’08 and PhD Rural Studies ’13), supports these vulnerable populations through her research and knowledge extension.