News

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of Dianne Hope, OAC '82, on February 8, 2022.

Dianne's obituary can be found here.

It is with sympathy that we share the passing of Brian Ellsworth, OAC '59, on February 10, 2022. Brian was an active OAC alumnus and U of G community member. The Brian Ellsworth Ontario Graduate Scholarship, was established some years ago, by friends and colleagues to pay tribute to Brian's agricultural leadership. Brian was inducted to the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame in June 2005. 

Brian's obituary can be found here.

"Let’s raise a fork to the food we love and the people who produce it! This February, celebrate Canadian agriculture and food both online and with friends, family and co-workers, and let everyone know how you feel about this awesome industry." -Canada's Agriculture Day website

Angela Asuncion, recent graduate of the M.Sc. in rural planning and development - international development studies program, has been shaped by their experiences as an immigrant in Canada, which directly ties to their passion and research.

The OAC Dean’s Office is pleased to welcome Robyn Purcell-Sturge as the new Program Counsellors’ Assistant. She began in the role on Monday, February 7, 2022.  

As the Program Counsellors’ Assistant, Purcell-Sturge acts as the first point of contact for the students in the Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management, Bachelor of Indigenous Environmental Science and Practice, Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, Bachelor of Science in Environmental Sciences and Diploma in Turfgrass Management programs.

The Ambassador Bridge may be open again at Windsor, Ont., but blockades continue at multiple border crossings, and that could have long-lasting and damaging effects on Canada’s important trade relationship with its closest neighbour, says a University of Guelph researcher.

Dr. Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor is a professor in U of G’s Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics who researches international trade, political economy and globalization.

Emil Kovacevic is a recent graduate from the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) program. Emil now works as a landscape designer at thinc design (Tocher Heyblom Design Inc.) in Toronto, Ontario. We recently chatted with Emil to learn more about his University of Guelph experience and how he landed a career right after graduation.

Wastewater data from University of Guelph researchers that is crucial for regional monitoring of Omicron will now be publicly available from Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (WDG) Public Health beginning next week.

Dr. Lawrence Goodridge, professor in the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), said the wastewater testing data will be posted on the WDG Public Health dashboard. He believes this monitoring data will fill an information gap left since the highly infectious COVID-19-causing variant overwhelmed testing capacity and led health units to stop testing most Canadians.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

By Dr. Sylvanus Kwaku Afesorgbor, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, and Prof. Sunghun Lim, Texas Tech University

Trade between Canada and the United States was hampered for almost a week by the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit border as part of the so-called freedom convoy protest.

Despite a recent Statistics Canada census report showing the number of Canadians living in rural areas continuing to decline, a University of Guelph rural planning expert says the pandemic could cause these overall numbers to reverse.

According to the report, the number of Canadians living in rural areas has dropped for the ninth census in a row.

Dr. Wayne Caldwell, a professor at the Ontario Agricultural College, says the pandemic-driven surge in employees being able to work from home has encouraged people to leave city life for smaller towns.