News

Leslie Huffman Balsillie, a proud alumna of the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), has been inducted into the Essex County Agricultural Hall of Fame, becoming the third generation of her family to receive this prestigious honour—a rare achievement that speaks to a deep-rooted legacy in agricultural excellence.

The 31st annual induction ceremony was held last month, where Huffman Balsillie joined fellow inductees Murray McLeod and Robert Repko. Her nomination highlighted a career marked by passion, innovation, and service to Ontario’s fruit industry and agricultural community.

Congratulations to UofG's Dairy Challenge team that competed in the 2025 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge this week in Gainesville, Florida. Our team did UofG proud with a first-place finish! 

Leveraging advanced technology and science in landscape architecture was the focus of a massive student-run event last week, held at U of G. Organized by students from U of G’s Landscape Architecture (BLA) program, the annual 4-day LABash conference attracted over 450 students, alumni and professionals from across North America.

Do you love food? Do you also love science? If you do, you might find yourself walking the same path as Aleana Chao, a proud 2022 graduate of the University of Guelph’s Food Science (co-op) program. Today, Aleana is a product developer at Chudleigh’s Bakery, a commercial bakery known for its delicious desserts and deep roots in Ontario’s agricultural community. But her story began much earlier—in high school, where her passion for food and curiosity about science first collided.

When the year-long course begins in September, food science students choose a challenge to tackle, like creating an alcohol-free beverage or a healthy frozen treat. Then, it’s up to them to take on market research and create a product that can fill the hole in their product category and get to work making their idea a reality.

The OAC community mourns the passing of Dr. Helen Fisher, who passed away on March 23rd, 2025.