The Rural Policy Learning Commons is hosting a webinar on January 24, 2017 starting at 4:00 pm CST. The webinar will feature David McInnes from the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute discussing "Achieving What’s Possible for the Agri-food Sector: Through the Lens of Strategically Managing 'Natural Capital'. Below is a brief description of the upcoming webinar and a brief biography of the speaker.
"Trust", when broadly-considered, is a lens to clarify important choices facing Canada's agri-food sector going forward. Worldwide, trust is the defining issue facing everyone involved in food production and supply. This goes well beyond food safety as countries grapple with climate change, reliably producing more without depleting water and soil quality and responding to varied consumer concerns, including nutritional quality, ethics and sustainability. Given the increasing importance of the agri-food sector to the Canadian economy, the country is well-positioned to respond to these challenges and unleash its full potential if we look through the lens of strategically managing “natural capital” with much emphasis on rural agricultural production and rural development.
Mr. David McInnes is the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. Prior to that, he served as Vice President of International Relations of Mds Nordion, Inc. He was Director, Government Relations for the Canadian Bankers Association in Ottawa and held positions in the CBA's Public Affairs Division in Toronto. He serves as a 2nd Vice Chair of the Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce, an Associate with the University of Ottawa's Centre on Governance, and is a Board member of the Ottawa Life Sciences Council. He serves as an Advisory Committee Member of Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation. He published “Taking It to the Hill – the Complete Guide to Appearing Before (and Surviving) Parliamentary Committees” (University of Ottawa Press, 1999).
The webinar is free to participate. To register for the webinar click here [1].
About Us
The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development (SEDRD) brings together major academic fields concerned with creating strong communities, in Canada and around the world. The four highly respected programs in SEDRD share many common goals but approach them in different and complementary ways. This model reflects the imperatives in building authentic communities where planners, landscape architects, communicators, and citizens all play important interdependent roles in community strength.