News

Denise Cassidy - Class of 1993

Denise’s passion for agriculture started early in life caring for cows on her family’s dairy farm in south central New Brunswick. After high school, Denise started her Bachelor of Arts degree in Fredericton and quickly realized it wasn’t the right fit.

“It didn’t take me long to realize my heart and passion were in agriculture – I missed the cows! My search then began for a program that would allow me to continue my studies in agriculture. With a little research and a couple of night classes to get some science courses I was accepted into the Animal Science program at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture.”

After the initial transition period, Denise soon found her people and began a lifelong journey in agriculture. Denise spent a summer at the NB Department of Agriculture in Sussex, where she built upon her own lived experiences from her home dairy farm.  After graduating with her degree in Animal Science, Denise secured a career as herdsperson at Sussex View Farms.

“My love for the dairy industry only grew. An exchange to Australia and marriage to my husband led me next into the sheep industry. My husband and I farmed 200 ewes for the next five years. I then had my first venture in the swine industry with Metz Farm in New Canaan. My day-to-day duties were breeding, feeding and managing the boars. After years of milking cows for many dairy farms in the Sussex area, including our own, this was a nice change.”

In 2008, Denise and her family moved to Ontario to pursue new adventures in agriculture.

“It was in Ontario where my career in agriculture started to flourish. I again entered the swine industry as Swine Barn manager at the Trouw Research Farm in Burford, Ontario. I managed both the barn staff and the research trials of a commercial swine barn. After five years of research work, I shifted gears slightly and started working for Cargill. My time was spent on direct sales of swine feed in Southwestern Ontario. During this time, I joined the Ontario Pork Congress (OPC), was involved with Agriculture in the Classroom at the Royal Winter Fair and joined the executive committee of Bite of Brant, a producer program that shows Grade five students where their food comes from.”

Opportunity allowed Denise to enter the Animal Health world through Vetoquinol as a Territory Manager in Ontario and Atlantic Canada. 

After 13 years in Ontario, it was time to return home to Atlantic Canada.

“My passionis agriculture, and I’m happy to be back home in the Maritimes. I’m thankful for the degree I received many years ago at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Agriculture. I have met lifelong friends (including my best friend of 32 years). In many instances it has been my early connections in agriculture that I have been able to network and move my career forward. It continues to amaze me the close-knit community we call agriculture.”

Denise now works with Porc NB Pork and PEI Hog Commodity Marketing Boards. Her future goals are to service the producers of the day, promote the industry and become an advocate for agriculture.