News

The Nova Scotia Institute of Agrologists 2023 Annual General Meeting took place on April 19th at the Inn on Prince in Truro, Nova Scotia.

During the meeting, members were recognized for their tenure with NSIA. Trevor Davison and Dr. Rajasekaran Lada both reached 25 years with the Institute and Ralph Taylor has achieved 50 years with NSIA.

Following the business meeting those in attendance enjoyed presentations from Kevin Morin and Sonny Murray discussing IPM and Weed Management. The session was capped off by an awards reception congratulating Sawyer Olmstead for receiving the Outstanding Young Agrologist Award and Dr. Emmanuel Yiridoe for receiving the Distinguished Agrologist Award.

Sawyer Olmstead was awarded the Outstanding Young Agrologist Award recognizing his dedicated contribution to Nova Scotia's Bee industry. He has recently served as the Secretary on the Nova Scotia Beekeepers' Association board and worked with the Atlantic Tech Transfer Team for Apiculture. His research, publications, and knowledge transfer have disseminated valuable bee production information. Through his business, he continues supporting the wild blueberry industry with his pollination services and is always helping other beekeepers with his keen knowledge.

Dr. Emmanuel Yiridoe was awarded the Distinguished Agrologist award. As a Professor of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, he has significantly contributed to the agricultural industry. His contributions also include scholarly contributions and service to the Agricultural Economics profession in Canada, including contributions that fostered the development of a Work Integrated Learning program that helped in starting an initiative to revise and modify the BSc (Agr) and Diploma (Agriculture) degrees to better align with NSIA and Agrologist Canada standards and credential requirements. As Department Chair, he initiated and led his department to develop and implement the MSc (Agriculture) with specializations in Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics, and Rural Studies, to name just a few of his many accomplishments.

Congratulations to our winners, and we wish to thank Monica Sandepogu for her time with our Council. As always, thank you to all our members for their continued contribution to the Nova Scotia Agriculture Industry. We look forward to seeing you at next year's Annual General Meeting.