News

Colin Deacon, Senator and former entrepreneur, recently awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal to Jolene MacEachern, Director of Strategic Projects at Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture, for her transformative work in fostering innovation within Nova Scotia’s agri-food sector.

Through her leadership in the Cultiv8 innovation sandbox program, MacEachern has inspired a new generation of problem-solvers and entrepreneurs focused on advancing agricultural sustainability and productivity.

Deacon’s recognition highlights the critical role of agriculture in Canada's future and the importance of prioritizing farm-first policies for economic and environmental resilience.

“Jolene MacEachern has inspired me with her determination to highlight the enormous opportunities that would be unlocked if agriculture was prioritized in Canada,” said The Hon. Colin Deacon, Senator.  “I’m honoured to have presented her with the King Charles III Coronation Medal.”

The Coronation Medal commemorates the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III as King of Canada. Eligible candidates have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community of Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada.

Senator Deacon first met Jolene eight years ago when she was running an innovation sandbox project at Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture called Cultiv8. Originally designed by the province, Jolene encouraged students to become entrepreneurs, and a key success measure was the number of start-ups created. Most did not see themselves as entrepreneurs, so only about seven students signed up.

The following year, Jolene shifted focus to “innovative problem solving”, be it in research, life, agri business, or possibly a startup company.  She then created experiential opportunities for students that opened their eyes to the need to deeply understand a problem, and how it fits in the lives of those who experience it, well before starting to create or “sell” their solution. 

As a result, 70+ students signed up to this non-credit course and enthusiastically participated each week. Unbelievably creative solutions eventually emerged as students realized innovation is about solving problems in scalable ways.

“Every time I attended, I was always impressed by their energy and determination,” Senator Deacon added.  “I’ve since met several of these students in Ottawa. They’ve found themselves in interesting careers and always speak enthusiastically about Dal Agriculture, Jolene and their experience in the Cultiv8 program.”

“Agriculture is central to our survival and Jolene works hard to unite people around an Ag-first vision,” he continued.  “I hope more begin to listen.”

Jolene, (Class of '02) and her husband Lauchie, (Class of '01) operate Folly River Farms Limited in Debert, NS. They milk 100 cows and crop corn, alfalfa and grain, and collaborate with Bragg Lumber Company Ltd for carrot production.