SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHIES O N TA RI O FRU I T A N D V EGE TA BL E CO N V EN T I O N 2015 LOUISE AGIUS Louise attended the University of Guelph, graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry. Following her undergraduate education, she worked in industry for three years, holding various roles in food safety and quality assurance in several food processing environments. Her industry experience led her to return to academia where she obtained a MSc in Food Safety and Quality Assurance plus Toxicology. Louise joined OMAFRA in March 2014 as a Risk Management Specialist. In this role, she has particularly focused on cider production and has been helping industry professionals improve the food safety of their cider products and achieve effective cleaning and sanitation.
ALIX AITKEN Alix has been the Market Manager for the Cambridge Farmers’ Market since June of 2011. In February of 2013, Alix join the FMO board as a representative from western Ontario. Prior to her work in Cambridge, Alix was a Community Development Worker in Guelph where food security was a central part of her job. She believes markets are the “hub” in every community, and that they should be celebrated for their ability to bring people together.
TONY AMALFA Tony joined the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in September of 2007 after thirty years of public health experience at the local public health unit level. In his current position with the ministry, he is responsible for leading and supporting provincial policy decisions and the development, implementation of environmental health programs. Tony works very closely with key stakeholders including public health units, provincial and federal ministries, agencies, and industry in the areas of Safe Drinking Water, Recreational Water, Food Safety and Environmental Health.
JOHN ANDERSON John is a consultant to Collins Barrow WCM LLP and provides Agricultural Business Management and Farm Succession Advisory services to their Agri-Business and Family Farm Succession suite of programs. He has extensive experience in Business Management Planning, Succession Planning, Scenario Planning, Computerized Analysis Services, and Facilitation
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Services. John was also the project leader and driving force behind the development of the B.E.A.R. Plus Program. The only known program to date, that incorporates historical records, enterprise budgets, enterprise risk analysis, and whole farm risk analysis for the agricultural manager.
TRAVIS BANKS Travis joined Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in 2009. As the Research Scientist, Bioinformatics, he is a core member of the Applied Genomics section helping to leverage the power of the genome for plant improvement. The development of novel plant traits through variation mining in the Reverse Genetics program is a focus of Travis’ work. In addition, he works closely with the vegetable, ornamental and tree fruit breeders at Vineland to identify and develop genetic markers to improve the efficiency of plant breeding efforts. Before joining Vineland, Travis worked for nearly eight years as a biologist in the area of wheat bioinformatics for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Winnipeg. Travis has a MSc in Biochemistry and a degree in Computer Science from the University of Saskatchewan.
DAVID BIDDINGER David is a 5th generation Michigan farm kid who received a BS and MS in entomology at Michigan State University and PhD in entomology at Penn State University. He put himself through college as an IPM scout and consultant in field crops and vegetables and worked R&D for Rohm & Haas Chemical Company for 8 years before returning to Penn State in 2002. Currently he is an associate professor in Entomology and has worked for 12 years as the tree fruit research entomologist at the remote Penn State Fruit Research and Extension Center near Gettysburg, PA.
DAVE BILYEA David is a graduate of Ridgetown College and is employed in weed control studies since 1979. He is a weed science technician involved with horticulture crops and other related weed science projects and has been teaching weed identification seminars for over 20 years.
CINDY BIRCHAM Chef Cindy grew up in Aylmer, an agriculturally rich and diverse area of southwestern Ontario. She began her culinary career, graduating from the Stratford Chefs School (2002), and obtained her red seal certification. Landing back in Elgin County ten years later after working in restaurants throughout the province, she was amazed at the abundance of producers and products that dotted the community. She began her own food producing business called Elgin Harvest.
DYANN BIRTCH Dyann and Bob owned Birtch Farms for 35 years and the farm evolved from wholesale apple farming to retail and adventure farming including a bakery, winery, playground, school tours and much more up until December 2012. They began thinking about an exit strategy in the late 90’s with a 5–10 year plan. Bob is currently employed part time with Agricorp as a crop insurance adjuster and Dyann works part time consulting with a local farm.
MANUS BOONZAIER Manus works in a management position at Algoma Orchards in Newcastle, Ontario. He grew up on a citrus farm in South Africa and earned a degree in Pomoloy and started working as a farm manager on a Wine and Olive farm. He has worked as a Crop Protection manager overseeing all aspects of crop protection, BRC and Global Gap audits and started working at Algoma in October 2013.
GERBE BOTDEN Gerbe is a second-generation apple grower in the southern Georgian Bay area of Ontario. His parents started Botden Orchards in 2001, with the first orchard being planted in 2004. His company’s objective is to produce high quality consumption apples to feed the ever-growing greater Toronto area market. As of 2013, Binkley Apples Ltd. was acquired to grow as a vertically integrated company from nursery through to a packer and shipper of fresh Ontario grown apples.