At its hybrid annual general meeting in October and at today’s Board of Director’s meeting, the Poultry Industry Council reviewed a year of educational programming and elected in some changes around the board table.
Long standing Chair of the board Ed Verkley of Verkley Enterprises stepped down to become Past Chair, and the board was pleased to elect Caroline Gonano into the position. Caroline is the Associate Manager – Technical Affairs, Science & Regulation for Turkey Farmers of Canada and has been with the PIC board for four years. Greg Lansink, from Turkey Farmers of Ontario was re-elected as Vice Chair, and Cathy Lennon, OFA continues to serve as Treasurer.
New to the board is Samantha Havercamp, producer and Chair of OBCHEPA who is stepping in for Bill Van Heeswyk of OBHECC to represent the Ontario Broiler Hatching Egg & Chick Commission. Bill steps down after six years on the board. Two directors, Marg Pritchard representing Poultry Service Association and Laura Bowers representing Burnbrae Farms, opted to renew their terms and were elected onto the board as well.
“The PIC board is a great opportunity for directors to support education and training for the sector,” says new Chair Caroline. “Our recent experience has taught us that we deliver great content, and need to remain nimble to respond quickly to changing dynamics, such as HPAI outreach and support.”
At the start of the new year the PIC staff were expecting to transition back to in person delivery for their events and forums. This proved challenging, however, due to the outbreaks of HPAI across the province. Despite this, 18 events were held with over 2,300 participants tuning in to learn about a range of topics from innovations and new barn builds, to the business of poultry and new thinking on animal welfare.
This past spring PIC worked with OMAFRA to deliver direct outreach to small flock stakeholders to ensure that part of the sector was informed and staying vigilant with biosecurity and zone restrictions. The Tuesday Night HPAI Update Series continues this fall until December.
“While we hope to have COVID clearly in our rear-view mirror over the upcoming year, HPAI caused some issues with our in-person program delivery,” said Caroline, “we look forward to gathering more in person this fall and continuing to bring the best information to the Ontario platform.”
For a complete listing of PIC’s directors please visit: www.poultryindustrycouncil.ca
About Poultry Industry Council
The Poultry Industry Council (PIC) is a registered charitable corporation that delivers poultry extension services, event coordination, and project and program management while supporting research capacity for the betterment of the Ontario industry, and is based in Guelph, Ontario.
