Guelph, Ontario ~ Ontario Pork recognized three producers for their outstanding accomplishments in the Ontario pork industry at the Annual General Meeting evening banquet in Toronto. Craig and Kathy Smith, Golden Horseshoe pork producers, Jim Donaldson, an exporter of swine genetics and Doug Maus, former President of Farms.com Ltd., are the recipients of the 2007 Ontario Pork Industry Merit Award.
“It is important to recognize the people that make an exceptional contribution to our pork industry,” said Curtiss Littlejohn, Chair of Ontario Pork. “These three Merit Award winners demonstrate the leadership and commitment make our industry succeed.”
The Ontario Pork Industry Merit Award is given annually by Ontario Pork to recognize and honour outstanding accomplishments in the Ontario pork industry.
Craig and Kathy Smith farm within the city limits of Hamilton on their 200 year old family operation. The Smiths are active in environmental improvements on their farm and have been actively telling their ‘good news’ story in the media. They have also been involved in the pork industry by sitting on the Ontario Pork Education Committee and volunteering at their local fairs and class room demonstrations that bring pigs and smiles to many children. This husband and wife team takes farming close to their urban neighbours very seriously, making them excellent ambassadors for the industry.
Jim Donaldson is the owner of Donaldson International Livestock Ltd. that supplies over 45 countries with top swine genetics. He has been active in the industry for more than 30 year, beginning with the Ontario Swine Breeders Association, through to his work with Ontario Swine Improvement Inc. and the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement. Over the years, Jim has trained many international students in swine production and artificial insemination at his home base in Tavistock, Ontario.
Doug Maus has been posthumously presented the Merit Award. He was a visionary who founded M&F Livestock in the 1980’s and was pivotal to the feeder and breeding stock export in North American. In the last five years, Doug was President and Chief Executive Officer for Farms.com Ltd., where he grew the business to include 100 employees and provide interactive, web-based resources to farms, both large and small. He is well-remembered for his trusted leadership skills and 20 year passion for the pork and meat industry.
Ontario Pork represents the 3,100 farmers who market hogs in the province in many areas, including hog marketing, research, government representation, environmental issues, consumer education and food quality assurance. The pork industry in Ontario accounts for 33,000 jobs, and it is estimated that total industry output from farm gate sales is worth $4.7 billion to the Ontario economy. Visit Ontario Pork’s website: www.ontariopork.on.ca
Contact: Keith Robbins, Director, Communications and Consumer Marketing
Phone: 519-767-4600
Email: comm@ontariopork.on.ca
Farms.com Ltd. is a leading provider of innovative information products and services, with software solutions for the global agriculture and food industries. Farms.com can be accessed through its internationally recognized agriculture information portal, which has business services and resources for the up to 20,000-plus agribusiness professionals and livestock and crop producers who use it each day for business services and resources. The Farms.com family includes M&F Trading the leading livestock marketing company in the swine industry, AgCareers.com -- the leading human resources website for the agriculture and food industry; Landmarketer.com – the leading agriculture real estate website and PigCHAMP, Inc. (www.pigchamp.com) -- the leading swine industry software and knowledge management company. Farms.com operates across North America with offices in Ames, Iowa; Clinton, North Carolina; Fresno, California; and London, Ontario, Canada. For more information, visit: www.Farms.com.
For Additional Information, contact:
Joe Dales
Farms.com Ltd.
(877) 438-5729 x5013
joe.dales@farms.com