By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.comA Conservative senator from Manitoba, JoAnne Buth announced that she would be stepping down from the senate to become the new CEO of the Canadian Grains Institute (Cigi). Buth was one of five senators that Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed in 2012.Prior to joining the senate, Buth was the president of the Canola Council of Canada for five years. In a statement about her departure, Buth describes joining the institute as an opportunity for her to return to agriculture, an industry that she is passionate about.“Cigi is a gem in the agriculture industry and I am very excited to be leading an organization that is in a growth phase,” she said in a release.Some of the work that she did while in the senate included sitting as a member of the Senate’s Agriculture and Forestry and National Finance committees.Buth will be able to offer her expertise in agriculture as Cigi transitions and adapts to the post-wheat board era. Up until the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was dismantled in 2012, CWB was one of Cigi’s main funding partners.Buth starts in her new role at Cigi on August 11, 2014.