Canadian Cattle Young Leaders celebrates 2023-2024 program mentors

Canadian Cattle Young Leaders is pleased to announce this program year’s industryleading mentors who are kindly investing their expertise and time to lend a helping hand to the next generation of the Canadian beef industry.

Each year, the Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) Program selects 16 program participants ages 18-35 from across the country and offers industry networking, travel, and skill building opportunities. A focal point of the program is matching participants with a hand-picked mentor in their specific area of interest in the Canadian beef industry for a nine-month mentorship experience.

There is an exciting array of mentorship focus areas this year, including sustainable grazing practices, business planning, industry leadership, succession planning, livestock handling and welfare, feedlot production and much more.

“Now, more than ever, there is a growing need to invest and support the youth of our industry to ensure a successful future,” says Canadian Cattle Association President, Nathan Phinney. “We thank all present and past program mentors for their generous support and vision for the future with supporting these young leaders in the Canadian beef cattle sector.”

The formal portion of these mentorships began in November 2023 and will conclude at the end of July 2024. Each participant is granted a $2,000 budget through the program thanks to the generosity of our program sponsors to fund various learning opportunities,such as travel to see their mentors and attending industry events. A celebration will be hosted for participants graduating the program at the upcoming Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Saskatoon, SK in August 2024.

To learn more about this year’s mentorships pairings, you can visit our participant
spotlight page on our website.

Applications for the 2024-2025 program year will be available at www.canadiancattleyoungleaders.ca later this month to the end of March 2024, where young people involved in all areas of the beef supply chain ages 18-35 are encouraged to apply.

Thank you to our Platinum Partner, McDonald’s Canada, Foundation Partners, Cargill, MNP, New Holland, Elanco, and Gold Partners, Farm Credit Canada, RBC Future Launch and Alltech for making these opportunities available to the next generation in the Canadian beef industry possible.