Prairie Cereals Summit: A premier cereal conference

Once again we were delighted to host farmers from across Alberta at the annual Prairie Cereals Summit (PCS)! With over 240 guests in attendence in the picturesque town of Banff, farmers enjoyed a variety of speakers and sessions in another successful conference.

This year the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions kicked off the summit with a policy power session hosted by director, government relations, policy and markets Shannon Sereda. This was followed by the Alberta Barley’s Annual General Meeting. Exploring the critical path forward to amalgamation, directors, delegates and producers were able to gain insight on the next steps forward for both commissions. That evening ATB Financial hosted the Beer Tasting Event where attendees sampled the latest and greatest from Blindman Brewing, Prairie Dog Brewing, 948 Brewing Company Ltd. and the Unity Brew from the Alberta Small Brewers Association. Farmers munched on pub grub while hearing from each brewery and enjoyed an evening of networking with farmers and industry attendees alike.

The next morning, SeCan and Rahr Malting Co. hosted a warm breakfast buffet to gear attendees up for a full day of sessions. Guests received an update on Alberta’s 2022 economic outlook from J.P. Gervais from Farm Credit Canada (FCC) and our very own research and extension manager Jeremy Boychyn provided a great presentation on the 2022 Plot2Farm season. After the AFSC sponsored morning break, attendees continued with a very compelling Female Leaders in Agriculture Panel with Cami Ryan, a social scientist with Bayer Crop Science, Jennifer Marchand, government and industry relations leader at Cargill, Emily Pearce Rayner, senior government and industry affairs manager at Nutrien and Trish Jordan, director of public and industry affairs with Bayer Crop Science. These women shared a captivating discussion on their roles in government and industry relations, in addition to their trials and tribulations in their careers so far.

Attendees shared a fantastic lunch sponsored by FCC and moved into a side- splitting afternoon session with Quick Dick McDick, John Kowalchuk and Learning About Ag with Mady where producers were able to gain insight to social media, how it can help promote producers and educate the agriculture industry. Following their panel, guests heard from Alain Goubau of Combyne Ag to share how producers can optimize the value of every bushel. Janet Brown of Janet Brown Opinion Research and Kelly Cryderman from the Globe and Mail then gave attendees a provincial outlook and poll analysis. This session provided insight as to how producers can leverage the political landscape in their favour.

Following another appetizing coffee break sponsored by Bayer, attendees had the pleasure of listening to Sheldon Kennedy give an enthralling session as keynote speaker. Sheldon shared his story as a player destined for greatness, failed by a system, and how his resiliency led him to life as a Saskatchewan grain farmer. We heard from Alberta Barley director Tara Sawyer and Alberta Wheat Commission director Greg Sears as they closed out the conference, and enjoyed a fantastic dinner sponsored by Canada Malting and entertainment from Bob Cates.

Friday, the conference closed with a Nutrien sponsored hot breakfast and everyone was sent on their way. Another year has passed, and another PCS is in the books. Producers were able to take away education on new and existing policy, information on new marketing strategies, gain insight on agronomy extension, and perhaps most valuably, connect with fellow producers from across the province. The Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions want to say thank you to attendees, speakers and sponsors for supporting another Prairie Cereals Summit. As always, we could not have done it without you!