Project Name: Durham Agriculture Leadership Program
Project summary and highlights:
During the months January to April 2025, the Durham Region Federation of Agriculture along with Durham Farm Connections partnered with the Region of Durham Economic Development – Agriculture – Invest Durham to provide a locally based agriculture leadership program in Durham Region. Through a series of 4 modules, this program brought top level speakers to address topics related to: challenges and opportunities faced by the agriculture industry on a global basis; developing effective communication skills for business and improving conflict dynamics in families; and how to be a voice for agriculture.
The third module included a moderated farmer panel focused on how resilience and leadership has pushed their businesses to new success. The program participants heard the panelists stories about enabling people in the business, strategic business growth and important leadership skills and strategies.
The agriculture leadership program provided the opportunity for participants to connect with industry leaders as well as networking opportunities across Durham’s agricultural sectors. Attendance ranged from 25 to 35 participants with many attending all four modules.
From evaluations received for the leadership program, most participants attended more than one module. The average rank for the program value or satisfaction was 4.6 out of 5. Favourites topics included succession planning, communication, and social media. Business planning and marketing was a recurring suggestion for future workshops. A high percentage of participants would be interested in attending another local agriculture leadership program. The majority suggested having a leadership program every 2 years.
An evening session on Finding Fairness in Family transitions was led by Elaine Froese, Farm Family Transition Expert and attended by another 50 members of the larger Durham agriculture community. This highlights that this continues to be a top-of-mind item.
A separate networking event to further engage the agriculture leadership participants and other DRFA members and Board along with OFA staff was hosted February 9, 2025. On a Sunday afternoon, at an Ontario Hockey League game of the Oshawa Generals versus Soo Greyhounds, a group of 40 people enjoyed a fun, family friendly social event complete with food and non-alcoholic beverages. The bonus from the event beyond the shut-out game win for the Oshawa Generals were the connections made between new and upcoming leaders in the Durham agriculture community.
The positive feedback from this event has encouraged the DRFA Board to consider more direct outreach events. Representatives from the local Junior Farmers and 4-H clubs have shown interest in collaborating on some future events.