Blog: Meet a Researcher

Born and raised in southern Manitoba, Curtis Cavers is an agronomist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) based in Portage la Prairie. He earned his bachelor of science in agriculture, majoring in soil science, and later completed his master’s degree at the University of Manitoba (U of M). Curtis lives on an acreage near Elm Creek with his wife’s family.

Where did you work before AAFC?

I started working with AAFC in 2007. Before that, I worked for Manitoba Agriculture for just over 10 years and have been a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) for many years. It is a great program to be part of, providing ongoing training and practical knowledge sharing for industry agronomists and participants.

What got you interested in this area of work?

Who might be a better question! One person in particular, Dr. Tee Boon Goh, sparked my interest. I met him in my intro to soils class, and he was just a ball of energy. If you ask anyone else in agriculture about Dr. Goh, they’ll say the same thing. He is an enthusiastic, fantastic lecturer and the reason that I switched majors to soil science. Afterward, I met many other great people in the soil science department at the U of M, many of whom I still connect with today.

Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at AAFC.

I focus mainly on soil science from an agronomic perspective. In the past, we’ve had projects on tillage and pertaining to soil compaction, salinity and, more recently, soil erosion. These are the three areas we are investigating in terms of soil health research.

One project, Genetic selection-assessment of genetic resilience and excess moisture from a subset of MCVET crop varieties, was part of the extremes of moisture initiative and was conducted from 2019-22. This initiative came together in 2016 after a prolonged wet spell, when farmers were having issues dealing with excess moisture.

Several projects came out of that, including this one, where we tested various crop varieties for differences in tolerance to either excess moisture or drought-like conditions. We wanted to push these limits without breaking the system, stressing crops beyond normal expectations.

The takeaway was that resilience to extreme moisture wasn’t as variable as we expected. Most high-yielding crop varieties maintained their performance under both average and extreme conditions. For example, if variety X has consistently performed well in variety trials, it’s likely to perform best in times of both excess moisture and drought.

This work led to our current research looking at variable landscapes and extremes of moisture. Eroded hilltops are often dry, while lower areas like wetlands or potholes are persistently wet. As we get into precision farming or managing on a landscape basis, we are examining how farmers can manage this variability to increase their productivity and efficiency. I am focusing on these landscape extremes to see if adjustments can make them more productive or, at the very least, more consistent over time.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

Farmers know what challenges they are facing every day on the farm. It is encouraging to work with farmers who are curious, inquisitive and open-minded to new ideas and asking questions. Sketching out back-of-the-envelope ideas together is exciting. Farmers bring invaluable insights to the table that, combined with our research, can create powerful solutions.

I think of it as a roundtable – everyone shares what they see, which gives us a fuller picture. Working with farmers to tackle practical issues and potentially find solutions is what makes this work so rewarding, even if it’s not always simple or quick.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

It helps direct us to the issues that are most pressing for farmers. If farmers identify specific areas of focus, that helps us prioritize research where it is needed most. I always make sure to ask, “Is this something that would benefit farmers?” and then check if it resonates with them.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I’m doing extra studies right now, so I don’t have a lot of free time. There’s always work to do on the acreage, which keeps our family busy.

What’s the best part about your job?

Working with farmers and producer groups. I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with Manitoba Crop Alliance and others over the last few years. It’s rewarding to brainstorm ideas that have a clear purpose and a real potential to benefit farmers. Identifying problems and working on solutions for farmers is the meat and potatoes of what we do, and that is what I am here for.

How do you celebrate agriculture?

I try to share positive aspects of agriculture any chance I get, by participating in events, supporting Agriculture in the Classroom and sharing information about the CCA program. These activities not only celebrate agriculture but also offer training opportunities to learn about other aspects of agriculture. They are great ways to both share knowledge and learn.

What is a good piece of advice that has stuck with you?

A former boss once said, “Go do your job, Curtis. It’s like driving a car – just put your foot to the floor and go. I’ve got your back.” That supportive management style has meant a lot to me. Dr. Scott Wright, that was good advice!

Jeff Schoenau is a professor of soil science and the Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Program Chair in Soil Nutrient Management at the University of Saskatchewan (U of S). He earned his bachelor of science in agriculture at the U of S, where he also completed his PhD in soil science in 1988. In addition to his work at the university, Schoenau and his wife Lynn own and operate a grain farm near Central Butte, SK.

The grain farm has provided him with extensive practical experience. Over the years, it has served as a valuable research site for many of his students and colleagues, supporting field research and providing soil samples for various experiments. He has brought graduate students to the farm to demonstrate soil conservation management techniques and facilitates hands-on learning by having students collect soil samples to study organic matter content and its changes across different land management practices.

Where did you work before the U of S?

I have been with the U of S for a long time. I stared as an undergraduate student in 1980, followed by graduate studies, and have been employed here since 1989. My role has been a mix of teaching, research and extension.

What got you interested in this area of work?

Our family farm in Central Butte has been in operation since it was homesteaded. I live in the original Eaton house built in 1913, where four generations of my family have lived. My wife Lynn and I continue to run the farm, and our two children Michael and Brianna live in Saskatoon. The farm is 1,600 acres, and without any hired help it keeps my wife and I very busy.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at the university.

I manage around 25 research projects at any given time, handling aspects from proposals to implementation, reports and extension work through webinars, podcasts and presentations. I have a great research team. I lead a team of eight technicians and associates, plus eight graduate students, and sit on a number of advisory committees.

In addition to research, I teach an undergraduate course on soil fertility and fertilizers, supervise fourth-year thesis projects, and contribute to graduate-level courses on field research and soil analytical techniques. My days are spent balancing these responsibilities across teaching, research and student mentorship.

One of my current projects, supported by Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA), focuses on straw harvesting strategies to provide feedstock while maintaining soil and environmental quality. We are looking at the impacts of removing straw, which has growing demand from livestock producers and other industries.

The main site for this research is on my farm, where we are looking at precision straw harvesting. We want to understand how straw harvesting affects soil properties and productivity across different landscape positions, particularly comparing upslope regions with low slopes.

We are collaborating with farmers across Saskatchewan, examining the long-term effects of straw removal on soil fertility, organic matter, moisture and temperature, while also conducting an economic analysis. This fall, we completed our first harvest as part of this project, and we are already uncovering some interesting findings. Our research is designed to help growers make informed decisions about sustainable straw management.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

The support from farmers is incredibly valuable to my research. Organizations like MCA have provided crucial funding. This farmer-driven support is often matched by provincial funds from Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund, as well as contributions from industry partners and the government. Federal funding and the cluster program have also been essential in diversifying my research.

These partnerships not only provide financial backing but also offer opportunities to engage with farmers at conferences and field days where I can share my findings and learn from growers directly.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

Farmer funding and support directly benefit growers by providing them with access to the latest knowledge and practices in nutrient management that are crucial for optimizing agronomic, economic and environmental outcomes. In today’s landscape, where environmental impacts are a significant concern, understanding the processes behind soil and nutrient management is essential. My research focuses not just on documenting impacts but on understanding the underlying mechanisms that can be applied across various regions.

Extension work is a passion of mine, inspired by my mentor, the late professor Les Henry, who taught me a lot about extension and the value of getting your message to growers.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Outside of work I spend a lot of time enjoying the outdoors. I like being in the field, snowmobiling and hunting. I am also a bit of an automotive historian. I like old cars, trucks and tractors, and piddling around with machinery.

What is the best part about your job?

I really enjoy the opportunity to work with students, both undergraduate and graduate. Some students may spend two to five years working with me, and the constant influx of new students is truly rewarding. I take great pleasure in seeing them evolve and grow throughout their time in the program. Also, collaborating with growers, academics and industry professionals is always exciting.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

One of the best pieces of advice I received relates to extension work, and it was “Know your audience.” Think about your audience, if it is a group of farmers, researchers or the public – what would they be interested in? What do they really want to know? That really resonated with me.

Colin Hiebert is a research scientist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Morden Research and Development Centre (RDC). He completed his undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Winnipeg, before continuing his graduate studies in plant genetics, focusing on wheat during his PhD. He now lives in Winkler, MB, with his wife and their two sons.

Where did you work before joining AAFC?

Before starting graduate school, I worked in both the public and private sectors of agriculture. After finishing my PhD, I was a postdoctoral researcher at AAFC’s Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg (now closed) for a year before I was hired as a research scientist there. Subsequently, my program was moved to Morden.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I have always enjoyed the field of genetics, and wheat is scientifically fascinating. It is also a Prairie icon, so working on wheat connects me to western Canadian culture and the economy. Wheat is also a global crop, allowing me to interact with and impact research and agriculture internationally. The convergence of all these different factors drew me to working on wheat.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at AAFC.

I lead a wheat genetics program, covering everything from fundamental genetics (classical genetics) to modern genomics tools. We cover quite the continuum of research, which was reflected in the previous cluster (2018-23) and in the current cluster (2023-28).

In the “Pre-breeding and development of breeding tools to diversify disease resistance in bread wheat” 20218-23 project, we focused on introducing combinations of disease resistance genes into elite genetic backgrounds that breeders can use in their programs. One challenge is when we have new or underutilized disease resistance genes, they are often in backgrounds that are not suitable for production in Western Canada. The pre-breeding work addressed this challenge.

Another challenge is that it is difficult to select resistance genes by a visual assessment, so we use DNA markers, or marker-assisted selection, to make the process more efficient and accurate. We discovered new DNA markers that made gene selection more efficient both for our projects and for breeder selection.

A positive outcome from this project was discovering a new stem rust resistance gene, Sr67, which is effective against strains of stem rust fungus including the Ug99 races discovered in Africa. There was previously a lot of research activities that went into mitigating the risk of those races. This work is still ongoing to mitigate the threats that exotic strains pose to Canadian producers.

At Morden, we have a biocontainment facility where we can evaluate plants in our genetic studies or in breeding programs against these exotic races to mitigate the risk of them coming to Canada. Sr67 is effective against present strains and can provide resistance against races that could pose a threat. The discovery was recently published here.

We have included the Sr67 gene in the current cluster project to ensure early adoption of this new gene. This is an exciting extension from the previous round of funding.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

All my collaborators here and at the other AAFC research centres and I are very grateful to farmers for their funding. In these types of projects, we are trying to directly address their more immediate needs. This funding allows us to translate some of our more upstream work into something that can find its way into a farmer’s field. We want our research to make a difference to producers.

How does that funding and support directly benefit farmers?

My research program focuses largely on disease resistance genes. By working closely with pathologists and breeders, we hope to create more sustainable disease resistance, which could lower input costs for farmers and protect yield potential. There are still issues that require chemical inputs, for example, but if we can get resistance to a point where the efficacy of the chemicals is better because the degree of disease protection required is not as high, that will help farmers.

I hope farmers feel welcomed and comfortable reaching out to scientists. Their insights and concerns help shape the direction of our research.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I coach my kids’ hockey teams, and we enjoy a lot of outdoor activities like hiking, backpacking and hunting.

What is the best part of your job?

There are many aspects I enjoy. I get to tackle interesting scientific questions that impact an important sector in the Canadian economy and for Western Canada. I also get to interact with the international research community and meet people from around the world working on similar challenging research questions. I also have opportunities to interact with farmers, as I live and work in a rural community at a rural research centre. These conversations offer insights into how our research impacts their operations and livelihoods.

How do you celebrate agriculture?

My wife has done a restart on her family’s farm, and I have been able to participate in that. This was the second year of the farm’s restart, and it has been both enjoyable and a great way for us to celebrate agriculture.

Now an assistant professor of soil chemistry and fertility in the department of soil science at the University of Manitoba (U of M), Joanne Thiessen Martens previously completed her undergraduate studies at the U of M in agriculture and food sciences. She completed her bachelor of science in agroecology before she began working, and later returned to complete her PhD in soil science. She lives in Winnipeg with her husband and their two young-adult children.

Where did you work before U of M?

Before my current position, I worked in the U of M’s department of plant science in the Natural Systems Agriculture Lab under Dr. Martin Entz. I worked there as a technician and research associate for quite a few years.

What is the best part about your job?

There are a lot of great things about my job, but it comes down to working with ideas – whether those ideas are from students in class, farmers we are working with, colleagues in the department or across the country, discussions at conferences or reading literature. I love thinking about all the ideas people produce and the ways they test those hypotheses. It is the creativity that is interesting.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at U of M.

Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is co-funding a cover crop study my master’s student Jessica Frey and I are working on. Jessica is a technician at the Parkland Crop Diversification Foundation and was interested in seeing how we could create a cover crop system that would be easy for farmers to implement and still provide benefits in our short season growing area.

At sites at Roblin and Carberry, we are trialing seeding an overwintering legume cover crop like alfalfa, red clover or white clover with wheat or another cereal in the first year, and then allowing that to continue to grow as a living mulch in the crop in the second year, with the second crop being canola.

This project is now into the second year. The idea is that the cover crop is seeded at the same time as the wheat in one pass while considering the herbicide packages that will hopefully suppress the weeds without killing the cover crop. We hope to see some nitrogen benefits from it, as well as all the other benefits you get from cover crops, such as soil cover in the fall and early spring and living roots in the soil supporting soil health.

Another project partially funded by MCA is focused on organic farmers and addressing phosphorus deficiencies, as well as a high-level interest in recycling different materials in a circular bioeconomy. We would like to create a phosphorus-enriched compost with a much higher concentration of phosphorus than a normal compost. We would do that by composting some sort of organic waste (yard waste, food waste or manure) together with a mineral phosphorus input – either struvite, which is recovered from municipal wastewater, or rock phosphate. Hopefully, we can create this phosphorus-enriched compost using recycled products.

We are beginning the composting process with our partner Enviroclean Landfill Solutions Ltd. in Morden, which does in-vessel (very rapid) composting. Next, we will be evaluating those compost products for their nutrient profile, as well as their degradation of any contaminants that would be in any of those feedstocks before we go into field testing in 2025.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

It is incredibly important. Funding from farmers keeps us, as researchers, grounded. Research has a couple important roles to play. One is addressing the challenges farmers are currently facing. That is where support from farmers through MCA is crucial. But also, funding from farmers through MCA shows their willingness to support a broad range of research, understanding that we are tackling problems they see right now, as well as new issues that may be coming down the pipe.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

We aim to keep our research practical so it can benefit farmers in the challenges that they see every day and in the future. Researchers can take on some of the risk in thinking about the questions that may become important in our future and investigate them before they impact farmers. Thank you, farmers, for your support and to the commodity groups for your collaborative support of research.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

My hobbies are remarkably like my work. I like reading, gardening and being outdoors. When I have time, I like to fit in a bit of music. I play piano and I have started learning to play bass guitar.

How do you celebrate agriculture?

There is a part of me that celebrates agriculture every time I eat something. I have spent most of my life here in Canada, but I lived in Brazil for a few years and saw mangoes and coconuts on trees, and I visited Malawi in Africa and saw products quite different to home like peanut plants. Now when I eat my granola bar with peanuts, I think about those peanut fields and the people growing them. That connection of food to agriculture every day is a little celebration.

What are you excited about for the future of your sector/agriculture?

What I am most excited about is seeing how our understanding of ecological processes and technology come together, and how we can harness both those types of knowledge to enhance each other. I also see exciting opportunities for the agricultural systems that come out of bringing together different types of knowledge.

Maryse Bourgault lives in Saskatoon, where she is an assistant professor and the Western Grains Research Foundation Integrated Agronomy Research Chair at the University of Saskatchewan. She completed her bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences at McGill University in Montreal then started a master’s degree that she later upgraded to a PhD. She then completed her first postdoc with CSIRO, Australia’s national science organization in Brisbane, followed by her second postdoc at the University of Melbourne.

Where did you work before the University of Saskatchewan?

I was working at Montana State University as an assistant professor based at the Northern Agricultural Research Center in Havre, Montana. Before that, I was working as an extension agronomist with the Queensland State Department of Primary Industries and Forestry. Altogether, I spent nine years in Australia. I was only supposed to be there for seven months to finish my PhD and I ended up getting my citizenship, so I can retire on a beach someday!

What got you interested in this area of work?

Being an environment student, I had an obvious passion to make sure our existence on earth is not destroying the environment for everybody else. I was doing a minor in international development and when you go into a community to try and help people, the first thing you address is their basic needs. People need to eat before they will be convinced to the protect the environment.

Basic needs are fundamental and unless you address these, you can push as much as you want on environmental measures, but it is not going to have much impact. That is how I became interested in agriculture. I did a master’s where we were lucky to be sent to Uzbekistan, where they deal a lot with irrigation. Unfortunately, the expansion of irrigation led to the disappearance of the Aral Sea, so they are actively looking to reduce irrigation water use while maintaining agricultural productivity.

I started with irrigation and looking at the environmental impact it had compared to environments like Australia where there is next to no irrigation, yet they are still able to grow plenty of wheat and different crops. I became really interested in dryland agriculture and investigating how we can improve it. A lot of our current irrigation systems depend on water that comes from glaciers, and we know that a lot of glaciers are disappearing. You and I may not see this, but our grandchildren will probably see a world where irrigation water isn’t there, unless we do something to change and reverse that situation.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at the university.

In a current project, Making cover crops work with grain cropping systems in the Canadian Prairies, partially funded by Manitoba Crop Alliance, I am collaborating with Yvonne Lawley (University of Manitoba) and Linda Gorim (University of Alberta) to investigate how to include cover crops into no-till conventional farming.

In this experiment we are trying different cover crop establishment timings and different cover crop species in canola and wheat. The idea is to enable farmers to incorporate cover crops and their benefits into current cropping systems. The concern is always that we have limited moisture in the Prairies, and if you are growing a plant then presumably that plant is using some of that water. So, can we have enough of those benefits, with nitrogen inputs for example, to compensate? Or can we improve rainfall infiltration to compensate for the water use those plants are using? That is where we are trying to make it work in current systems.

With the chair position, I am trying to have a systems approach to research. Instead of testing one product or one solution to deal with a problem, we are looking at how to design the entire cropping systems in time and space. This means crop rotations, but also testing systems like intercropping, cover crops, and reintegrating forage and livestock into grain production systems. I tend to say that we try things that might fail for farmers, because my salary isn’t linked to our results, so we can afford to try things and try again, until we make it work.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

Farmer participation and financial contributions to our research are quite important. In our research we are looking at practices, so we do not have a patentable product to sell afterwards or another revenue source that can fund continuing research. Most of the funding we receive comes from farmers, and I think it is useful for scientists to know the questions that we are investigating and the funding we have are because farmers are also interested.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

Well, sometimes failures are just as useful for farmers as practices that are successful. There are financial risks involved with some of these practices that we can evaluate and take those risks on to learn collectively and share the results with farmers. In our research we hope we can provide better solutions or possibilities to farmers.

Compared to other places in the world, Canadian farmers are quite involved and supportive of our research, so thank you! It makes a significant difference to our research, our knowledge and research careers because there are many interesting opportunities.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I garden, which is a bit stereotypical for a plant scientist, but I don’t water my plants a lot! I often joke that is why I decided to investigate drought, because I am too lazy at watering my plants. I am also a big reader.

Who or what inspires you?

Students inspire me. It sounds cliché when teachers say it, but it is true. We get into these conversations in class, and I am amazed because as scientists, sometimes we become a little cynical with all the admin and “boring stuff” in the background that can get a bit too much at times, but students have such fresh ideas and optimism about the future. That inspires me.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Perhaps this person didn’t think that this would be so important in my life, but someone told me once it is important to think about what you really want in life. I know it sounds a little generic, but often we go through life one step after the other and keep running that hamster wheel. It is important to stop, think and figure out exactly what makes you happy and what you want to do with your life because it goes faster than you think.

Meghan Vankosky, a research scientist in field crop entomology with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), works at the Saskatoon Research and Development Centre (RDC). She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Alberta and completed her PhD at the University of Windsor. After completing her PhD, Vankosky spent a year in California on a postdoctoral project. She now lives in Saskatoon with her four-year-old standard poodle, Flurry.

Where did you work before AAFC?

Before AAFC, I worked at the University of California at Riverside. I was there one year as a postdoctoral researcher. While there, I collaborated on a release program for a parasitoid to control Asian citrus psyllid, which is an important pest of all kinds of citrus. Asian citrus psyllid, also known as ACP, vectors a disease that kills citrus trees – the disease has no cure and all infected trees eventually die. In California we were trying to slow down the spread of the insect (and the disease) by starting a biological control program.

What got you interested in this area of work?

Well, like many young people, I had no idea that being an entomologist was even a career option. When I started university, I had decided I was going to med school, but realized in my first year that I was not cut out for it.

In my second year I took a selection of courses. One of them was the introduction to entomology and it just went from there. Some fortuitous choices and some good luck and I ended up with an awesome co-mentor for my master’s program, Dr. Lloyd Dosdall, who sadly passed away a few years ago. I learned a lot from him and from other mentors in entomology.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at AAFC.

Since I came to AAFC in Saskatoon, the biggest project I have been part of (and now co-lead with Jennifer Otani) is the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network (PPMN). Jennifer and I collaborate closely with the provincial entomologists in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, and we have funding support from nine different industry groups, including Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) and the Agriculture Development Fund.

One of the major activities of this project is to maintain and expand our records of the annual population densities and distribution of key pests of Prairie crops, including bertha armyworm, cabbage seedpod weevil, diamondback moth, grasshoppers, pea leaf weevil, wheat midge and wheat stem sawfly.

These are the major pests we monitor each year. The monitoring data is used to develop the annual risk maps available on the PPMN website. We aim to have the maps ready to share online in December or January, so that we can talk about them at winter outreach events and so that farmers can use them when planning for the next growing season. The maps can be used to estimate insect-related risk to crops going into the next growing season.

Through the PPMN and our current funding, we are also trying to do more lab research to understand better the biology and population dynamics of some of these insects. We are also partnering with Dr. Boyd Mori, University of Alberta, to better understand if there are any risks of resistance development in the insect populations we monitor. Insecticide resistance can affect how we manage insect pests, and we would like to try to add that as a layer to our mapping exercise.

There are a lot of moving parts and pieces to this project, and it is highly collaborative. We have a lot of people who help collect data and share information with us so that we can put the maps together and keep historical records. The historical records are valuable, as we can use them to build models that can help us to predict and understand how insects respond to changing climate. We hope that the PPMN is a helpful tool that farmers and agronomists use to find reliable information about insects in general and about what insects could be a problem in their crops.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

It gives us an advantage in terms of our ability to do work that is for the public good and that will have a direct benefit to farmers. I think a lot of the work we do at AAFC and in university agriculture programs is all beneficial to agriculture, but knowing that the funds are coming from farmers towards research that aligns with the problems they are facing helps close that loop a little bit faster and bring that information back to farmers.

It is valuable that organizations like MCA have farmer board members as it provides clearer communication in terms of research priorities. I can write my proposals geared to what the research priorities of the organizations are, which are based on what farmers need.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

A big piece of all the work we are doing with this project through the PPMN is providing information to farmers on a regular basis through our weekly updates and our insect of the week articles, and at the end of every season with insect risk maps. The funding also helps get us, as researchers, to outreach events where we can talk about our research with farmers and agronomists. These conversations not only allow us to share new information but provide us with helpful feedback.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Doing many different things! I learned all kinds of needle and handicrafts from my grandmothers and my mom growing up, so I do a bit of crocheting and cross stitching and I am learning how to embroider. I took up paint by numbers again during the pandemic, which is something I hadn’t done for years. I like to take my dog to obedience classes and learn how to teach him different things. Also, since the pandemic, I started building Lego again. Now that I am an adult and I have disposable income, my Lego collection is growing and growing. 

How do you celebrate agriculture?

I think by being an entomologist. I grew up on a cattle farm in west central Alberta. I am grateful that I grew up on a farm and had that experience, but I did not want to farm as an adult. I am very grateful that I can give back to agriculture and celebrate it by still working in agriculture by studying insects. I am glad that I can do research that I enjoy and that brings benefits to agriculture.

What gets you most excited about your work?

The insects and the people. The insects are very interesting, and we have a really great team of people here in Saskatoon. The entomology community across Canada is top notch. There are so many great people who work in this field who we collaborate with and learn from. That is what gets me excited about what we are doing.

Follow Meghan (@vanbugsky) on X.

Visit prairiepest.ca to find weekly updates and insect of the week articles during the growing season, and risk maps at the end of the season.

Monika Gorzelak is a soil microbial ecologist at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Lethbridge Research and Development Centre (RDC). Gorzelak completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph in microbiology and her PhD in forestry at the University of British Columbia (UBC). She lives in Lethbridge with her husband and their two daughters, ages two and six.

Where did you work before the Lethbridge RDC?

Before I joined AAFC, I was doing my PhD in forestry at UBC, looking at trees talking to each other. My PhD supervisor, Suzanne Simard, is an inspiration. She recently published a book called “Finding the Mother Tree,” has a popular TED Talk and was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for 2024.

What got you interested in this area of work?

I’ve always liked the whole microbial world, even though it’s a small sliver of the ecology ecosystem. There are cases where plants help each other – where microbes leverage their relationships with other organisms for their own success and help crops and plants succeed. I’m quite interested in that kind of interspecies and ecological community-based interaction research, and I like to focus on less well understood and slightly understudied concepts in ecology.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at Lethbridge RDC.

In the Understanding the interactions of N fertilizer technologies, fungicides, and the soil microbiome to optimize sustainable agriculture project funded partially by MCA, we are trying to understand what happens to the beneficial soil microbiome when enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEFs) are used in cropping rotations.

We are doing that in three different ways. First, leveraging several years of small-plot-scale work by Brian Beres where they evaluated different EEFs in wheat. We sampled their plots and final year of research to compare soil microbiomes and get a grasp of the community composition and diversity of the bacteria and fungi in those soils.

Next, we are going to build on that information in the greenhouse. We are setting up our first greenhouse study to do a closer and more controlled experiment, looking at the impact of EEFs on the soil microbiome.

For the third part of this project, we are going to look at the impact of prior crop on spring wheat in the greenhouse. In summary, this project is looking at how to leverage beneficial soil microbes to help farmers be more productive; answering the question, “Can we do more with less inputs?”

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

I couldn’t do this research without funding from farmers. I am fortunate to have a job that supports me to be able to ask what I think are important questions that are relevant to others. Getting this funding from farmers indicates that they are interested in the work that I am interested in, so it feels more meaningful.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

The goal, of course, is to create more sustainable agriculture or to create information that farmers can use to make decisions, with the goal of having more sustainable systems at the end of the day.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I’m a pretty sporty person and I like to be outside when I can. I also love cooking elaborate meals. My favourite thing to cook is always changing, usually whatever is seasonal.

What is the best part about your job?

I really like idea generation and designing experiments. Having an idea and looking at data to see if I’m wrong – because data usually doesn’t lie to you – or if the idea is supported. The whole process is very logical, but it’s also creative at the same time because you must come up with good questions and novel ways to answer those questions. It’s in the design and the uniqueness of experiments where I get excited.

I’ve also loved meeting farmers, especially the direct-to-consumer farmers. I get a lot of my produce locally because I know the folks I’ve worked with and who they are, and I can show up and get a rather large portion of my food locally. That feels awesome.

What are you excited about for the future of agriculture?

I think there are a lot of opportunities to create efficiencies that are going to benefit the environment and the farmer at the same time. Technology has really developed, as well as our understanding about the systems that are needed to help mitigate climate change, for example. There is a lot of opportunity for farmers to contribute, while continuing to produce and make money.

Afua Mante is an assistant professor of soil physical processes in the Department of Soil Science at the University of Manitoba (UM). She was born and raised in Ghana, where she attained a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering and a master’s in water supply and environmental sanitation. In 2011, she moved to Canada as a graduate student at the UM, where she completed an additional master’s degree in mechanical engineering and a PhD in biosystems engineering.

Where did you work before your current role at the UM?

I worked at the Centre for Engineering Professional Practice and Engineering Education in the Price Faculty of Engineering at the UM as a post-doctoral fellow for two years (2018 to 2020) immediately after completing my PhD program. In that role, I was responsible for identifying, through consultation and collaboration with stakeholders, meaningful ways for genuine inclusion of Indigenous knowledges, perspectives and design principles, as well as principles of sustainable development and sustainable design, in engineering curricula. After that, I joined the land remediation group in the Department of Soil Science as a post-doctoral fellow, where I oversaw projects on the restoration of prime agricultural lands disturbed by industrial activities. I stayed in this role until January 2022 and then stepped into my current role in the same department as an assistant professor.

What got you interested in this area of work?

It all started when my uncle made what I had seen in junior high agricultural science textbooks become a reality. Use of agricultural machinery was a dream in my community. My uncle got a small tractor with one plow and one harrow. This set of machinery was “gold.” You could see the pride in my uncle’s face. You can bet he used all his savings on them. No financing opportunities. All he wanted was for the crops to meet the rains at the right time. This investment paid off. He saw an exponential increase in yield – his team was so proud to work with him and it provided my family with security.

More than that, I got the opportunity to see the equipment in action. I was mesmerized watching the whole show. My uncle said to me, with a smile on his face, “we have people who research into how these machines work.” That got me interested in pursuing the agriculture path.

I received opposition to that idea from some of my high school teachers. They had not experienced the magic of agriculture, or they were somewhat disconnected from how we need agriculture. To them and many, agriculture was a way to punish kids at school. It had a negative image. I was lucky to have experienced my uncle’s investment at work. My decision was solidified when I figured out that one of my mentors who had visited my high school to support our education was pursuing agricultural engineering (which I did not know existed at the time) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He enlightened me on career opportunities in agriculture and from then on, I never looked back.

Tell us a bit about what you are working on at the UM.

I teach the course “Soils and Landscapes in our Environment” at the undergraduate level, soil physics courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and the equity, diversity, inclusion and bias sections of the “Principles of Scientific Research and Communication” course at the graduate level.

I run the soil physics research program. In the program, I supervise both graduate and undergraduate students on various projects. We collaborate with stakeholders to identify opportunities and address challenges to advance the agriculture industry. With our projects, our main goal is to understand the complexity of the soil system and how to subject it to applications and interventions in a sustainable way to allow us to continue to enjoy the ecosystem services it lends to us. Currently, we are looking into a wide range of applications and interventions, including farm traffic systems, extreme moisture events, cropping systems, nutrient management, freezing and thawing processes, brine contamination, pipeline construction, and how they interact with the soil for sustainable crop production and a healthy environment. There is more room to expand our research, considering the complexity of the soil system.

I am currently collaborating with two researchers at the UM on a project, “Building resilient soils with cover crops in Manitoba,” funded through Manitoba Crop Alliance and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP). In recent years, we are seeing an increase in the number of farmers in Manitoba who are adopting cover crops to conserve the soil, for nutrient cycling or for improving soil health. In addition to these benefits that are associated with cover crops, we are exploring how cover crops can improve soil strength to support trafficability and reduce the risk of soil compaction and other soil deformation processes. Our focus is not just on the wet condition, but also on the dry condition, as that contributes to the deformation processes of the soil under our climate. This project is an opportunity to present a holistic view on the benefits of cover crops integrated into annual cropping systems by taking into account the agronomic and climatic conditions that prevail in Manitoba.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

As we know, producing food has many pieces to it. In our province, our climate and our wide range of soils make our challenges unique. To overcome these challenges in our community, we have to recognize that we all have a role to play. But here is the catch: it is one thing knowing you have a role to play and quite another having the resources to support your role.

Farmers’ financial contributions to our research programs make it possible for us as researchers to play our role. We are able to train highly qualified personnel (HQP) for the sector and secure resources we need to address current and emerging challenges in our community. This ongoing farmer support demonstrates a community where we all work together for continued success.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

As I mentioned earlier, there are several pieces to producing food. When farmers provide the support, they set the priorities. They directly influence the sector. They tell us what their actual challenges are. Many times, what we may perceive as a problem is not seen as such by farmers. Also, how we may define a problem to provide solutions may not align with the reality of management. As key stakeholders, we consult and collaborate with them to create working solutions. Knowledge sharing through the life of a research project and after becomes integral to the research. It promotes accountability as well as (re)evaluation of the outcome. Also, with the plethora of challenges the community faces, we need all hands on deck. When we train HQP, we build the workforce needed to tackle the challenges. All these lead to fostering stronger relationships in the community.

Anything you want to add or any comments to our farmer members?

Farmers are our heroes. It is my hope that we all recognize that. They begin the story of the food on our plates. It is a very lengthy story. We may not always hear the story, but what we can all agree on is the excitement and the sense of renewal we have after treating ourselves to a wonderful meal. Thank you, farmers.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I serve as the vice-chair of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank board of directors, where I offer my perspectives and leadership on the organization’s mission to end global hunger and shape Canada’s contribution to international aid and development. I also write songs and poems, which is a great outlet for me. The most fun thing I do is when my kids and I make up songs and sing them unending.

What is your favourite TV series right now?

Monk – a series on Netflix. The characters all have their unique strengths that they bring to accurately solving cases. What I have learned is that sometimes the strength of another may be frustrating when we are not used to it. It may be too slow or too detailed for us, and we think it could be easier to quickly jump ahead, but then it doesn’t lead us anywhere. When we begin to create the space to understand one another, we realize that we complement each other. To have an effective collective, we need to understand and accept the individuals within the collective.

What is the best part of your job?

The training of HQP. I have HQP from diverse disciplines. This requires me to be intentional about knowing them as individuals so that I can train the whole person. This leads to my HQP owning their training and accepting the challenge to be more. It is a joy to see such a development in them.

Connect with Afua on LinkedIn.

Ahmed Abdelmagid is a research scientist specializing in oilseed crop pathology at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Morden Research and Development Centre (RDC). Originally from Egypt, Abdelmagid completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant pathology from Assiut University in Asyut, Egypt. He received a scholarship to Oklahoma State University for his PhD, and then joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to do a post doctorate before moving to Canada in 2015. He joined the University of Guelph for a second post doctorate before moving to Winnipeg in 2017. He now lives in Morden with his wife and three kids, who are in Grades 11, nine and four.

Where did you work before AAFC?

I was a research associate at the University of Manitoba. I conducted research on soybean pathology and taught plant pathology to undergraduate and graduate students. After that, I worked in private industry for a year at Farmers Business Network and led the pathology research on canola diseases, specifically blackleg, verticillium stripe, Fusarium wilt and sclerotinia stem rot.

What is the best part about your job?

I really enjoy my new position. It gives me the freedom to choose the research I think is important for farmers. For example, what is more beneficial in terms of the pathology research or for the whole country because I also collaborate with researchers from Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta. We all focus on certain objectives that we think the outcomes will be beneficial to farmers across the Prairies.

What got you interested in this area of work?

When you study agriculture in Egypt the first two years are general, and you choose your major during the third and fourth years. At the time, I didn’t know which department I should join, and I had been warned that plant pathology would be difficult as most of the study would be in English due to the number of scientific pathogen names I would need to memorize.

I saw it as a challenge and looked at it from a different perspective. People get sick and go to the doctor for a bacterial or viral infection. They can speak about their symptoms, but with plants you have to see and study the symptoms to discover which disease it is. I found that to be truly interesting and we were a smaller group of students, which is how I got started into pathology.

Tell us a bit about what you’re working on at AAFC.

Our program focuses on the pathology or plant diseases affecting canola, sunflower, soybean and flax in Manitoba and Canada. I collaborate with breeders across the Prairies and Canada to find new sources of resistance against the most important diseases affecting these crops, and we look at best disease management strategies.

Last year, we began working on a sunflower disease survey funded by Manitoba Crop Alliance. This survey will be similar to what we do on other crops, but it will be very interesting because for many years there has been no verified information about the most important diseases that affect sunflowers in Manitoba and Canada.

We will be in the fields to see what the most important diseases affecting yield and quality of the heads are across Manitoba. We will collect samples of the roots, stems and heads and bring them to the lab to do isolation and identification. From there, we will report on what we saw during the growing season. It will be very beneficial to the industry to know what those diseases are, so the breeding programs can focus on them in the future.

What can you say about the value of farmers providing funding and support to your organization?

It is very valuable. Farmer support is crucial to make our research more practical and applied. We receive funds from other resources to investigate different research ideas, but the link between science and farmers is very important. It tells us as researchers what is important for farmers, what would be more beneficial for them in the future and what ideas or challenges we need to work to solve.

How does that farmer funding and support directly benefit farmers?

We are working on the problems that worry farmers and that they need solutions to, especially in the short term. We know they don’t want to see a solution in six or 10 years – they want to see something practical in the short term. We work to give them verified data and good results, and in some cases, we can recommend management strategies.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Winter in Manitoba is too long, especially for someone like me from the desert. Although I’ve been here for several years, I still have a hard time enjoying outdoor activities in the winter. Time outdoors in the summer is very precious, and I enjoy it a lot.

What is your favourite food or favourite meal to cook?

Foul mudammas (Egyptian fava beans). In Egypt, fava beans are a main dish, especially for breakfast. It’s special, very simple and very healthy.

All you have to do is rinse a can of fava beans, put them in a deep pan with a little bit of oil of your choice. Cut tomato and green pepper, and put the mixture on medium heat. Cover it and leave it for about 7 to 10 minutes. Next add lemon, salt and cumin. Smash it together with a fork, and you can eat it with toast or pita bread. It’s delicious!

Connect with Ahmed on LinkedIn.