Mirroring the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis this week was the first-ever Americas Agriculture and Food Security Forum at Olds College.
Dr. Jean-Charles Le Vallee, the Country representative for Canada with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), points out that the two-day event ran on Monday and Tuesday and people were blown away as they saw and discovered the technology on display as part of the Olds College Smart Farm. He says “we benefitted from the attention of the world around the G7 in Kananaskis which is two hours away and that is why we chose those dates, that is why we are here. We chose an ag venue, so people had that experience. Olds College did a fantastic job hosting us. Todd (Ormann, Vice President, Research & Development, Olds College of Agriculture & Technology) was telling me that this is one of the biggest events they have ever held, in four languages, multiple countries like this. It is a great way to showcase the college’s leadership in this space.”
He adds, this international forum covered topics including cultivating important relationships across the Americas. Le Vallee says “we are building momentum. You saw it in the room, it was palpable. People are energized and there are new connections. Many Canadians tend to work within Canada domestically and don’t get this opportunity to work and engage with the rest of the Americas. It is usually the U.S., and maybe Mexico but south of Mexico? Never, you never see that. So, this forum of the Americas brought together more countries to find common ground for the future of agriculture and to be more strategic and to coordinate those efforts together.”
Le Vallee says IICA’s Director General, who is the most senior official on agriculture for the Americas, was at Olds College and he will be organizing a board meeting in November in Brazil with the 34 ministers of agriculture across all the Americas to take them some of the messaging from this first-ever Americas Ag Forum.
He adds, there was desire in the room to do this again. Le Vallee says all of their partners, industry, government, partners outside of Canada, and others all responded positively that the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture should run this forum on an annual basis.
