The 2008 FCC Rosemary Davis Award Winners
Marie Logan, farmer / 4-H and community leader, Lomond, Alberta
An active farm operator, rural leader and visionary, Marie Logan is passionate about family, agriculture, youth and education. She's acted on her passions locally, provincially and nationally and touched many people's lives in a positive way.
A U of C science graduate, Marie and her husband operate Wheatcrest Farms, a successful pedigreed seed farm and cow-calf operation in Lomond, Alberta. The farm is now a fifth generation family farm and her grandchildren will make the sixth generation.
Marie believes enriching the lives of children and youth in the community helps farm families and communities grow and survive. She's been a 4-H leader for over a quarter century. She's also served as President of the Alberta 4-H Council, the 4-H Foundation of Alberta and the Canadian 4-H Council and is a member of the Alberta 4-H Hall of Fame. Marie was a driving force in enhancing educational opportunities through her active involvement on school boards and local and provincial involvement on library organizations. Her work with these organizations resulted in being named Alberta Farm Woman of the year.
Sitting back and letting things just happen isn't Marie's style. She gets involved and does her best to influence decisions affecting children, families and rural communities. She chaired the committee that saved Lomond School from closure and was a founding director of the Regional Library system giving all rural Southern Albertans access to libraries and just under a million books.
Marie's philosophy “love every idea for fifteen minutes” has opened many minds and helped to build consensus. And her success at combining entrepreneurship, leadership and good old common sense has made her a valued participate in the Alberta Rural Development Strategic Task Force, the Alberta Growth Summit, and the Alberta Ministerial Task Force on Libraries, Industry Canada's Community Access Project and recently as a director on the Rural AB Development Fund (100 million for rural projects).
Marie focuses on the positive, enjoys the ever changing challenges in agriculture and believes success comes for those who are prepared for change.
Lilliane Sabiston, farmer / women's advocate / volunteer, Kelliher, Saskatchewan
Lilliane Sabiston's strength and determination come from her passion to care for people.
Known for her adaptability and flexibility, Lilliane really listens and could easily be described as a kitchen table counselor, offering coffee, a listening ear, knowledge, encouragement or compassion. She tirelessly helps de-mystify complex paper forms, comforts an ill or grieving friend, or supports a farmer facing financial challenges. She's often on the phone from the family grain and oilseed farm where she is an active partner seeking information and cutting the red tape that can overwhelm those in distress.
Lilliane played an active leadership role in the Saskatchewan Women's Agricultural Network. As Chairperson, she provided a strong voice for the organization, the agriculture industry, farm women and farm families. While prompted to lead she remained diligent in doing her share of the workload behind the scenes. Lilliane believes women's voices are necessary in all public policy development and eagerly encourages other women to recognize and share their talents and skills.
From 1995-2002, she served as an elected member of the Touchwood Qu'Appelle Health District. She has also served on the Steering Committee of Breast Cancer Action Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Alcohol and Drug Abuse Advisory Council, and the Farm Leaders Advisory Group. For two terms, she was a trustee of Carlton Trail Regional College. Today, she is Chairperson of the Prairie Women's Health Centre of Excellence as well as the Saskatchewan Farm Stress Line Advisory Group.
She brings a wealth of information and ideas to all activities, and in practical ways quickly synthesizes what matters and what can work. She believes a connection between barn and boardroom is key to creating positive, practical policies and programs. And when she's not busy, she can be found enjoying her family, her friends, her farm and her community.
Debbie Coke, farmer / Feed Specialist Inspector / agriculture advocate, Dresden, Ontario
Debbie Coke is a leader and a tireless worker whose love of the agriculture industry is expressed through involvement.
After graduating from Penn State University in the United States with a degree in agriculture majoring in animal science, Debbie worked on a Canadian horse farm. Shortly after, she met Clarence, her future husband and partner in their cash crop and cattle operation.
She's worked in various positions in agriculture: as an evaporator operator with tomato processing, as Red Meat Advisor with Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, with Beef Improvement Ontario as a Field Service Representative and currently is a Feed Inspector with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Debbie has devoted countless hours to farm organizations. She's coordinated the promotion of events and activities through the Lambton Cattlemen's Association: an annual Beef Barbecue for 1000 attendees, mall displays and donations of meat to food banks.
She's a member and past-chair of the Lambton Kent Agriculture in the Classroom. The organization educates youth about their food and agriculture, with funds raised through an annual Gala Dinner, Debbie has helps organize. She's a long time leader for Girl Guides and volunteers with 4-H. Her daughters, Jessica and Megan have followed in her footsteps volunteering to benefit others.
Her 10-year tenure with the Lambton Federation of Agriculture (LFA) brought her voice into homes monthly doing a radio program. As LFA chair, she lobbied various government levels and coordinated the” Locally Lambton Food & Fun Map”, a project promoting farm gate sales of local products from alpaca, wool to honey.
Debbie believes the future of agriculture is multi-faceted and ever changing. She supports the forward movement of the Canadian agriculture industry as viable, strong and a world leader. Food safety is a personal interest and her vision is an economically stable industry with opportunities for the next generation.
Claire Désaulniers, dairy farmer, St-Tite,Quebec
Claire Désaulnier's belief in the power of knowledge has enabled her to successfully transfer her business administration education and nearly 20 years of work experience to her family dairy farm and the dairy industry.
About 10 years ago, when her husband bought out his partner in La Ferme Pittet, Inc., Claire gave up her full-time management job at Mouvement Desjardins to become a full partner in the business, even though she was afraid of cows!
Claire's involvement was one of the key factors that enabled the operation to double its production capacity. In 2002, the company was one of the first in Quebec to obtain HACCP pre-certification and La Ferme Pittet was one of the first dairies in the province to use robotic milking machines. Ferme Pittet keeps the safety and health of its employees top of mind. The year the UPA set up its Mutuelle de prévention, a select group of companies with distinguished safety records, Ferme Pittet embraced the opportunity to become a member of the Mutuelle and Claire is responsible for its continued involvement.
Claire's non-farming background gives her a unique perspective at industry discussions and meetings. She serves as President of the Syndicat des agricultrices de la Mauricie (Mauricie union of farm women). She sits on the board of directors of the Fédération des agricultrices du Québec (Quebec federation of farm women) and the Fédération de l'Union des Producteurs Agricoles de la Mauricie (Mauricie federation of the union of farm producers). Claire also chairs and was elected President of the Réseau Agriconseils Mauricie, an agriculture organization with a mandate to increase the use of consulting services by producers.
Claire continues to spend almost 40 days a year in professional development. A wealth of information helps her make the best decisions for her company and give advice to others. While she acknowledges numerous challenges in the industry, she insists that producers who are passionate about their business will still be around in the future.
Elspeth McLean-Wile, dairy farmer /entrepreneur, Wileville, Nova Scotia
Elspeth McLean-Wile has spent her life advancing the business of agriculture without leaving the sector into which she was born - a fifth generation dairy farmer. Today, she along with her husband and business partner of 25 years Peter co-own and operate a dairy and manage the successful Wile's Lake Farm Market which she created over 20 years ago.
Her inquisitive nature, knowledge, listening skills and willingness to be open to all opinions make her a natural leader. Elspeth emphasizes co-operative decision-making and partnerships. Combining these attributes with her passion for making positive changes, she broke new ground for women in the industry.
Elspeth is currently a Board Member of South Shore Opportunities, a community lender, focused on start-up businesses and local economic development and the Board of Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia which funds projects addressing issues of rural Nova Scotia. She also served as the first female chair of Dairy Farmers of Canada's (DFC) Promotion Committee and sat on that organization's Board of Directors. She helped establish Milk Maritime, a producer-processor initiative to market dairy products in the Maritime Provinces and served as Chair for ten years. She was the first female Board member and then Chair of the Nova Scotia Milk Producers Association and led the organization into Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia, a marketing board formed in 2001.
Elspeth was the first Nova Scotia producer chosen to participate in the Canadian Agriculture Lifetime Leadership Program created to develop leaders for Canadian agriculture. She was also Board Chair and a key builder of AgraPoint International, the first industry-lead company overseeing extension services for the Nova Scotia government.
Elspeth believes that shifting from a focus on production to a focus on marketing, based on value-added products is key to the future success of the industry. She continues to be optimistic about agriculture because of the country's natural resources and infrastructure, the political stability in Canada, the research capacity and the innovative entrepreneurial spirit that exists within the agri-food industry.
