The Grain Growers of Canada Board of Directors has elected its new chair, and he’s from Valhalla Centre. Andre Harpe says he’s excited to bring his own style of leadership and priorities to the table.
“There are a few issues that I really am interested in such as international trade because that’s becoming more and more of a bigger deal, especially for agriculture in Canada where we export a lot of our goods.”
“The other thing is it gets back to is… business risk management for farmers. We’re at a crossroads right now with business risk management and I’m very interested in seeing a better income for farmers,” he adds.
Business risk management is a tool used to help identify potential risks associated with changes in the operations of a business. It identifies, prioritizes and addresses risks, aiming to minimize penalties from unexpected incidents.
Harpe also sits on the board of the Canadian Canola Growers Association, a member organization of the GGC representing roughly 40,000 canola growers. He says he also wants to help guide the conversation regarding the future of sustainability by looking for options to help establish and maintain strong agreements for farmers both nationally and internationally.
“While we know this year was not a bad year for farmers, there are areas that were not quite as good and we need help with that.”
The GGC is a 14 member organization made up of members from agricultural boards across the country to represent the needs of agriculture and farmers across Canada. Harpe says he has been working on the board of directors for roughly a year.
“What the Grain Growers of Canada does, it’s a policy board but we focus obviously on agricultural policy,” he says. “It’s a wonderful group of people; we have people from all across Canada and it’s a very interesting board to be on.”
Harpe is replacing outgoing chair Jeff Nielsen, who has been on the GGC executive since 2015 and served as chair for the last two years.