Speaker Biographies

Dr. Franck E. Dayan received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology at Auburn University in Auburn AL USA in 1995. He was a research scientist with the USDA ARS Natural Products Utilization Research Unit from 1995 to 2015. He is now professor of Weed Science and Nutrien Distinguished Scholar of Agricultural Sciences in the Agricultural Biology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. His research focuses on herbicide mode of action and mechanisms of resistance in plants. He serves on the editorial board of Outlooks on Pest Management. He has published more than 200 research articles, 70 reviews or book chapters and has more than 40 patents.

Tom Wolf is a spray application specialist, based in Saskatoon.  He grew up on a farm in Manitoba and studied agriculture at the University of Manitoba (BSA, M.Sc.) and the Ohio State University (Ph.D.).  Tom has 35 years research experience in spray technology, starting with AAFC in 1989 and now as a private consultant. With Jason Deveau, Tom now hosts and writes for the world’s number one sprayer website, Sprayers101.com. He is a past president and Fellow of the Canadian Weed Science Society and has been named Distinguished Agrologist with the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrology.

Matthew Dewavrin is a Quebec-based farmer, agronomist, and advocate for sustainable agriculture, deeply committed to promoting eco-friendly practices and community engagement. As a board member of Quebec’s Institute for Research and Development in Sustainable Agriculture and as the president of his local agroenvironmental club, he collaborates with other leaders to advance sustainable farming techniques, particularly in soil health and biodiversity.

Matthew’s dedication to environmental responsibility is evident in his own operations, Les Fermes Longprés and Le Moulin des Cèdres, which focus on producing and processing certified organic grains. Through both his work in the field and his advocacy, Matthew exemplifies a balanced approach to farming that benefits both the environment and the local community, striving to make ecological and sustainable farming a norm within Quebec agriculture.

Drew Lyon is Professor and Endowed Chair of Small Grains Extension and Research, Weed Science at Washington State University in Pullman. His Extension and Research Program focuses on integrated weed management in dryland small grain production systems. Prior to his arrival at WSU in 2012, Drew served 22 years as the Extension Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff. He received his B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Agronomy/Weed Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Growing up on a mixed farm in SW Manitoba, Kim was raised on 4H and curling, cultivating a lifelong love of all things farming! After high school she attended University of Manitoba first for an Agronomy Degree and then a Master’s Degree in Soil Science, jointly with Ag Canada in Brandon.  Over the last 30 years she has been fortunate to have been with Ag Canada as Research Associate, MB Ag as a Weeds Specialist and Ag Rep, MASC as both an adjustor and Insurance Agent, and in industry as a Regional Agronomist.  Kim returned to MB Ag in 2021 as the Provincial Weeds Specialist, where she is involved in training and extension of new and existing weed issues.  Kim has been a CCA since 1999, adding the 4R-NMS designation in 2019.

Jeanette earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy from the University of Manitoba, which led her to pursue graduate studies. After studying at the Universities of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Jeanette received her Ph.D. in Soil & Pesticide sciences also from the University of Manitoba.

She worked with the Crops Branch of Manitoba Agriculture for almost 10 years, first as the Pesticide Specialist and then and the Provincial Weed Specialist. Jeanette then joined BASF Canada as a Technical Specialist conducting field trials and providing agronomic assessments. She loves working with a variety of crops and farmers.

Jeanette lives just outside of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, Manitoba with her husband and three kids, where they operate a U-Pick strawberry farm. When she’s not working, she enjoys reading, coffee and weed identification. Except grassy weed id – no one likes that!

Dr. Rob Gulden grew up on farms in Germany and Manitoba.  He received a Master’s degrees in nitrogen fixation from the University of Manitoba, a PhD on volunteer canola from the University of Saskatchewan and worked as a post-doc in corn-soybean systems at the University of Guelph before joining the Department of Plant Science as a faculty member in 2007.  His research specializes in weed and crop ecology and ecophysiology, and development of weed and crop management strategies that minimize the effect of weeds on crop production while reducing the reliance on pesticides.  His areas of expertise include applied plant ecology, weed seedbank dynamics, remote-sensing of weeds, agronomy and biostatistics.

Kelly was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan and raised mainly in Saskatoon, while spending most summers on his father's small grain farm near St. Brieux, Saskatchewan.  Currently, he is a pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lacombe Research and Development Centre (AAFC), in Lacombe, Alberta.  He received a Bachelor’s of Science in Agriculture in Agricultural Biology in 1985, and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Plant Pathology from the Department of Biology at the University of Saskatchewan, while spending eight months taking a variety of courses at the University of Guelph in the late 1980s.  Currently, Kelly’s main focus is on diseases of barley and wheat, while he also works on canola as part of collaborative studies with colleagues from across Canada.  

His first experience with fusarium head blight was in the early 1990’s as a post-doctoral fellow at the Eastern Cereals and Oilseeds Research Centre, AAFC Ottawa, as part of a project investigating the impact of tillage and crop rotation on fusarium head blight of wheat and ear rot of corn.  At AAFC Lacombe Kelly continued his work on fusarium head blight with projects related to monitoring for Fusarium graminearum in cereals, grasses and corn, as well as investigating shifts in the pathogen in the 2000’s.  In addition, his research has looked at the development of risk management strategies for fusarium head blight in relation to infected seed and feed as well as forecasting the potential distribution and severity of F. graminearum over the prairie region under dryland and irrigated production scenarios.  Most recently, Kelly led two Wheat and one Barley Cluster CAP projects that focused on improving in-field management of fusarium head blight, while he is collaborating on new barley projects which have a fusarium head blight component and are led by colleague Dr. Hiroshi Kubota, AAFC Lacombe.

His research has ranged from helping to develop disease resistant varieties, studying pathogen variation, and the development and refinement of other management tools such as fungicide timing, rotation, and mixtures/intercropping.  He is currently a member of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Oat and Barley Disease (PRCOB) Evaluation Team and the Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale Disease Evaluation Team, and coordinates the 2-row malting barley cooperative disease report for the PRCOB.  Previously he was Chair of PRCOB as well as Chair of the Prairie Grain Development Committee, and is currently leading the Prairie Crop Disease Monitoring Network.  Through his father Tom, his graduate student supervisor Robin Morrall, and his interactions with farmers, agronomists, industry staff, and research colleagues, Kelly has developed a passion for field-based plant pathology research and the development of practical solutions for effective crop and disease management.

Chris Manchur (MSc, P.Ag) is an Agronomy Specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. Chris received his BSc in Plant Biotechnology and MSc in Biological Sciences at the University of Manitoba, where he researched next-generation fungicides using RNA interference. Chris is the Sclerotinia, Blackleg and Research Lead for the Crop Production & Innovation team at the Canola Council, where he helps bridge the gap between researchers and producers by helping convert scientific findings to best management practices and help develop resources to manage canola’s major production challenges. He also provides agronomic advice and support for growers and agronomists in the eastern half of Manitoba. When not chatting about canola, you can usually find him ice fishing or snowmobiling.

Meghan Rose is the manager of New Era Ag Research in Swan River, MB. She completed a B.Sc. in Plant Biotechnology and an M.Sc. in Plant Genetics at the University of Manitoba.  Meghan began New Era Ag Research in 2015 with the objective of supporting the agriculture retail with local data on crop varieties and inputs. The research division quickly expanded into a full-service contract research organization. Currently, Meghan and her team offer services in all local crops in small plot, commercial field and grow room trials. Variety evaluations, pesticide efficacy and tolerance trials, and canola disease nurseries make up the majority of the research farm. Emerging biological products and fertilizer technologies are explored each year. The Swan Valley produces some of the highest canola yields in Manitoba and is an excellent area for studying disease challenges and assessing yield potential. 

Evan is from a small farm south of Morden Manitoba where he is still actively farming today.  After completing his degree in Agronomy and M.Sc in plant pathology at the University of Manitoba, Evan spent a short time in a chemical research role before moving into a plant breeding position at DL Seeds.  This has evolved into a 14-year career in the canola breeding business including graduating from the Plant Breeding Academy at the University of California in 2016.  He is currently located at the DL Seeds Morden Office where they focus on Canola and Pulse Breeding working closely with their distribution partners and the larger global breeding programs of DSV and NPZ in Germany.  His work touches most aspects of Canola product development including parent and hybrid selection, field plot testing, disease resistance, trait introgression, breeder seed and contra season programs.

Dr. Tom Warkentin is a Professor in the Crop Development Centre (CDC)/Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan. Tom is breeding pea and soybean cultivars for western Canada, and together with graduate students, post-docs and technicians, he is conducting research to address the key challenges and opportunities associated with these crops.   Tom and colleagues have published on research related to improving disease resistance, abiotic stress resistance, protein concentration and quality, and nitrogen fixation in pea, as well as research related to adaptation of soybean to the short season, frontier regions of western Canada.   Pea varieties arising from the CDC program have greater than 60% market share in western Canada.  The CDC pea and soybean breeding programs use a combination of conventional and molecular breeding approaches.

Professor Entz has always enjoyed the outdoors and working on the land. He received his BSc and MSc from the University of Manitoba and his PhD in crop physiology from the University of Saskatchewan. He worked as a farm manager and industry research agronomist before embarking on his academic career. 
Martin currently conducts research in Canada and East Africa; past projects have been conducted in Central America and Asia. He is proud of the Glenlea long-term rotation, which just completed 33 years!  In 2023, Dr. Entz was named the inaugural “Jarislowsky Chair in Natural Systems Agriculture for Climate Solutions”. 
 

Coming soon

Darren Bond is a Farm Management Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, specializing in crop production costs, risk management, and farmland rental, while also being responsible for the annual Guidelines for Estimating Crop Production Costs. He believes every agronomic production decision made on the farm must also consider the economic costs and benefits in order to make the best decision possible. True to this, Darren and the Farm Management Team has created many of the decision making tools and resources found at Manitoba Agriculture.

Joanna is the Cereals Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and is passionate about supporting growers with their cereal crop production challenges and opportunities. She is part of the Great Lakes Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) team in Ontario which is one of a global series of YENs that help local farmers better understand their winter wheat yield potential and what is contributing to that yield.

Kevin Seavers in the Senior Fertilizer Manager for Federated Cooperatives Limited.  Together, the co-operative retailing system positions well over a million tonnes of fertilizer annually to co-ops and farm producers across Western Canada.  Kevin graduated from the I.H Asper School of Business in 2012, and proceeded to spend the next eight years of his career in the province of Alberta working in Ag retail.  With a passion for growing businesses, and helping producers succeed, his role at retail evolved from sales, to sales management, and eventually to Federated Cooperatives in 2021 as the Alberta Fertilizer Merchant.  Being immersed in buying and selling fertilizer, Kevin quickly understood the importance of having a plan that manages pricing exposures but also logistic complexities.  Today, Federated Cooperatives operates three state of the art fertilizer terminals in Brandon, Manitoba; Hanley, Saskatchewan; and Grassy Lake, Alberta.  Managing the Fertilizer department, Kevin has a great lens on the Fertilizer supply chain across Western Canada.

Rigas holds a BSA from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece and an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Soil Chemistry and Fertility from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.  He taught at the University of Saskatchewan and McGill University for over ten years and has served as the Senior Research Agronomist with Esso Chemical Canada, Director of the Saskatchewan Soil Testing Laboratory and Enviro-Test Laboratories Saskatoon, ACES Manager, Manager of Research and Market Development and Manager of Agronomy with Westco and Manager of Agronomic Solutions for Viterra and Senior Agronomist of Koch Fertilizer Canada/Koch Agronomic Services in Canada.  He is now retired.

Rigas has been an author or co-author in over 400 research, technical and conference proceedings publications covering an array of topics and has given 1040 extension talks to farmers, agronomists and government employees, thus reaching close to 52,000 audience, along with a number of radio and TV interviews and articles in popular magazines and newspapers.

He was recognized by his peers by being awarded a fellowship in the Canadian Society of Agronomy in 2013 and Distinguished Agronomist award in 2019 and he was inducted in the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2015.
 

Ashley Ammeter is the Whole Farm Specialist with Manitoba Crop Alliance. Ashley grew up on a grains and oilseeds farm in Manitoba and received her B.Sc. in Agriculture, and M.Sc. in Plant Science from the University of Manitoba. In her role as Whole Farm Specialist, Ashley is responsible for providing knowledge and understanding of a whole-farm approach to crop production and extension of research results that are cross-commodity in nature. 

Curtis received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture (majoring in Soil Science) in 1992 and a Master of Science in Soil Science in 1996, both from the University of Manitoba.  

Prior to joining Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in 2007, Curtis worked for Manitoba Agriculture, Food & Rural Initiatives in Carman for over 10 years, leading programs pertaining to sustainable manure management, nutrient management, soil conservation, risk assessment of soils, water management, agronomy and climate change.  

In 2007, Curtis joined AAFC as an agronomist in Carberry and later Portage la Prairie and Winkler, working on potato research and demonstration projects pertaining to nutrient management, soil salinity and improved management of inputs in potato crop production.  More recently, the focus has shifted to crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat and canola.  

Curtis has supervised the operations at the Portage la Prairie site since 2008, ensuring healthy collaborative arrangements between AAFC-Portage and industry, as well as collaborations with the University of Manitoba, provincial government and AAFC colleagues from across Canada.  As a Certified Crop Advisor since 1998, Curtis served as on the Prairie Certified Crop Advisor Board.  His research interests include agronomy, soils, tillage, moisture management and nutrient management in all crops grown on site. 
 

Humberto Blanco is a Professor of Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. He got his B.Sc. in Soil Science from the Technical University of Oruro, Bolivia in 1990. Then, he received his M.Sc. in 1995 and Ph.D. in 2003 in Soil Conservation and Applied Soil Physics from the Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, USA. He worked at the Ohio State Univ. as a Research Scientist from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, he moved to Kansas State University as a faculty member. Since 2012, he has been working at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. His appointment is 60% research and 40% teaching. He teaches courses in Soil Management and Applied Soil Physics.

His research work focuses on the characterization of soil physical health, soil health, water and wind erosion, water quality parameters, soil water management, soil C, and greenhouse gas emissions within the framework of soil ecosystem services under different management practices. Such practices include cover crops, cover crop grazing, biochar, conservation tillage (e.g., no-tillage, reduced tillage, strategic tillage), cropping systems, organic farming, crop residue removal for livestock and biofuel production, inorganic fertilization, conservation buffers, and dedicated biofuel crops (e.g., perennial warm-season grasses).

He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and four books with Springer, Wiley, and CSIRO. He has been invited to speak in conferences in several countries (Germany, Canada, Ukraine, Brazil, Argentina, China, and others). He is also frequently invited to speak in conferences within the USA. He is a Fellow of the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) and American Society of Agronomy (the highest honor given by the societies). He has also received several other awards including the Shirley Phillips No-till Award (Univ. of Kentucky), Best Paper Awards, and Young Scholar Award of the SSSA. He served as Chair of the Soil and Water Management and Conservation Division of SSSA. He is currently a Technical Editor for Agronomy Journal and serves as an Associate Editor for other major journals.