2020 Convention - Speakers
The presenters of the convention’s talks and workshops will be on this page as they are confirmed and introductions have been written.
If you are interested in sponsoring any part of the convention, please click here to explore the many new opportunities for promotion, support and connection.
Virtual Book Table
! Buy your books from Saskatoon’s independent bookseller Turning the Tide! They normally table at our Saskatoon conventions. This year they have curated a special selection for us at their online bookstore including titles by several of our speakers. Use the promo code NFU2020 at the checkout to get 50% off shipping on orders over $50 or free shipping on orders over $75.
Check back here again soon for the full list of presenters.
Anastasia Fyk
Anastasia, an NFU member and national board member for Region 5 (Manitoba), grew up on her family farm located on Treaty 2 Territory on the Eastern slopes of Duck Mountain. She is a descendant of Ukrainian settlers who established themselves on this same farm in 1904. Her ancestors grew buckwheat and wheat in Ukraine andArzeena Hamir
Arzeena Hamir and her husband Neil own Amara Farm, a 26-acre certified organic farm in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. The farm grows over 40 different fruits and vegetables and primarily sells through direct markets via their local farmers market and a CSA program. The couple decided early on to invest in alternative energyBrendan Grant
Brendan and his wife Marcelle Paulin own Sleepy G Farm along the north shore of Lake Superior near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Brendan is the current president of NFU Local 333, which represents NFU members across all of Northern Ontario. A strong advocate of developing regional food systems, Brendan has spent 15 years building a highlyCathy Holtslander
Cathy Holtslander is the Director of Research and Policy for the National Farmers Union. In collaboration with NFU members, she analyses and critiques laws, programs and policies relevant to agriculture, farming and rural life. She has been advocating for sustainable and just farm policy since the early 1990s, including as a member of the committeeChris Ramsaroop
Chris Ramsaroop is an organizer with Justicia for Migrant Workers. He is also an instructor in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of Toronto and a clinic instructor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Ramsaroop is working to complete his PhD at OISE/University of Toronto. Justicia for Migrant Workers is a grassrootsDawn Morrison
Dawn is of Secwepemc ancestry and is the Founder/Curator of the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Since 1983 Dawn has worked and studied horticulture, ethno-botany, adult education, and restoration of natural systems in formal institutions, as well as through her own personal and community healing and learning journey. Following the year’s she spent teachingDevlin Kuyek
Devlin Kuyek is a researcher at GRAIN, a small international non-profit organisation that supports small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. He monitors and analyses global agribusiness, including the global land rush and corporate concentration in the livestock sector. Devlin co-authored the major 2018 report Emissions impossible: HowDoug Campbell
Doug Campbell lives on Prince Edward Island, where up until Nov 2019, he was a 2nd generation dairy farmer. He now works for a oil seed company Natures Crops, which grows grows and refine oil seeds for a variety of uses on the global market. For the past four years Doug has been District DirectorDr. Jenna Hennebry
Dr. Jenna Hennebry (Ph.D.) is an internationally recognized scholar, co-founding Director of the International Migration Research Centre (www.imrc.ca ), and Associate Professor in Wilfrid Laurier’s Communication Studies Department and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Her expertise centres on labour migration, with an emphasis on labour migration governance and gender-responsive migration policy, migrant workers’ rights, health, access to decent workGlenn Wright
Glenn grew up as a city kid in Saskatoon, SK in the 1980s. He caught the farming bug when young because all of his extended family farmed. He wasn’t fortunate enough to inherit a family farm, but determined to live in the country, he and his wife moved to establish their own small farm nearHaroon Akram-Lodhi
Haroon Akram-Lodhi teaches agrarian political economy at Trent University. He is Professor of Economics and International Development Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies. He is involved in numerous high-level academic roles as an editor, advisor, board member, visiting professor at other universities and advisor internationally. Trained as an economist, Haroon Akram-LodhiJanet Ranganathan
Janet Ranganathan is the Vice President for Research, Data, and Innovation at the World Resources Institute, an action-oriented global research organization that works in more than 50 countries, with offices in the United States, China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Ethiopia, DRC, and Europe. She plays a lead role in ensuring that WRI’s research and dataJenn Pfenning
Jenn is a family owner and the Director of Human Resources, Marketing and Operations at Pfenning’s Organic Farm in New Hamburg, Ontario. Pfenning enjoys working alongside local and migrant workers to produce food that serves her passion for healthy living, food justice and strong community. Jenn is an active participant in boards and committees. SheJulia Smith
Julia and her partner Ludo are doing their best to preserve an endangered heritage breed hog, the Red Wattle, currently at risk of becoming extinct in Canada. Julia also works with a number of local ranchers and the cattle who spend much of the year ranging the grasslands that surround the farm. Located in theKaren Cocq
Karen Cocq is Campaigns Coordinator for the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change. Cocq has been active in migrant justice, workers’ rights, and anti-poverty organizing for almost two decades. The Migrant Workers Alliance for Change (MWAC) provides direct support to the self-organization of migrant workers – specifically farm workers, care workers and current and former migrant students – inKen Larsen
Ken Larsen is a graduate of the University of Alberta (’76) and a full-time farmer. Married with two children, for the past 44 years he and his wife have produced grains, forages, and cattle west of Red Deer, Alberta. Ken has been involved in numerous recreational, environmental, cultural, and scientific organizations, and has published manyMartin Entz
Dr. Martin Entz is professor of Cropping Systems and Natural Systems Agriculture at the University of Manitoba where he works on ecological and organic agriculture with specialties in crop diversity, crop- livestock interaction and farmer participatory crop variety development.Sarah Carter
Historian Sarah Carter studies the history of Western Canada and the critical era that began in the late nineteenth century when Aboriginal people were dispossessed and a new population established. She looks into the colonial roots of inequality and discrimination in Western Canada—whose interests these inequities served, how and why they became so deeply embeddedSeth Klein
Seth Klein served for 22 years (1996-2018) as the founding British Columbia Director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a public policy research institute committed to social, economic and environmental justice. He is now a freelance researcher, writer, consultant and speaker, and an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s Urban Studies program. Seth’s newStana Luxford Oddie
Senior Conservation Education for Cataraqui Conservation in Kingston, Ontario, Stana Luxford Oddie is accredited by the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides. Stana has decades of experience connecting kids and people of all ages to nature. She can’t wait to work with NFU kids!Stephanie Laing
Stephanie has been growing vegetables on ten acres in Prince Edward County since 2012. She and her partner Heather feed over 400 farm share families with summer, winter, and spring vegetable boxes. Stephanie’s experience of 2020 mirrors that of many produce farmers. Her farm faced substantial disruptions to labour, distribution, and supply systems. Surviving theseTakota Coen
Takota Coen is the co-owner of a 250 acre second generation organic farm in Central Alberta that raises milk fed pork, grass fed beef, free range eggs, forest garden berries and herbal teas. In addition to farming, he is also an author and educator who works with other land stewards world-wide to help regenerate theTerry Boehm
Terry Boehm has had a long involvement with the National Farmers Union, having served for many years on the Board of Directors including as Vice President, and was its President from 2010 until 2013. Prior to that, he was Chair of the NFU’s Transportation Committee. He has been analyzing legislation, trade agreements, government papers andToby Malloy
Toby Malloy is an NFU member and the Region 7 Women’s Advisory representative. She lives and works in Nanton Alberta where she and her husband Lance have a mixed farm. Off the farm Toby is a Master’s level social worker who has been working as a counsellor and resource worker in rural mental health andTony McQuail
Tony McQuail was an early adopter of rotational grazing and has decades of experience in pasture management and fencing systems. At Meeting Place Organic Farm at Lucknow, Ontario the McQuail family raises grass-fed and grass-finished beef, pastured pork and pastured poultry, and have experimented with cocktail cover crops. They often use horses for farm work. Under theirConvention Sponsors
