Jeff Nielsen, president of the Western Barley Growers Association, has been elected as a vice-president of the Grain Growers of Canada.
Nielsen, a grain grower at Olds, Alta., replaces Dawson Creek, B.C. grain farmer Jim Smolik, who was named last month to a three-year term as assistant chief commissioner at the Canadian Grain Commission.
Nielsen becomes one of a four-member executive, elected at the GGC’s annual general meeting this week in Ottawa. Nielsen, who also previously served on Agricore United’s board of directors, will also serve as chair of the GGC’s grain marketing committee.
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The other three executive members were all re-elected to their posts, including Ross Ravelli of the Canadian Canola Growers as president, Allan Ling of the Atlantic Grains Council as the other vice-president and Doug Robertson of the Alberta Barley Commission as a member at large.
Ling will chair the GGC safety nets committee, while Rick White chairs the grain transportation committee and GGC executive director Richard Phillips heads the international trade committee.
Ravelli said in a release that the group has already started to lobby on federal transportation legislation and “engaging government more aggressively to ensure we have a (World Trade Organization) deal that is good for our sector.”
