Allana Minchau is stepping away as executive director of the Canadian Beef Industry Conference to focus full-time on ranching and raising her family in the Lethbridge area. Minchau has served as the conference’s executive director since 2017. She has helped shape the CBIC into a premiere national ag conference. Her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic was instrumental in transitioning to a virtual conference, allowing CBIC to maintain momentum and foster connections through difficult times. Minchau has agreed to stay on at CBIC as the board searches for a new executive director, to foster a smooth transition.
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The B.C. Cattlemen’s Association held by-elections in Zones 5 and 6 earlier this year. John Greenall was acclaimed in Zone 6 — Thompson. Greenall and wife Judy run Rafter Lazy J Ranch, a cow-calf operation near Heffley Creek, B.C. Brett Squair was acclaimed director for Zone 6 — Okanagan. Squair ranches with his family and is also a partner in a law firm in Vernon, B.C.
After several years at the helm of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI), Kim McConnell is stepping aside as chair. McConnell, founder and former CEO of AdFarm, has been CCFI chair since its inception in 2016. McConnell will remain on the board as Mike Dungate, former executive director of the Chicken Farmers of Canada, steps into the chair role. Dungate has been a director since 2019 and vice-chair since 2020. New to the board as a director is Julie Dickinson Olmstead, who is the managing director of public affairs and corporate responsibility for Pattison Food Group.
Grant McLellan is the new CEO of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association. McLellan hails from Holdfast, Sask., where his family had a grain farm. After obtaining an undergrad degree from the University of Regina, McLellan worked for the provincial government, under Premiers Brad Wall and Scott Moe, followed by time with the minister of agriculture and minister of trade and export development. McLellan takes the reins from Ryder Lee, who is now the general manager of the Canadian Cattle Association.
The Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association also welcomed two new directors. Wade Beck, representing District 2, operates a purebred Charolais, commercial cow herd and grain farm with wife, Cynthia, and family, near Milestone. He spent nine years on the Saskatchewan Charolais Association, including two years as president, and is a past president of the Canadian Charolais Association. District 8 is represented by Leon Lueke, who operates a mixed farm northwest of Humboldt with wife, Debra, and two children. The Lueke family has 130 cow-calf pairs and 3,000 acres of pasture and crop. Lueke has also served on the local RM council, Co-op board and the Saskatchewan Pork board.
Bob Lowe, past president of the Canadian Cattle Association and vice-president of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (GRSB), attended the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) last month in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Also in attendance were Mitchell Zoratti, the CCA’s environment and climate change co-ordinator, and Ruaraidh Petre, executive director of GRSB and Josefina Eisele, the GRSB’s regional director for South America. All four attended as part of an effort to inform delegates of how the GRSB aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for each kilogram of beef produced, as well as improve the accuracy of measuring such emissions. COP27 was held November 6 through the 18. The next COP is slated for Dubai in 2023.
Cow-calf producer Jason Hale has been appointed Alberta’s deputy minister of agriculture and irrigation. Previously, Hale served as the Alberta Beef Producers’ vice-chair, as an MLA, irrigation district board chair and on Medicine Hat College’s advisory committee.
We’re sad to announce that Terry Wiebe passed away suddenly on September 1, at the age of 63. Wiebe was born in Calgary and raised on a mixed farm near Daysland, Alta. Wiebe started out raising livestock on the family farm, where his three sons were born. After the family farm was sold, he focused on long-haul trucking for several years, then purchased a ranch near Caroline, Alta. In 1996, he saw an opportunity to ranch on a much larger scale, and so the Wiebe family moved to Buick, B.C., where they started Rawhide Cattle Company. He cared deeply about his family, his animals and the community. He enjoyed what he did and cherished a day in the saddle, a good meal, a visit with another rancher and time spent with his grandkids.
Wiebe was well-known for his work on industry boards, including the Canadian Beef Check-Off Agency, the Cattle Industry Development Council as well as the North Peace and B.C. Bred Heifer and Feeder Associations. He was a friendly face at conferences, even extending invitations to visit the ranch and go for a ride to interested ag journalists. We regret we never got the opportunity to take him up on the invitation, as he’s now ridden on ahead of the rest of us. Wiebe leaves behind his partner Jackie Jackson; brother Darrel Wiebe; sons Chance (Christa), Chad (Brooke) and Ben (Katelyn); step-children Jennifer (Gary), Kurtis (Angelina), Dave, Jason, Kris and Jeremy (Sue); as well as several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents, John and Ruby Wiebe, and stepson, Kris. Our condolences to all of Wiebe’s loved ones.
