Laurie Hayes came to take the helm at the Conservation Learning Center early this spring. The wide variety of experiences she has had in the agricultural industry will stand her in good stead as she takes over management and promotion of the farm.
All those who have had contact with the farm are sorry to see Pat Flaten move on! Under her leadership the farm which consists of 3 quarter sections of land on a variable landscape was established in the spring of 1993. It is located just a few minutes south of Prince Albert. She built up the farm to where last year it included 40 projects with a variety of demonstrations and research related to sustainable farming practices. It continues to become more well known to the public. Last year for example, 500 producers and industry personnel toured various sites at the farm. Another 1000 students visited the center along with their teachers. The farm provides a setting where results are made visual with everyone welcome to participate in selfguided tours and a number of guided tours put on throughout the summer. Recently there has been a major emphasis on projects looking at production in terms of landscape units. Pat says that she is hopeful the CLC will continue to play a significant role in bringing together farmers, researchers, and industry, and addressing the environmental concerns of all in regards to wildlife and the quality of our land and water.
Hayes steps in to the management of the farm with a strong background in agriculture of course but also in public relations and promotional positions and with experience managing a wide variety of projects. For example just before she came to the CLC she worked for the Western Beef Development Center developing a partnership program between producers and researchers to enhance the dissemination of research results to producers and providing means for feedback from grassroots levels back to researchers. She worked for a number of other organizations including Ag Canada and the Canola Council of Canada in Winnipeg. She has been very active in the professional agrologist associations wherever she has resided. She has a M.Sc. in Agriculture with research focusing on the behaviour and management of turkeys. She grew up on a mixed farm at Val Marie which is 120 km. south of Swift Current. The farm backgrounded cattle and the land base included pasture, irrigated production and dryland feed production.
In her new position she plans to continue to promote the visibility of the CLC through development of local contacts with producers and potential sponsors. She says that she welcomes people to come and meet her and see the farm. She feels that she has a lot to learn and that she has learnt something from all who have dropped by so far so she expects that to continue!