Hepworth honoured for agricultural achievements

Lorne Hepworth, former Saskatchewan agriculture minister and current chair of the Agriculture Research Institute of Ontario, has been named a member of the Order of Canada.

Hepworth was among 78 appointments announced by governor general Mary Simon in late December.

The London, Ont., resident was recognized for his contributions to agriculture and research “which have propelled the sector to new heights,” according to Simon’s office.

He was a farmer and veterinarian in Saskatchewan before entering provincial politics during premier Grant Devine’s Progressive Conservative governments, where he served in several portfolios until 1991.

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After his political career, Hepworth moved to Ontario and began working with the Crop Protection Institute and Canadian Agra Group of Companies. He was instrumental in the formation of CropLife Canada and retired as its chief executive officer and president in 2014 after 17 years. He was appointed to the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame that year.

Hepworth has also served as chair of Genome Canada and the Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan. The list of his involvement with other institutions includes the Canadian Council of Academies Expert Panel on Sustainable Management of water in agricultural landscapes, the Scientific Advisory and Governance Committees of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund, the advisory board of the National Research Council of Canada’s Plant Biotechnology Institute, the Canadian Agri-Food Research Council and the federal pest management and national biotechnology advisory committees.

He was on the board of Input Capital Corp. and a director and chair of Canterra Farmland Holdings LP.

He received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2020.

—Karen Briere is a reporter for the Western Producer. She writes from Saskatchewan.