AALP celebrates 40 years with alumni event at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2024

The Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) celebrated its 40-year anniversary at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show 2024.

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The program, run by the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI), is an experiential executive leadership program for those interested in taking on leadership roles in different aspects of agriculture.

The first AALP class ran from 1985 to 1987. Since then, there have been 18 more classes, with a 20th set to graduate in 2025 and a 21st now accepting applications.

Why it matters: AALP has produced leaders and influential figures across Ontario agriculture for decades.

Alumni gathered at the special events tent during the show to hear reflections on the program and its continued importance over the past 40 years.

Doug Pletsch, who worked with the first two graduating AALP classes as a curriculum advisor appreciates the impact of the program on the sector.

“It’s amazing, really, in terms of the potential that it has had on agriculture with the number of people who have gone through the program and who have made an impact on whatever part of the industry that they were in,” he said.

Cathy Young, who worked for the program between classes one and seven, said that AALP has had a far-reaching impact across the province.

“I think no matter where you go in Ontario, you meet somebody who has been impacted by the program or been a grad, and it’s really fantastic to see,” she said.

Gabrielle Ferguson, ROI leadership programs director, kicked off the afternoon’s speeches.

“AALP creates an experiential leadership opportunity like no other,” she said, “where graduates become our sector voices, on farms, in organizations and with industry.”

AALP prioritizes diversity in its members, with the goal of representing different sectors and businesses across the ag value chain. The current class includes representatives from the dairy, poultry, finance and seed sectors, among others.

“There are many leadership programs,” she said. “None of them have the across the agriculture and food sector perspective and hands-on experiential journey that AALP gives its participants.”

Following Ferguson’s introductions, Ken Knox, a former provincial deputy minister of agriculture who was one of the program founders, delivered a recorded video greeting.

Knox spoke about his experience in the U.S. in 1980 with a program which inspired AALP. “We came back so enthused that we could do something like that in Ontario, and four years later, the program was born.”

AALP has had to adapt over its 40-year lineage to reflect the changing values and landscape of Canadian agriculture. Knox said he has seen needs in agriculture leadership change since the program began in 1984.

“Technology and the changes with technology just blow me away as to how that’s changed how leadership is done among agriculture professionals today,” he said.

Class 15 alumni Carolyn Felker also spoke about how the program has had to evolve through the eras.

“Every year since its creation, the program has had to adapt to change within agriculture,” she said. “In the 80s, it was high interest rates. In the 90s, it was biosecurity protocols that came in, in the 2000s, cybersecurity became a priority and in 2020, our world got turned upside-down as we navigated a new online space.”

“Food security and climate change are now top of mind in the industry,” she said. “There are persistent labour shortages that the leaders in agriculture have had to adapt (to) and innovate.”

She said the program remains relevant to current members as it reflects these prescient issues in its curriculum.

“The future is bright and promising,” she said. “Building on success in the years ahead will require the strength of the industry and leadership (of) people like us in the room.”

Ferguson was later joined onstage by Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) General Manager Cathy Lennon and Ontario Minister of Rural Affairs Lisa Thompson, alumni of classes nine and six.

Both spoke about how AALP helped them chart a path forward in their careers.

“No matter what we do,” Thompson said, “everything we learned in AALP has certainly paved the way.”