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Vineland stakeholder advisory committee

February 21, 2008 By CNW

Feb. 21, 2008, Vineland, Ont. (CNW) — Several greenhouse industry leaders, past and present, have been appointed to the stakeholder advisory committee of the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. With the objective of facilitating consultation and information exchange among all stakeholder groups and ensuring that the organization is provided with independent advice from outside experts, the stakeholder advisory committee is the first of three advisory committees that Vineland plans to establish.
“The goal of Vineland’s vision is to develop long-term technology and innovation that adds overall value to horticultural and ornamental products and to the industry,” said board chair Donald Ziraldo. “Vineland’s success will be driven by brilliant science working hand in hand with market delivery. The stakeholder advisory committee provides invaluable expertise to ensure that Vineland’s programs remain based on achieving commercially relevant outcomes that will provide the industry with strong competitive advantages.”
The Committee Chair is Debbie Whitehouse, executive director of the Niagara Parks Commission. She previously served as director of Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture, and was acting director of horticulture.
Other committee members include:
John Bakker, general manager and a partner in J. C. Bakker and Sons Nurseries Ltd., St. Catharines. He is involved with a number of industry related organizations, including the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, Landscape Ontario and the International Plant Propagators Society. He is also a Canadian Nursery Certification Institute Board representative.
Pascale Harstar of Harster Greenhouses, one of North America’s largest growers and marketers of African violets. With husband Andre, she operates seven acres of highly automated greenhouses in Dundas, Ontario. She is the founder of Science-Based Medicinal Plants Inc., a research company dedicated to new horticultural greenhouse crops that can be used to provide pharmaceutical ingredients. Pascale is also chair of Flornamentech, the research committee for Flowers Canada (Ontario).
Denton Hoffman, general manager of the Ontario ginseng and asparagus boards. For more than 10 years through to 2003, he was general manager of the Ontario greenhouse vegetable board. He helped that industry as it grew substantially in acreage and farmgate product value.
Ian Mole, an industry
leader with St. David’s Hydroponics, Niagara-on-the-Lake, a leading
grower and supplier of premier greenhouse vegetables in North America.
St. David’s has “state of the art” greenhouses with the latest
technology and equipment. Production techniques being used include
natural resources such as bumblebees for pollination and biological
pest control.

Ward Hanlon, a sales
executive in the consumer foods and packaged goods industry. Hanlon has
held senior sales and marketing positions with several food
manufacturers. He has served on numerous industry committees and he has
worked as a business consultant. He is currently responsible for
industry relations and membership for the Canadian Federation of
Independent Grocers.

Art Moyer is part of the family owned Ronald Moyer Limited farm, which features more than 65 acres of apples as well as sweet cherries, sour cherries, pears, grapes and a broiler breeder operation. Moyer is a director for the Ontario Apple Growers, and a committee member for the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board and the Grape Growers of Ontario. As well, he is a past director for the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board, the Grape Growers of Ontario, and the Vineland Growers’ Co-op Limited.
Michael Ecker,
vice-president of sales and marketing for Vineland Growers Co-op. Ecker
has served as the president of the Ontario Produce Marketing
Association and is currently a board member. He is a director with the
Canadian Produce Marketing Association.         Matthias Oppenlaender studied agriculture and viticulture in Germany. After he came to Canada, he was hired as a manager at Huebel Grapes Estates, Queenston. Over the past 20 years, he has expanded the vineyards to some 220 acres along with another 80 acres of contracted vineyards. In 1991, he became a partner in the business. Oppenlaender is a director with the Grape Growers of Ontario and chair of the Ontario Wine and Research Foundation.
Paul-Andre Bosc,
vice-president of administration, marketing and export development for
Château des Charmes, his family owned business. His has served as
vice-chairperson of the Canadian Vintners Association, and been a
member of the Wine Council of Ontario, the Ontario Grape & Wine
Research Foundation, the National Wine Research Advisory Council, the
Niagara Wine Auction Foundation, and the Niagara College Winery &
Viticulture Program advisory board.
David Donnelly, one of Canada’s leading environmental lawyers
and an advocate for smart growth. He has represented public interest
groups and Ontario ratepayers at the Ontario Municipal Board’s Oak
Ridges Moraine hearings, at the Walkerton Commission of Inquiry, and
before the Greenbelt panel. Donnelly has been an advisor to government
on law and planning reform.
Lynn Ogryzlo, a culinary journalist and culinary activist, with regular columns in a pair of Niagara-based publications. She is the executive editor of “taste,” a magazine featuring Ontario’s local flavours. Ogryzlo is the founder of the Niagara Culinary Trail.
Ken Porteous, president of Lingwood Farms Ltd., an 850-acre operation that produces apples, tart cherries, pears, peaches and asparagus. He has served as president of the Norfolk Cherry Company and the Canadian Agricultural Marketing Council. Porteous has been vice-chair of the Ontario Foreign Agricultural Resources Management Services and the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers’ Marketing Board.
Patrick Robson, director of community integration for the Regional Municipality of Niagara. Robson has extensive experience as a private sector planning consultant, as a community planner with the Niagara Escarpment Commission, and as an investigator with the Ontario Human Rights Commission. He recently completed his third term as an alderman in Wainfleet and teaches public policy at Brock University.
Harold Schooley, a third-generation apple farmer in Norfolk County where he has been farming since 1976. Schooley has a keen interest in the advancement of research and innovation and is chair of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association’s research committee. He serves on a number of boards, including the Ontario Agri-Food Technology Inc., the Guelph Food Technology Centre, the Ontario Agriculture Research Coalition, the Norfolk Fruit Growers’ Association, and the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association.
Jennifer Smith, the chief operating officer of both Cherry Lane Frozen Fruits and HWM Smith Holdings Ltd. She is a director on the Ontario Tender Fruit Producers Marketing Board and on the North American Cherry Task Force.
Torrie Warner, a tender fruit and grape grower in the Beamsville area where he is involved in all aspects of the business including direct marketing. Over the years, Warner has been a leader in testing new tender fruit cultivars. He is a director and treasurer with the Niagara Peninsula Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. He has also been treasurer of the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention and was president of the Ontario Fruit Testing Association.

Ex-officio members include Bill Ingratta, director of transition, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and Dr. Gary Whitfield, science director, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Harrow, Ontario.