The Rural Ontario Institute is now accepting applications for its twentieth Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program.

Gabrielle Ferguson, Leadership Projects Director, said they can have up to 30 people in one class and the program is directed towards agricultural leaders from Ontario and across the full value chain.

“So we have people that are from financial institutions, from media, primary producers and from all commodities, horticulture to livestock. We have food processors, so it’s quite a wide variety,” Ferguson explained.

The program is an executive leadership program that is eighteen months long.

“In the first year they do three seminars and they do a North American study trip and in the second year they do three seminars and they do an international study tour,” Ferguson explained. “The international ones, we’ve done Spain and Portugal and Morocco and this class is going to Greece.”

Past graduates of the program include current Provincial Agriculture Minister, Lisa Thompson; the President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture; the President of Grain Farmers of Ontario; and the President of Libro Credit Union.

The deadline for applications is November 25th. The class starts in September of 2023.