Grainswest - Winter 2026

Winter 2026 grainswest.com 21 BY IAN DOIG • ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY CHU ALES dean takes strategic action Real-world education A As a microbiology student at the University of British Columbia, Rickey Yada strug- gled with his chosen path, until he received a recruitment letter from the school’s Food Science department and sat down with its chair. The young student had taken classes in chemistry, biochemistry and physics, and the administrator suggested Food Science addresses these disciplines as applied to food. Yada loved the idea, and the offer of a scholarship sealed the deal. As a budding food scientist, Yada appreciated the fact his work had real-world applications. He completed a master’s degree and PhD and his protein specialization earned him a job at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Agricultural College (OAC). During his time with that program he worked closely with the farm community. “Guelph reinforced in me that it’s really important to listen to the growers about what their challenges are,” said Yada. To make a long academic journey short, he eventually returned to UBC as dean of its Facul- ty of Land and Food Systems. Ten years along, he was offered a five-year stint as dean of the University of Alberta Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES), which began in the fall of 2024. GrainsWest: What do you like about your position as dean of ALES? Rickey Yada: I was brought in to reimagine what ALES could look like. I thought, ‘Well, they’ve thrown down the gauntlet, can I pick it up?’ My focus during my first year was putting in place a three-year strategic plan for ALES, because I had done this at UBC. GW: Why was it important to create this strategic plan? RY: It is really an action plan, which has defined milestones. We launched it in September of 2025. Economist Vic Adamow- icz was the acting dean before I was hired. I asked him to head up the implementation group. One of the pieces of advice I got from the dean at OAC was to get to know the people you serve. I’ve spent my time meeting various agriculture groups and listened very carefully to what they say we need to do. It’s also important to get to know the students, because they are our clients and our best ambassadors. If you deliver a lousy program, they’ll tell their buddies. We can’t afford to put on poor programs. Part of the strategic plan is to focus on what we do best, but let’s be Gretzky-ish and look for open ice. You need to constantly change and evolve and meet the needs of your clients, students and the farm community. GW: What priorities have ag groups, farmers and students identified? RY: Sustainability and food security are topical issues, of course. That’s what we do well, but we need to figure out the