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HEADOF
THE CLASS
Cultivating leadership
ADVANCINGAGPROGRAMPAIRS EXPERIENCEDMENTORSWITHAMBITIOUSMENTEES
In February 2017, the Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley launched a crop sector mentorship program. AdvancingAg:
Future Leaders Program pairs mentees aged 18 to 35 with crop sector professionals. The aim is to foster a strong network of future
agricultural leaders. Stacie Yaremko and Allison Ammeter are one of the eight pairs.
Agriculture background
I grew up on a 3,000-acre grain farm near Peace River, AB. Throughout uni-
versity, I worked for Bayer CropScience as a summer sales student, and then as
a summer employee doing research after I graduated in 2016. After that, I was
looking for a full-time job and ended up with Crop Production Services as a
crop production adviser.
MENTEE: Stacie Yaremko
GrainsWest:
What was it about Advancing
Ag that grabbed your attention?
Stacie Yaremko:
I graduated in 2016 and
I was looking for something to further
my education. I really enjoyed school, but
I thought if there was something I could
do past the classroom, that would be
awesome.
GW:
What value do you see in this
program for yourself and Alberta’s crop
industry?
SY:
I think any time you can strengthen
new people coming in and get them a
good foot to start off on, when you’re com-
ing out of school or starting a new career,
it’s a big help. For me, being paired with
Allison is great because there are a lot of
parallels between us. There’s a lot I can
learn from her. The program also gives me
the opportunity to go to conferences
and other events that would be cost-
prohibitive.
GW:
What do you admire about your
mentor, Allison?
SY:
She’s had a really interesting career
overall. It’s really nice to get to know
another woman who works on the farm,
but she’s also had high-profile involvement
with Alberta Pulse Growers and that’s
really cool.
GW:
What do you hope to learn from
Allison?
SY:
She has a lot of good advice in a gen-
eral life sense, like balancing family with
your farm and succession planning. Those
are things you might not really think
about, but are good to know. She also has
a lot of good insight on conferences she
thought would be good for me to attend,
or ones I thought I might want to go to
and she can tell me if it’s really the best
value for my money.
GW:
What do you hope to accomplish
through this program?
SY:
One of the things I’m really excited
about, and Allison emphasized, is the
importance of starting a succession plan.
She told me it’s a process that can take 10
years from start to finish.
I was super excited to get into the
program… it’s going to be a really good
experience.
Photo:StacieYaremko
Fall
2017
Grains
West
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