Lethbridge College continues to be proud of its role as a leader in agriculture in southern Alberta. The college hosts the 18th annual Tiffin Conference on Thursday at the Lethbridge Lodge, an event that brings together more than 350 agricultural producers, business people, students and industry experts to discuss issues important to the red meat industry.
“In helping to strengthen the agriculture industry in the region, it’s important to us to facilitate these types of discussions,” says Dr. Edith Olson, interim Dean of the Centre for Applied Arts and Sciences. “The Tiffin Conference has proven to be an excellent way of bringing world-class speakers to our area to speak directly with producers and agri-business professionals about the issues that affect them in an ever-changing industry.”
The full-day conference includes a series of guest speakers and information sessions. Among the featured speakers are Dr. Jude Capper, a livestock sustainability consultant based in England, and Anne Wasko, a livestock marketing consultant with Gateway Livestock in Taber.
Dr. Capper has spoken around the world and will deliver a presentation titled “Busting beef industry myths.” Her talk will focus on the most often-heard myths in the beef industry, including misinformation relating to sustainability, different production systems, hormones and technology use and discuss how to bust them?
Wasko has spoken at the Tiffin Conference on numerous occasions and is always a sought-after presenter because of her knowledge of cattle markets. Her presentation is titled “Beef industry outlook” and will touch on a number of areas, including North American cattle numbers and beef production; input costs and resulting margins; protein demand domestically as well as internationally; and short- and medium-term price projections for western Canada.
Other Tiffin Conference session topics include:
- “To infinity and beyond: the future of banking relationships” with David Hirch of ATB Financial
- “Pain management in beef cattle: importance and current research” with Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Lethbridge College students will benefit directly from the conference as Agriculture Sciences students helped with pre-conference preparations, will be in attendance and some will be introducing speakers at the conference.
Sponsors include AFSC, Lethbridge County, ATB Agriculture, KPMG, Alberta Beef Producers, University of Lethbridge and Enmax Centre.
The Tiffin Conference is made possible through the Ronald Tiffin Agricultural Endowment Fund administered by Lethbridge College, which was established in honour of Ronald W. Tiffin, who spent his life working in agriculture in both grain and livestock production in southern Alberta. The goal of the endowment is to provide world-class learning opportunities to primary producers, agribusiness and agriculture students.
As the college celebrates its 60th anniversary, it is proud of the role agriculture has played in the history of the institution, beginning with the Agriculture Technology program in 1965, which later became the Agriculture Sciences program that is still offered today. Through its highly-adaptable and collaborative learning environment and its future-focused training and research programs, Lethbridge College is fast becoming a hub for agricultural research and innovation. The college is a proven player in the industry, with faculty, staff and partners who are resourceful, understand farming, embrace innovation, focus on our vision and lead the way with data-driven agriculture.
Major agriculture-related initiatives at the college include the groundbreaking Agriculture Business Risk Management program, a flexible-delivery curriculum designed in collaboration with industry partners, and the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Agribusiness program, a joint program being developed by the college and the University of Lethbridge. The latter will focus on agriculture-related education opportunities in the areas of ag-economics, business development, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, commodity and futures trading, and general management and leadership with a focus on agricultural innovation.