The Eastern Canadian Farm Writers elected a new board at the 2010 annual meeting. The meeting was held on April 29 at the Springdale Christian Reformed Church in the heart of the Holland Marsh near Bradford, Ontario. Lunch was catered by Whitfield Farms featuring locally-grown foods, followed by a fields and facilities tour of Carron Farms.

Newly appointed president, Clare Illingworth, who works at Syngenta, has been on the ECFWA Board for five years and now moves to the helm from her previous position as 2nd Vice President. We look forward to her ideas and enthusiasm.

She took over from outgoing President Kelly Daynard, Program Manager with the Ontario Farm Animal Council, who led the organization for the past two years. Kelly will continue her active involvement with ECFWA as Past President and IFAJ 2011 Registration Chair. Her outstanding leadership to ECFWA is well marked with professional development workshops that were timely and attractive to members and social events that have kept ECFWA as a place where we can network with our peers. Kelly also saw many opportunities to bring new members to the group, boasting 16 new farm writers who would all agree that ECFWA is the best value for its professional membership fee!

Stepping down from the board was Past President Lilian Schaer who will now be focusing her time on the upcoming IFAJ 2011 conference as Co-Chair with Owen Roberts as well as on her own business, Agri Food Project Services Ltd. Lilian has been an ECFWA member for more than a decade and has brought strong leadership to the board.

Kim Waalderbos will be handing over The Nib and website to incoming editor Claire Cowan, Grain Farmers of Ontario. Kim has returned to her farming roots in Nova Scotia where she is working at the family dairy operation and putting the finishing touches on her Masters degree from the University of Guelph. Kim has done the lion‘s share of the work to get the ECFWA website off the ground and keep it current as well as streamlining our newsletter, The Nib.

Director, Scott Allison is step-ping down from the board and joining Kim on the east coast as he begins a degree in Law.

Thank you to Lilian, John, Kim and Scott for all your work with ECFWA.

Sarah Andrewes will continue in her position as 1st Vice President, and Karen Dallimore will become 2nd Vice President as she moves up from her role as a Director. The tireless Andrew Campbell will retain his role Secretary-Treasurer. Welcome to three new directors: Kathie MacDonald, Terry Stevenson, and Christina Franc who join the board for 2010.