EDUCATION
A New Crop of Farmers
The first graduates of the University of Manitoba’s
updated diploma program are entering the field
BY RON FRIESEN
At 23, Jill Martens is
already a full-time
employee at her fam-ily’s
mixed farm near
Boissevain, Man.,
growing crops and
raising Charolais cattle. Although she
doesn’t have definite plans about wheth-er
to pursue eventual ownership of the
operation – she has a boyfriend who runs
his own farm – Martens is sure about
one thing.
“My plan is to be farming,” She said.
Shawn Williment, 22, doesn’t come
from a farm, although he did grow
up near La Riviere in rural Manitoba.
Although he might eventually farm if
given a good enough opportunity,
his plan is to pursue a degree in agri-business
and work in the agri-retail and
“I’m happy just being in the
industry and working with farmers,”
said Williment.
Martens and Williment are two
aggies with two different career paths, yet
they have one thing in common. Both are
graduates of the University of Manitoba
diploma in agriculture program, which
offers training both for running farm
operations and pursuing careers in the
broader agricultural sector.
In fact, Martens and Williment are
new graduates in the first class of a
recently modified program, launched
in the fall of 2018, and aimed at
providing new tools for working in a
rapidly changing industry.
There was a time when the program
emphasized hands-on training in farm
production – growing crops and rais-ing
consulting sectors. livestock. While that’s still a focus
>>
of the program, there has been a shift in
emphasis toward a broader exposure to
scientific principles, management prac-tices
and – perhaps most important –
analytical thinking and problem solving.
“The real big change they empha-sized
was to learn critical thinking skills
and to be able to analyze things in a dif-ferent
way,” said Williment, the graduat-ing
class’s co-valedictorian.
This shift was the biggest one in
the program’s history, which began
in 1906 as the Manitoba Agricultural
College and moved to the University of
Manitoba’s Fort Garry campus in 1913.
Michele Rogalsky, the School of
Agriculture’s director and a 1984 gradu-ate
herself, says the program was ripe
for an overhaul when focus groups
began an intensive review in January
2015. Everything was on the table,
Photo courtesy of Lester Communications Inc.
Manitoba Farmers’ Voice § Summer 2020 § 27