Two parliamentary assistants assigned to Ontario ag minister

Apr 09, 2024

Anthony Leardi, MPP-Essex, has been assigned new duties in the government of Premier Doug Ford. Mr. Leardi assumes the role of Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

“We all know how important agriculture is to the Riding of Essex. And, of course, we all know that good things grow in Ontario!” said Leardi. “I’m looking forward to working with Minister Lisa Thompson on agricultural initiatives.”

John Jordan, MPP-Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, also assumes the role of Parliamentary Assistant. Representing eastern Ontario, he and his family own a small farm.

Trevor Jones, MPP – Chatham-Kent-Leamington moves to the role of parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Click here to see more...

Video: Seeing the Whole Season: How Continuous Crop Modeling Is Changing Breeding

Plant breeding has long been shaped by snapshots. A walk through a plot. A single set of notes. A yield check at the end of the season. But crops do not grow in moments. They change every day.

In this conversation, Gary Nijak of AerialPLOT explains how continuous crop modeling is changing the way breeders see, measure, and select plants by capturing growth, stress, and recovery across the entire season, not just at isolated points in time.

Nijak breaks down why point-in-time observations can miss critical performance signals, how repeated, season-long data collection removes the human bottleneck in breeding, and what becomes possible when every plot is treated as a living data set. He also explores how continuous modeling allows breeding programs to move beyond vague descriptors and toward measurable, repeatable insights that connect directly to on-farm outcomes.

This conversation explores:

• What continuous crop modeling is and how it works

• Why traditional field observations fall short over a full growing season

• How scale and repeated measurement change breeding decisions

• What “digital twins” of plots mean for selection and performance

• Why data, not hardware, is driving the next shift in breeding innovation As data-driven breeding moves from research into real-world programs, this discussion offers a clear look at how seeing the whole season is reshaping value for breeders, seed companies, and farmers, and why this may be only the beginning.