The Rural Ontario Institute is now accepting applications for its next Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program.
Leadership Programs Director, Gabrielle Ferguson, says this is the program's twentieth class and applications close on November 25th.
Ferguson says the process involves an interview after they've submitted their application. “The program is going to involve six seminars between three and five days long, around Ontario. Small groups projects with different organizations. And they do two study tours, one through the United States or Canada and one that's international.”
Ferguson says the international tour for this class will take them to Chile. The last class went to Portugal and Morocco.
Ferguson says the point of the program is to do leadership through the lens of the agriculture and food sector. “We want to learn about that within our Province of Ontario, we want to learn about it nationally and we want to learn about it globally and so that does mean getting out and seeing things.”
“This program is unique because it's an experiential leadership program. So we have workshops that are in sessions, but then we get out and walk the talk, we practice ag. sector leadership in the context of where we will be using it,” added Ferguson.
Applications are due by the 25th of November. They'll conduct interviews in January and February, then pick their new class by April of 2023. That class begins in September of 2023. More information on how to apply can be found at https://www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca/aalp/.