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Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization,
representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean and wheat farmers.
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Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine

New role for Crosby Devitt

GUELPH, ON (September 20, 2010) – The Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) is pleased to announce that Crosby Devitt’s role has been expanded to include management of the Market Development pillar to his portfolio that also includes management of Research and Innovation. Devitt’s new title, Manager, Research & Market Development will encompass both the research and, developing new and higher value markets for Ontario grain.

When making the announcement Barry Senft CEO of GFO stated “how happy we are that Crosby has taken on this added responsibility.  The merging of Research and Market Development emphasizes the effort GFO is making to move the research done in the lab into the commercial environment, which is always a challenge”.  

The broad market development strategy at GFO will remain focused in three strategic areas. The first is building long term consumer awareness of product innovations such as new food products, bio-products and fuel that can be made with grain. The second is to take the consumer demand to the next level by establishing infrastructure in Ontario or identifying high value export markets. Finally, GFO will work to enhance these domestic and export opportunities by refining our grains to meet more specialized and higher value market opportunities through new varieties and IP systems to meet the needs of the marketplace.

“I am looking forward the challenge of building on the work that was started by our legacy organizations,” says Devitt. “We have a great group of directors and delegates on the Market Development Committee guiding the market development objectives and a solid industry with innovative product development happening in Ontario to build on.”

Devitt has worked with the organization since 2005 when he was hired to manage research and innovation for the Ontario Wheat Producers’ Marketing Board and subsequently managed the research portfolio of the Ontario Soybean Growers and Ontario Corn Producers’ Association as a means of creating efficiencies in grain research in Ontario. Devitt lives in Guelph with his wife and two young children and regularly drives to his farm in Ripley where he grows corn, soybeans and wheat.

Grain Farmers of Ontario

Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 corn, soybean and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover 6 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $2.5 billion in farm gate receipts, result in over $9 billion in economic output and are responsible for over 40,000 jobs in the province.

Contact:

Barry Senft, CEO – 1-800-265-0550; bsenft@gfo.ca

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Grain Farmers of Ontario
Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover over 6 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $4.1 billion in production value, result in over $27 billion in economic output and are responsible for over 90,000 jobs in the province.