Tyson Blackwater

Katie's Bio

Katie is the marketing manager at Alberta Beef Producers, and has had an extensive career in brand development. She is also a third-generation farmer from central Alberta, and has dedicated over 30 years to the beef industry, focusing on seed stock production. Katie farms with her family at Rocky Mountain House, and has judged most of the major beef shows in Canada. This includes the Agribition Beef Supreme Show, also known as the Super Bowl of cattle shows.

Alberta Beef Producers

Boyd's Bio

Dr. Boyd Mori is an Associate Professor and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Agricultural Entomology in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta. His research group focuses on developing integrated pest management strategies for insect pests of field and horticultural crops. Boyd combines foundational and applied research incorporating behavioural, chemical, and molecular ecology to understand and exploit the biology of insect pests, their host plants, and natural enemies.

Boyd has worked on insect pests across a wide variety of field crops including alfalfa, canola, quinoa, red clover, pulses, and wheat. He has garnered over $4.1 million in research funding since 2019. Recently, a major focus of his research group is investigating the impact of generalist predators and the potential threat of insecticide resistance across prairie cropping systems.

He currently leads a laboratory consisting of 10 graduate students (6 PhD, 4 MSc), 2 postdoctoral fellow, 2 full-time technicians, and numerous undergraduate research assistants.

Agricultural, Food & Nutritional Science

Semeton's Bio

Semeton Amosu is a Research Associate and Soil Scientist in the Crop Research and Environmental Stewardship departments at OCCI. Semeton is passionate about best agricultural practices, digital agriculture, soil health and environmental management. He’s currently developing research project proposals in agrivoltaics. He’s also looking into research and academic program opportunities in soil health at Olds College.

Semeton has been involved in agricultural and environmental research for over 23 years with academic and field training in West Africa and South America. He obtained his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.

Before joining Olds College in 2024, Semeton worked as a research officer with the National Horticultural Research Institute in Nigeria for over 17 years and he was the head of the Fruits Research Program. He focused on designing and conducting field research on the agronomic improvement of tropical fruits.

Prior to his research experience, Semeton worked as an agricultural consultant. He established farms for clients, performed soil surveys and conducted land use evaluation projects. He also organized and facilitated agricultural workshops and seminars. As a project manager, he has coordinated government-funded agricultural projects and participated in other internationally funded projects, including a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded project. 

Outside of work, Semeton prioritizes God, family and friends. He’s happily married with three teenage kids and currently resides in Calgary. Semeton likes soccer, he has played the sport and is a supporter of Arsenal F.C. in England. He’s currently gaining an interest in hockey, which is a sport he had a brief stint with in high school. The Calgary Flames seem to catch Semeton’s attention these days.

Olds College

Dr.'s Bio

Ed is an internationally-recognized expert on the behavior and welfare of a wide variety of species (Beef cattle, Dairy cattle, Swine, Poultry, and Lab Animals) as well as having expertise in animal welfare standards and legislation. Dr. Pajor has published over 140 scientific papers and consulted with numerous national and international companies.

An effective and enthusiastic teacher, Professor Pajor was named a University Peak Scholar, was awarded the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Great Supervisor award, and served on the AVMA’s Model Animal Welfare Curriculum Planning Group which was charged with developing an animal welfare-based curriculum for veterinary schools in North America. Ed is a graduate of the University of Waterloo with an Honors Co-op B.Sc. Degree in biology. In addition, he earned a MSc. and PhD. degree in biology from McGill University specializing in Animal Behaviour.

W.A. Ranches