2024 inductees selected for Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame, including two former Mac professors
Four agricultural champions from across Canada have been selected by the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame as its 2024 inductees. Dr. Bruce Coulman, Dr. Michael Eskin, Paul Larmer and Dr. Charles Vincent will be formally inducted on November 2 at a ceremony during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, Ontario.
“This year’s inductees have made tremendous and lasting contributions to their segment of Canada’s agricultural landscape, improving the opportunities for Canadian farmers, the larger agricultural industry as well as Canada’s place on the global stage,” says Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Chair Phil Boyd. “We are thrilled to honour their accomplishments in advancing cattle genetics, forage breeding, sustainable insect management and Canadian canola oil. As a key part of each of their professional careers, they have mentored future leaders – an equally vital contribution for the long-term sustainability of Canadian agriculture.”
Two inductees with strong ties to McGill's Macdonald Campus
Dr. Bruce Coulman is an award-winning forage crop researcher who developed 24 novel forage crop varieties throughout his 40+ year professional career. Dr. Coulman was a faculty member at McGill University for 17 years (1976-1993), serving as chair of the Department of Plant Science for five of those years. His forage breeding work shaped the future for the profitable production of forage seed and forage crops for cattle feed while at McGill, as professor and department head at the University of Saskatchewan, and then at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Saskatoon Research Centre. Many of his forage varieties were industry firsts including bloat-reduced alfalfa, hybrid bromegrass and smooth-awned forage barley. Dr. Coulman lives in Saskatoon, SK and was nominated by the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.
McGill alumnus Dr. Charles Vincent (Ph.D.’83) is an internationally respected leader in agricultural entomology. As a long-serving Adjunct Professor in McGill University's Department of Natural Sciences (Entomology), a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and accomplished science communicator, Dr. Vincent has spent 40 years studying insects of economic impact on Canadian food production, guided by a vision for developing sustainable agricultural systems that are commercially viable with the lowest environmental impact possible. His work, including the development of the first viral insecticide registered for use in Canada, provides practical tools that have considerably reduced the quantity of insecticides used in commercial production, including apples, grapes and blueberries. In 2023, he was inducted into the Quebec Agricultural Hall of Fame. Dr. Vincent lives in Saint-Lambert, QC and was nominated by Co-Lab R&D division d’Ag-Cord inc.