Agriculture Mentorship Program Looking for Mentors and Protégés

 

It is often difficult to get the help and advice you need. From a young age, getting the right support and direction from parents and teachers can change a life and put a person on a path to happiness and fulfillment. However, when people enter their careers, sometimes the help and advice from an experienced industry colleague that could answer questions and allow them to advance their career or business, is not available. 

 

Connecting those with experience with those seeking direction is why the Agriculture Mentorship Initiative was created by the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan (ACS). The Initiative, which is being run by ACS under the guidance of Business Mentorship Institute of Saskatchewan (BMI), matches entrepreneurs with experienced business owners, establishing a relationship where the protégé will learn from the mentor’s experience and industry knowledge.

 

A year into this pilot initiative, the three mentor and protégé pairs are happy with their results and pleased with the program. “Many people within the industry told us that there was a need for more mentorship,” reports Bev Magill of ACS. “Thanks to the resources and expertise of BMI, we were able to create a program that matched mentors and protégés within the industry. So far, it has been an outstanding success.”

 

Shelly Popowich, a Poultry Analyst with the Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Broiler Hatching Egg Producers, has benefitted from learning from her mentor, Craig Douglas of the Canadian Wheat Board. “There are many rewarding aspects from being mentored by Craig,” says Popowich. “These include having someone give you opinions and advice on how to do your job better and more effectively, having someone offer a different aspect to a situation that you normally wouldn’t think of, and having a support network that is always encouraging you.

 

“Many of the skills required to work and succeed in agriculture come from experience.  Being a recent graduate, I do not have a lot of experience, so having a mentor available to share his experiences and opinions has given me more tools to further develop my career.”

 

Although the focus of the relationship is on the protégé, allowing them to learn from the mentor and gain the knowledge to make decisions that will have a positive impact on their business, there are also benefits for the mentor. “Both can learn from the relationship,” says Douglas. “It confirmed that many of the challenges I have been confronted with are the same for others.

“The reward for me is being able to help someone who is sincerely interested in learning. It has been a great experience for me.”

 

Each protégé and mentor are matched by ACS and trained by BMI, providing them with the tools and structure that will guide them through the process and allow them to build a successful relationship. The mentorship pairs are monitored by ACS with monthly interviews with each participant and their responses are entered into a project management system developed by BMI.

 

According to Donna Walton, Executive Director of BMI, mentorship is becoming a common tool for business management and career development in the agriculture sector. “Whether one is starting or maintaining an agriculture business,” says Walton, “learning from the experience and knowledge of others is an important aspect in being part of Saskatchewan’s economic staple industry.  BMI is fortunate to have a relationship with one of the key players in this industry –ACS. We are very pleased to be involved with ACS’s mentorship initiative and commend their efforts.  It gave me great satisfaction to see the connections already forming during the training session I gave to the mentors and protégés involved in this program.”

 

ACS is continually accepting applications for mentors and protégés. If you or someone you know within the agriculture, agri-food and agri-products sector could benefit from the experience of an experienced mentor or would find it rewarding to be a mentor, visit the AMI page or contact Bev Magill at 975-8928 or magillb@agcouncil.ca.