Dr. Mike Pautler will be responsible for Vineland’s commercialization portfolio that ranges from tree fruit to vegetable seeds to robotic harvesters.

Denise Schmidt, formerly senior director of North American Canola Business and Industry Affairs at Cibus, brings a background of agronomy, marketing and business development to the role.

Alvin Keenan, Jody Mott, Susan Ranck and Scott Wright will serve a two-year term on CanAgPlus board of directors. It’s the not-for-profit corporation that owns and operates the CanadaGAP program.

Trevor Jones, MPP for Chatham-Kent-Leamington since 2022, is the new minister of agriculture, food and agribusiness.

Kody Blois, the Nova Scotia MP for Kings-Hants, is the new minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Economic Development. He was sworn in on March 14, 2025.