The commissions welcome Dr. Sheri Strydhorst
For many wheat and barley producers, the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions’ newest hire, Dr. Sheri Strydhorst is a familiar face. Strydhorst joined our research and extension team in February, after a seven-year career as an agronomy research scientist with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, followed by a brief stint at the University of Alberta after the provincial divestment of agronomy research capacity. In these roles, Strydhorst led and collaborated in research projects focusing on production challenges that were relevant to Alberta’s cereal producers, such as plant growth regulators, pushing management of top-yielding varieties and comparing fertility treatments.
Working directly for farmers is nothing new for Strydhorst, in fact, it is where she is most comfortable. From 2008 to 2011, Strydhorst served as the executive director of Alberta Pulse Growers. “Working directly for farmers is like coming home. I find it greatly rewarding when my work can help farmers find solutions to on-farm problems and optimize their production systems, so they are profitable and practical,” said Strydhorst.
Strydhorst will support the commissions’ growing agronomy research and extension program by assisting with refining research proposals to ensure they accurately address our member’s production challenges and produce meaningful results at the farm level. Based on her location near Barrhead, Alberta, Strydhorst will also be able to lend her voice to extension activities in the northern half of the province, increasing reach and efficiency. Agronomy research extension specialist, Jeremy Boychyn will collaborate with Strydhorst on future opportunities for producer outreach along with continuing to build The Growing Point extension platform. Together they will be an effective team.
In addition to supporting our existing programing, Strydhorst will allow the commissions to take on a larger role in the provincial cereal and flax regional variety trials, acting as a coordinator of the trials to ensure that high-quality data on the latest varieties are available to farmers annually. Strydhorst is an ideal candidate for this role, given her previous participation in the field trials, her familiarity with popular genetics and her knowledge of key stakeholders in Western Canada. You can read more about this initiative in the article “Research variety trial data on track for 2021”.