The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs is pleased to announce that Kendal Donahue recently joined the Regional Economic Development Branch Northern Team as the new Agriculture Development Advisor for the Thunder Bay District. This announcement follows news that the Ministry’s long-time Agriculture Development Advisor for the District, Rudy Buitenhuis, will be retiring after eighteen years serving the agriculture community.
Many thanks go out to Rudy for his dedication and support over the years.
As the new Agriculture Development Advisor, Kendal Donahue will be responsible for advancing the growth and development of the region’s agri-food sectors and delivering on a range of Ministry priorities, such as the implementation of the Agriculture, Aquaculture, and Food Processing Sector Strategy currently under development.
Kendal brings seven years of experience working in the field and is well-known by many for her work developing and implementing the Thunder Bay and Area Food Strategy. Through the Food Strategy, Kendal pioneered many innovative projects in the north, such as an institutional procurement project that resulted in the City of Thunder Bay increasing its annual spend on regional and Ontario foods by ten percent. Following this project, Kendal helped broker three forward purchasing contracts between the City of Thunder Bay and local farms. Kendal also has experience leading a range of forums in the north, such as the Culinary Tourism Forum hosted in January 2016, which engaged one hundred and fifty producers, processors and restaurateurs from across Northwestern Ontario to learn about opportunities for developing agri-food tourism products.
While Kendal will be working out of the Thunder Bay office, she looks forward to working closely with the sector and stakeholders across the District. You can Kendal reach at kendal.donahue@ontario.ca or by phone at (807) 475-1214.