A near 30-year stint as executive director of the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association has earned Yorkton’s Dave Akister an honourary life membership with the Canadian Seed Growers Association.
Akister’s company, (Brock & Associates) was hired by the Saskatchewan board of directors in 1991 to conduct an evaluation of the association’s administration, operate the organization for a short term and find a new executive director.
Akister said he had put together a list of potential candidates, but instead the Association “made a pitch to me.”
Akister accepted the position, and has been involved in the seed grower sector ever since.
In an interview with Yorkton This Week, Akister said the life membership at the national level was unexpected.
“It was a surprise, not at all expected,” he said, then added with a smile, “but I guess if you live long enough.”
Akister was awarded an honourary life membership in the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association in 2013, but with a number of years passing he said he was not thinking of the national recognition.
“Both of them, (awards) were very surprising,” he said.
Looking back to 1991, Akister said the provincial organization was looking for skills not necessarily related to seed growing.
“What they identified as being needed was administrative expertise,” he said, adding those were skills he developed initially as a member of the media.
Akister launched a 14-year career with the media right out of high school serving with Thompson Newspapers across Western Canada as a photographer, reporter, investigative journalist, sports editor, city editor, wire editor, managing editor and assistant publisher. He capped his career in journalism as managing editor of the Yorkton The Enterprise.
After leaving The Enterprise Akister joined Brock & Associates, at the time a fledgling advertising agency in 1984, as an Account Executive, rising through the ranks of operations manager and general manager before becoming a partner in 1986. He bought out his remaining partner in 1990 and re-configured the company into the communications and management consulting business.
It was through his consulting business he became involved with the seed growers.
“It was just one client of many,” he said, adding the relationship grew over time. “… It just kind of kept blossoming.”
Through the years Akister said the position with the Seed Growers evolved to cover a rather wide range of things.
During his time, Akister was in on the formation and design of Crop Production Week, built prototypes of the Canadian Seed Institute Quality Assurance manuals, and helped design CSI’s original Board of Directors structure, noted his bio.
“He revamped the former Stock Seed Committee into the current Seed Industry Advisory Committee, a think tank group of industry stakeholders that meets annually to discuss some of the toughest issues facing the industry; and redesigned the Interprovincial Seed Industry meeting into a broad stakeholder forum.
“He negotiated the current Saskatchewan Seed Guide Contract which had become a significant source of revenue for the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association; developed the current E&P strategy for SSGA; oversaw two Saskatchewan Seed Industry Economic Impact Studies which have been used to outline the seed industry to banks, government departments and other sectors of society; worked with Farrell Agencies to develop Seed Industry Plus, an insurance program designed specifically for seed growers and seed plant operators; and worked with Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation to develop a pilot program to improve coverage of pedigreed seed crops.
“He has also facilitated numerous workshops and seminars on governance, communications, targeted marketing and management consulting. Akister has written numerous articles, column and presentations promoting the seed industry, including a submission to the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. He helped develop technical resource manuals; has worked with U.S. authors and publishers on a book of quotes; and will be mentioned in an upcoming thesis by a University of Saskatchewan graduate student on the elements of good governance.”
All the activities boil down to a simple premise going back to the beginning of the sector in 1904, suggested Akister.
“The seed industry is about improving Canadian agriculture,” he said. “That is what it was there for.”
While the organization has evolved beyond the single focus, it remains a key aspect of what seed growers do, “seed being the foundation for all of it,” he said.
It is because of that core foundation Akister said genetically modified varieties are an important development, being underutilized because of what he believes is consumer fear based on not understanding the science. For example, Akister said people are essentially genetically modified being coming from their parents.
In that respect he said GM “goes back to the fundamental of improving Canadian agriculture. It’s one more tool in the toolbox.”
It will be such technology that will one day “allow wheat to grow in the desert again,” he said.
Akister said in general farmers produce more than enough food to feed the world, the issue of people going hungry one of transportation to get food where it’s required in an affordable fashion.
But, like the near three-decades in the sector, change comes, but comes slowly, he added.
The evolution of the sector will be part of what Akister misses, but he noted it will mainly be the people.
“I made a lot of friends over the years,” he said.
