Fund honours biomass pioneer's memory, supports leadership program

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

A memorial fund to help support innovation and forward-thinking in agricultural and agri-business is being established by the Rural Ontario Institute.

In a January 21 press release, the Rural Ontario Institute announced that the Dean Tiessen Memorial Fund will be used to support their Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program, which works to develop leadership in Ontario’s agricultural sector.

The fund is named after Dean Tiessen, who was killed in Brazil this past December, and was considered by many to be a leader in Ontario’s biomass and greenhouse industries.

There are eight seminars in each Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program class,” says Arlene Warner, manager of communications and fund development for the Rural Ontario Institute. “The Dean Tiessen fund will be in place for the next ten years, and donations will be used to support the third seminar of our program classes.”

Tiessen was the president of New Energy Farms near Leamington Ontario, and a graduate of the program’s Class 10, which ran from 2003 to 2005. A Class 10 committee has been organized to establish the fund.

In the press release, Henry Koskamp, a member of the committee, credits Tiessen’s hard work and solution-oriented attitude with helping to start Ontario’s biomass industry.

He was “a pioneer in energy crops, not just here in Ontario but also internationally,” says Koskamp.

The press release says that donations for the fund will be accepted at Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program’s “Dream Auction” in Guelph on February 8. Those interested can also donate online though the Rural Ontario Institute’s website, or by mail. BF