OAAS Invests in Developing New Leaders

Friday, September 25, 2026

‘Building Community Leaders’ program trains the next generation

By Emily McKinlay

The Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies (OAAS) is collaborating with the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) and OMAFA to invest in the next generation of agricultural leaders, following the recent announcement of funding renewal for the Building Community Leaders program. In this round of funding, the program will expand outside of agricultural society members to include participants from other agriculture- adjacent groups.

Volunteers are often the backbone of organizations and events in rural communities. Busy schedules and volunteer burnout can make filling these roles difficult, particularly when multiple organizations rely on the same pool of volunteers.

Vince Brennan, executive director of the OAAS, says that volunteer training has been informal for a while but provides the foundation for long-term organizational success and can even help prevent burnout.

“At one-time, OMAFA was assisting agricultural groups like ag societies, Junior Farmers, and 4-H with training by helping them to understand board governance and other skills like creating agendas. There are not a lot of people who have that background on why we need policy and governing documents now. They don’t understand until people are not getting along anymore,” says Brennan.

“It builds confidence, continuity, and capacity, and enables organizations to operate more safely if there are things going on that they are not aware of.

“Training helps to prevent some burnout and is a way of improving recruitment.”

Volunteers needed

New volunteers are always in high demand. Tayler Black, past president of the Fergus Agricultural Society, says that recruitment can be challenging.

“Finding volunteers is a challenge for our ag society, as with every organization,” says Black.

Brennan adds, “If we don’t have volunteers, these ag programs won’t look like they do today. They are essential to the success of all organizations.”

Heather Owens, president of OAAS, says that volunteers have enabled agricultural societies to become among the longest- standing organizations in many communities throughout Ontario.

“Like many non-profit organizations in Ontario, OAAS is totally made up of board members who are volunteers. They are essential in planning and managing events and fundraisers beyond the fairs,” says Owens.

“Volunteers are fundamental to both agricultural societies and to the community. Many ag societies are the longest-standing groups in their communities, with several that are older than Canada has been incorporated. Some are celebrating 200 years.”

Volunteerism is often modelled within families and across multiple generations.

“A lot of volunteers are generational. Like myself, they started at a young age and have continued to volunteer for many years, and many have changed roles and become directors on boards, leads for fundraisers, or committee chairs,” says Owens.

“As ag societies, we are not as restricted to a specific age range. Our local society has kids of some directors who are as young as six years old. We give them jobs, and they feel like they are part of the organization. We also have lots of seniors who are still very active. Over time, the roles and responsibilities of our volunteers change, but they all feel like a part of the community.”

Spencer Dunsmore, president of the Mitchell and District Agricultural Society and District 8 provincial director of OAAS, says his volunteer role began with family.

“I got involved really young. My grandfather was part of the Agricultural Society since he was in his 20s up until he passed, when he was 85 years old, and my mom was a past fair ambassador. The first year I was president was actually 40 years after my mom was named ambassador,” says Dunsmore.

“When I started, my mom needed help with the junior fair, and my grandpa got me to help him with the field crops class. I got volunteer hours and eventually was asked if I wanted to be on the board. Now, I’ve worked up to presidency.”

Black has noted a shift in volunteer expectations, which can put more pressure on long-term volunteers who shoulder a greater workload.

“Our ag society started with friends and family. You’d invite a neighbour along, or someone would bring their kids, and they would keep helping until they were old enough to volunteer themselves,” says Black.

“With those long-time volunteers, they would go in and keep volunteering until the job was done. The modern shift is that they want a task and a set amount of time, rather than sticking around until the job is done. We now have a volunteer coordinator to help make sure there is enough help around to get the job done and not burn out the volunteers we have.”

Many volunteers are also involved with more than one group. Black volunteers with 4-H, the Fergus Scottish Festival, and the Fergus Pipe Band, and Dunsmore is also involved on his local Beef Farmers Association, and previously the Ontario Hereford Association.

“People aren’t usually just on one board. If you say yes to one thing, you often get roped into more,” says Dunsmore.

Black adds, “Typically, 20 per cent of the volunteers in the community do 80 per cent of the volunteering.”

Ultimately, volunteers are the reason many ag societies, ag-related organizations and events are successful. Continuing to recruit new volunteers, and investing in their leadership skills, is an opportunity to invest in the agriculture industry as a whole

Building Community Leaders

The Building Community Leaders program is now entering its second three-year round of funding.

From 2024 to 2026, the workshops hosted 267 agricultural society volunteers across nine locations. With the renewal of the program funding, the workshops will now be open to participants from agricultural-adjacent organizations like Junior Farmers, 4-H Ontario, the OFA, and Plowmen’s and horticultural societies. This change recognizes the industry-wide benefits of improving leadership skills.

“As volunteers and boards continue to age, some leadership skills haven’t been passed on to the next generation. OMAFA used to do the training, and they have passed that off to each agricultural society to do individually. There is a whole generation of ag societies that haven’t had an opportunity to participate in board governance training,” says Owens.

“This is why we developed the Building Community Leaders program. It is important to have a program like this to build a really solid foundation for our ag societies.”

The program offers two-day workshops at different locations throughout Ontario.

Participants learn about personality types, working with people, risk management, board governance, and writing good policy. The workshops are offered in small groups of 50 to 60 people to encourage engagement. The ROI is also involved in designing and presenting the programming.

“I took the very first workshop in 2024 when OAAS first started the program. I found it very interesting and informative,” says Dunsmore.

“We learned about our DiSC Styles —a personality test — where we sat on the scale and (learned) how to communicate with and handle people in other quadrants of the scale. Now, sitting as president and looking around our meetings, I can see a lot of people and their personalities and know how I should be dealing with them.”

Black adds that the opportunity to network with members of other ag societies and learn from their experiences was one of his highlights.

“I attended it last year. We have had a number of people from our ag society who have gone through the program, and everyone speaks highly of it,” says Black.

“The benefits were two-fold. It built on the skills of the volunteers participating, and any event where you get the opportunity to interact and learn with like-minded individuals helps to reignite that passion for your organization. When you see people passionate in their own communities, it makes you want to go back and stay involved and implement some of the things you learned.”

Owens adds that beyond the twoday program, OAAS continues to offer opportunities for workshop participants to connect and refresh their skills. We have an online forum where people can post questions and other grads can comment on them to problem- solve,” she says.“ They can also share more resources. Once a year, we also bring all our grads back together virtually for a keynote speaker. It’s an opportunity to refresh skills, and they can go back to their notes and personality testing results.”

With many previous volunteers offering their skills to multiple organizations, and a new opportunity for additional ag-adjacent groups to participate in the Building Community Leaders program, OAAS is supporting the development of the agriculture industry’s future volunteers.

“I always speak about how many of us with the agricultural societies wear many different hats, and some of the training we can offer is transferable. We are involved in many community organizations and even in employment; some of the skills you learn are transferable,” says Owens.

Black adds, “When I talk with other participants, they have noted that the program is very aptly named. They are not just building leaders in the agricultural society or improving ag association volunteers, but the community.

“Hats off to OAAS and ROI and the Government of Ontario because when you support ag society volunteers, you support the whole community.”

For producers and groups looking to develop their volunteer base, several workshops will be offered in the remainder of 2026 and early 2027 in Ottawa, London, Richmond Hill, Dryden, Brockville, and Huntsville. BF