Published by Communications and Public Affairs (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982 or 53338
News Release
September 26, 2003
‘Growing Green Gold' topic of U of G lecture
"Growing Green Gold: A Technology Renaissance for Agriculture" is the topic of the first lecture in a public series hosted by the University of Guelph's Ontario Agricultural College. Amy Lemay, an agrologist in residence, will speak with U of G students and community members Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. in the Ontario Veterinary College's Lifetime Learning Centre cafeteria. The event is free.
Scientists will increasingly turn to plants instead of dwindling petroleum feedstocks for making chemicals, such as using corn to develop new bio-plastics, said Lemay. In her lecture, she will discuss the growing importance of agriculture as a leader in the coming "biosciences era."
"We will have the ability through advances in science and technology to replace ‘black gold' with ‘green gold,'" she said.
Lemay is associate director of VISTA – The Canadian Centre for Science and Technology Solutions, a co-managed business unit of Brock University and Niagara College that helps organizations use science and technology.
During the past four years, she has helped more than 100 farmers, farm organizations and agribusinesses learn how to use advances in science and technology.
Lemay has been an agriculture consultant and instructor and has produced more than 30 conferences for the agrifood sector. She studied environmental biology at U of G, especially the biology and management of the grape berry moth.
She is a member of the Ontario Institute of Agrologists and the National Agri-Environmental Advisory Committee (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) and chairs the environment subcommittee of the ACCC Agriculture Policy Framework Committee.
For more information, contact Janice DeMoor, (519) 824-4120 ext. 56728 or jdemoor@uoguelph.ca.
For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt (519) 824-4120, Ext. 53338, or Rachelle Cooper, (519) 824-4120, Ext. 56982.
