Potato World

These awards were created to acknowledge individuals or groups who have made a significant contribution to the potato industry in New Brunswick. Farmers, individuals involved in farm organizations, business persons, agrologists and scientists who have made a contribution that improved the potato industry are all considered for induction to the Potato World Hall of Recognition. Nominations are considered in the potato industry through local, provincial, national or international efforts in the fields of marketing, organization, production, breeding, research, policy, communications and education. The nominations are considered from four different groups: Potatoes NB NB Seed Growers Association NB Potato Exporters Association NB Institute of Agrologists as well as from the general public. Those nominated are judged in four areas based on information received on the application form by a committee of the board of Potato World. All nominations are held for five years with the nominees being eligible for the award each of those five years. Click here to download the nomination form for Potato World's Hall of Recognition
	Harrison McCain Harrison McCain was born in Florenceville, graduated from the Florenceville High School and attended Acadia University graduating with a BA in Economics in 1949, married and raised five children. He was co-founder and Founding Chairman of McCain Foods Limited. For 45 years he was in the potato industry and developed the French fry market worldwide. Now McCain Foods is the world's largest producer of French fries He was a generous, inventive, determined businessman who genuinely loved New Brunswick. He was an icon with a determination and vision to operate a worldwide company from a little village situated along the St. John River. He received many honours for his achievements, societal leadership and philanthropic activities, such as: Companion of the Order of Canada France Legion of Honour The Order of New Brunswick Canadian Business Hall of Fame Honorary Life Member of the Agriculture Institute of Canada Honorary Life Member of the Potato Association of America Many Honorary Doctorates from Universities Gary Wright Humanitarian Award Canadian Business Statesmen Award from Harvard Business School

	Yvon P. Ouellette Yvon Ouellette's knowledge, skill and dedicated leadership have played a prominent role in improving the New Brunswick potato industry. Born in Drummond, New Brunswick, Yvon P. Ouellette established a small 60 acre seed potato farm in 1966 and built this into a 1,000 acre operation for seed potatoes and cereal crops. He became a seed grower, potato shipper, exporter, distributor and truck broker - and a model for the New Brunswick potato industry. He was an outstanding innovator who introduced Dutch potato sizing equipment and enhanced modern machinery to New Brunswick. He continues to lead in working with new potato varieties and in developing new means of fertilization and grading techniques for superior seed potatoes. Mr. Ouellette has received the following awards for his achievements: Certificate of Merit for Entrepreneurship from Canada Awards for Business Excellence Outstanding Entrepreneurial Achievements by the Atlantic Canada Entrepreneurship Awards Association Export Achievement Award by Minister of Economic Development and Tourism New Brunswick



	Wallace McCain Wallace McCain was born in Florenceville, graduated from the Florenceville High School and he received a B.A. from Mount Allison University in 1951, married and raised four children. He was co-founder of McCain Foods Limited and was President and Co-Chief Executive Officer until 1995 and is currently Vice-Chairman. McCain Foods grew to become one of the largest frozen food companies in the world. He is now Chairman of the Board of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. Maple Leaf Foods is a leading Canadian food processing company committed to delivering quality food products to consumers around the world. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and employs more than 23,000 people in its operations across Canada and in the United States, Europe and Asia. He is a generous, and determined businessman who loves New Brunswick. He received many honours for his achievements, societal leadership and philanthropic activities such as: Officer of the Order of Canada (1995) Order of New Burnswick (2003) Canadian Business Hall of Fame (1993) Many Honorary Doctorates from Universities Canadian International Executive of the Year (2003) Honorary Life Member of the Potato Assoc. of America(1992) New Brunswick Hall of Fame (1997) B'nai Brith Award of Merit (1999) Honorary Life Member, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (2003) Gary Wright Humanitarian Award from Friends of We Care Inc. (1992) Knight of the Golden Pencil Award Importance of community to Wallace McCain was shown by being: Director St. Michael's Hospital Board Director of Brascan Corporation Co-Chair, National Ballet School Financial Campaign Member of the National Advisory Council for Mount Allison University

	Anton L. Pray Anton Pray was born in Portland, Maine on April 5, 1926. When he was 4 years old he moved to New Denmark, New Brunswick to live with his grandparents. Due to his grandfather's illness, Anton left school when he was 14 years old to work with horses on their 50 acre family farm. Anton began his 40 year career grading rail carloads of potatoes from around the country while operating a 50-acre farm. He began supplying seed potatoes to McCain in 1957, starting with 10 acres and now grows 350 acres to 400 acres of seed potatoes along with about 350 acres of grain. For 12 years he was employed with Canada Packers operating their warehouse in New Denmark. The company expanded into Drummond and Anton, the late Herluf Peterson and Donny Mockler bought Canada Packers and changed the name to New Denmark Potato Shippers. Anton and Herluf were together for 12 years when Anton took over the Drummond operation and formed A.L. Pray & Son Co. Ltd. around 1974. He now exports about 75% of his own crop with the remainder sold in Canada. Anton always supported the "family farm" concept. He believed in keeping the grass-root production base strong allowing the industry to develop and evolve. He always practiced good farming procedures and was aware of the environment and soil conservation. He developed and supplied markets throughout North America with seed and table potatoes. He started selling seed potatoes direct to the Cuban market around 1980. Anton is a generous, and dedicated man with vision and leadership. He was a Director and Past President of New Brunswick Potato Shippers Association Was an active member of the New Brunswick Potato Exporters Association Is always willing to support new concepts and ideas such as "Potatoes Canada" and CPIQ (Canadian Partners in Quality) He attended and participated in Canadian Horticultural Council activities and meetings. Community Activities: President of St. Peters Lutheran Church for many years. Chairman of New Denmark Complex for 6 years. Member of the Recreation Council for many years. President of New Denmark Shippers Assoc. for 7 years. Was on the Board of the N.B. Potato Agency for 8-10 years. Director on the Board of the CBDC since it started. Member of New Denmark's Seniors Complex Committee.
	Clair Hill Clair Hill was born in Pontiac, Michigan, August 24, 1930 to the late Fred Hill and Annie Hill. His ancestors were Loyalists who came to Southern New Brunswick during the Revolutionary War. His father went to Pontiac, Michigan in the gold rush and moved back to Grand Falls in 1934 in the depression years to farm. Mr. Hill graduated from the Grand Falls High School. In 1947 he started farming with his father in mixed farming and later potatoes became their cash crop. He was Secretary-Treasurer of the New Brunswick Seed potato Growers Association (NBSGA) for 22 years (starting with time of its inception); helped manage the operations of the NBSPGA and was involved in many issues affecting the industry; he represented the seed growers at many meetings (Provincial and National) and was a spokesperson for the industry. He initiated many activities that affected the seed industry. His vision was to elevate the New Brunswick seed potato industry to produce the highest quality seed potatoes in the world. He was personally involved in many aspects that advanced the development of the New Brunswick seed potato industry that established New Brunswick as the world leader in seed potato production. His hands-on involvement in activities and issues in the seed potato industry for many years showed great leadership. During Mr. Hill’s involvement in the New Brunswick Seed Potato Growers Association, many things were accomplished for the benefit of the seed potato industry: Managed Potato Storage Disinfection Programme. Seed potato variety trials. Potato Disease Eradication Act. Liaison with other seed potato sectors in Canada and the United States. Potato production not entered for seed inspection had to be tested for Bacterial Ring Rot. Educational Seminars for seed potato production. Regulations were established for safe management of cull disposal. Mandatory regulation that all potatoes planted in New Brunswick must be at least certified class. Active in establishing regulations at a national level that would benefit the seed potato industry and not cause its demise. Past Chairman of the Potato Committee of Canadian Horticultural Council. Served on New Brunswick Crop Insurance Commission. First grower/Chairman of the Seed Allocation Committee of Bon Accord. Was a Charter Member of the Bank of Montreal Agricultural Advisory Panel 1981 – 1984. Mr. Hill recognized the great importance of community by being involved in many aspects of community and life; always available when someone needed assistance. Church was/is very important to Clair. He has been a Deacon of the church for 47 years, taught Sunday School class for 30 years, and a Member of the Gideons International in Canada for 41 years. Since retirement, Clair and his wife Ruth reside in New Denmark and along with church and community activities, find time for their love of flowers and vegetable gardening. Clair Hill is recognized for his many accomplishments for the seed potato industry.
	Donald Alcoe Young Donald A. Young of Fredericton, New Brunswick, attended the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Macdonald College and the University of Wisconsin where he completed a Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Pathology. He was granted an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Nova Scotia Agriculture College/ Dalhousie University in 1993. In 1957, Don joined the Potato Breeding Program at the Fredericton Research Station and was appointed its Program Director ten years later. In the early 1960’s he recognized the importance of the internal texture of a potato on French fry quality and developed screening methods to identify this characteristic. Shepody is the leading variety resulting from this research. Its earliness and processing qualities provided improved efficiencies for both producers and processors. It is grown extensively in Canada and the U.S. and also in the U.K. Netherlands, France, Australia and China. Royalties from European plant breeders’ rights make a significant contribution to Agriculture Canada’s potato research budget. The Shepody Team was awarded Agriculture Canada’s Certificate of Excellence in Research and Technology Transfer in 1992. He led the development of Caribe, a variety for the off-shore seed market and initiated Canada’s first computer based retrieval system for plant breeding data. Dr. Young played a major role in the rapid development of Atlantic potato infrastructure during the 1960’s and 1970’s. He was the first Chairman of the Atlantic Potato Committee, the Atlantic Regional Potato Evaluation Committee, the NSAC – Potatoes Canada Technical School Committee, the U.S. Northeast 107 Potato Evaluation Project, and edited the first three editions of the Atlantic Canada Potato Production Guide. During his career he worked in 26 countries. This included the management of major projects with the International Potato Center, Lima, Peru, a CIDA Crop Diversification project in Bangladesh, and a seed potato research project in northeast China. Don retired from Agriculture Canada in 1986 and joined McCain Foods as a part-time consultant. He was involved worldwide in the establishment and coordination of potato research and development projects, the evaluation of potential sites for new processing plants, and conducted several large research studies that addressed specific regional potato production problems. Don is recognized for his life-long work, research, and dedication to the betterment of the potato industry.
	Paul Eugene Bubar Paul Bubar was born in Upper Brighton, New Brunswick, completed Grade 8 at Upper Brighton School and graduated from the Carleton County Vocational School, Woodstock, where he studied agriculture for two years. He married Shirley Strong and they raised four children – Ann, Archie, Andrew and Kevin. He grew up on the family farm, then was in partnership with his brother John in Upper Brighton. In the early 1950’s he purchased a farm in Somerville and established his own farming business. Paul was the founder of Paul E. Bubar & Sons Ltd. which grew, packed and shipped both seed and table potatoes, and expanded his business in several areas. Paul had the innovation to find new ways to improve production and yields. He imported the first load of Russet Norkotah seed potatoes into Carleton County and actively supported and expanded the yellow fleshed varieties in New Brunswick. Paul continually updated his potato packing facility and agriculture chemical sales and warehouse, meeting all environmental, health, and safety requirements. His hands-on involvement in activities and issues in the potato industry for many years showed great leadership. Community involvement was important to Paul and was involved in the following: • He was a Director and long-time member of the New Brunswick Potato Shippers’ Association • An active member of the New Brunswick Seed Potato Growers Association. • Actively supported the New Brunswick potato industry through marketing and promotion of local potatoes and sales and warehousing of agriculture chemicals for potatoes and other crops • He traveled and promoted New Brunswick potatoes throughout North America, Holland and the UK and cooperated fully with all market expansion and information efforts. • Spent his life involved in developing and promoting the New Brunswick potato industry. • Supported the Beef Producers Carleton County Spring Show and Sales. • Was selected as “Spudman of the Year” in 1992 by the New Brunswick Potato Agency. Paul loves to hunt, fish, and snowmobile. A devoted Christian, Paul Bubar has a great love for his Church, family, and community. He has helped in special community events and never hesitated to assist people in need. Paul Buabar is recognized for his life long work and dedication to the betterment of the potato industry.
	Ronald Ray Piper Ronald Piper was born in Bath, N. B., and graduated from Centreville High School in 1969. He immediately started farming, which was a love learned from his grandfather. In 1975, he married Yolanda Whittaker, they had two daughters: Melody and Heidi. Ronald was a former co-owner of County Tractors and Mountain View Packers, located in Florenceville, and Canusa Foods, located in Centreville. Ronald was a prominent voice for the entire potato industry and a charismatic advocate always ready to lend a helping hand. He was an excellent communicator between government and potato producers and believed in the New Brunswick potato industry and always promoted marketing excellence. He received praise for his ability to draw the attention of both the Provincial and Federal Governments to the needs of New Brunswick potato farmers. Ronald served effectively on many Boards and Committees: • Chairman of Potatoes New Brunswick. A new strategic plan was developed early in his mandate with goals and objectives he made sure were achieved. • Chairman of the New Brunswick Potato Industry Stakeholder Advisory Committee on Research. • Co-Chair of the New Brunswick ‘Best Management Practices’ Seed Potato Committee. • Representative for the New Brunswick potato industry on the Executive Committee of the Canadian Horticultural Council. • Board Member of the New Brunswick Agricultural Council. • Instrumental in the creation of United Potato Growers of Canada. • Representative on the New Brunswick Agriculture Summit Consultation Symposium. Ronald’s vision was to see potato growers have a fair return on their crop. He firmly believed that growing too many open-market potatoes was detrimental to profitable farming. Always looking to the future, he strongly encouraged the involvement of young people in farming and the importance of adopting new and improved management practices and obtaining the funding to make them a reality. He believed the potato industry was vital to our region and our province and worked tirelessly to ensure its continued viability. His last commitment to innovation was to partner with Technico Technologies Inc., Hoyt, New Brunswick as Marketing Manager – an endeavour he loved. He was well-known and respected by potato growers, farmers in general, government, and industry stakeholders in Canada and the USA. He was a prominent agriculturalist, always working for the betterment of the farming community. Among Ronald’s hobbies was collecting and restoring antique Massey Harris tractors. A devoted Christian and family man, Ronald’s life’s passion was serving his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the local and broader Church community.