International Livestock Congress
ILC – Calgary
At Stampede Park, Calgary, Alberta
Transforming the Global Agrifood Industry for a Resilient Future
July 9, 2025 | BMO Centre, Stampede Park
Join global leaders, producers, innovators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs at ILC – Calgary for a powerful one-day conference focused on shaping the future of agriculture and agrifood systems.
This year’s event explores the evolving forces impacting the global agrifood landscape. With a focus on technology, entrepreneurship, trade, and leadership, ILC – Calgary provides a platform for advancing resilient food systems through collaboration, innovation, and insight.
Agenda
Stampede Park, BMO Centre, 2nd Level
Rooms 209-211
8:00 am – Registration & Networking (Continental Breakfast)
9:00 am – Introduction of MC (Shaun Haney - RealAgriculture) and Welcome (Ben Graham - AdFarm)
9:15 am – Session #1: Empowering a Resilient Agrifood Future through Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship
(Alison Sunstrum - CNSRV-X Inc)
10:00 am – Panel #1: Groundbreaking Growth: Innovations Reshaping Agrifood
(Moderator: Marlise Hunter - FCC, Panelists: Ryan Wright – Nuleaf Farms; Mark Hlady – SimpleHedge; and Cara Wessels-Wells - EmGenisys)
10:45 am – Coffee Break
11:15 am – Session #2: Beef on Dairy: A Game Changer for the Beef Supply Chain
(Dr. Kee Jim – TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods/G.K. Jim Farms)
11:45 am – Panel #2: Beefing Up Resilience: Producer and Industry Strategies for a Stronger Future
(Moderator: Brady Stadnicki – AdFarm, Panelists: Ryan Beierbach - Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef; Kendra Donnelly – Ko-Era Cattle and Consulting; Marvin Slingerland - MNP)
12:25 pm – Lunch Buffet
1:30 pm – Remarks from The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
1:45 pm – Panel #3: Driving Change Together: Farmers, Industry, and Policy on the Sustainability Frontlines
(Moderator: Guillaume Lhermie – Simpson Centre of Agricultural and Food Policy, Panelists: Keith Currie – Canadian Federation of Agriculture; Jordan Sinclair – ALUS, TBC)
2:30 pm – Panel #4: Breaking Down Borders: Unleashing Canada’s Agrifood Potential
(Moderator: Tyler McCann, Panelists: Lorin Doerksen – Gemstone Grass Fed Beef; Barb Stefanyshyn-Cote and John Cote – Black Fox Distillery; Paul Sawler – Wine Growers BC)
3:15 pm – Wine Sampling and Wine Program Promotion (Elsa Macdonald – Arterra Wines Canada)
3:45 pm – Closing (Joel Cowley – Calgary Stampede)
4 pm – Conclusion (Shaun Haney – RealAgriculture)
5:30 pm – Optional: International Agriculture and Agrifood Reception
Speakers
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Director of Strategic Initiatives, TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods and Owner G.K. Jim Farms
Dr. Kee Jim is a leading figure in North America’s beef industry, combining veterinary expertise with deep business acumen. Raised on a cow-calf operation in British Columbia, he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1983 from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. He later founded G.K. Jim Farms and Feedlot Health Management Services Ltd. and today serves as Global Head – Animal Health Strategy at TELUS Agriculture, as well as Adjunct Professor at Texas A&M University.
Over his four-decade career, Kee has received numerous accolades, including the AABP Practitioner of the Year, the CVMA Schering-Plough Award, and the Canadian Animal Health Institute Leadership Award. He was named one of six VIPs of Feedlot Medicine by Bovine Veterinarian and inducted into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame in 2024.
His cattle business began with a modest investment and has grown into G.K. Jim Farms—now a major operator in both Canadian and U.S. cattle industries, with operations spanning over a dozen regions across North America.
Kee has held leadership roles on the boards of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Canada Beef Export Federation, and more. He is also an advisor to the Simpson Centre for Food and Agriculture Policy and the Global Institute for Food Security.
A strong advocate for mentorship and innovation, he supports agtech startups through the Creative Destruction Lab and Agriculture 100. Recognized as a top influencer in Canadian agriculture, Kee continues to drive progress in animal health and food systems.
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CEO of CNSRV-X Inc. Managing Partner of Nya Ventures
Alison Sunstrum is a visionary Canadian entrepreneur and global leader at the intersection of agriculture, emerging technology, and investment. As Managing Partner of Nya Ventures (Calgary, Toronto Vancouver) and AgTech Venture Partner at Builders VC (San Francisco, Calgary) she backs diverse founders solving some of agriculture’s most urgent challenges, from productivity to resilience and climate adaptation. Alison was formerly the Co-Founder and CEO of a data analytics company where she transformed a garage-based startup into a global AgTech leader recognized for its groundbreaking, science-based innovation to reduce livestock emissions, improve animal well-being and on-farm profitability. She holds multiple technology patents and has published and presented globally on agricultural innovation and sustainability. Alison’s influence spans academia and public policy. She is a Founding Partner and Fellow in the Ag Stream of the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Rockies, an Advisory Council Member at Ivey Business School’s Centre for Building Sustainable Value, and a mentor to the Weston Family Foundation’s Homegrown Innovation Challenge. A passionate champion for women in STEM Alison leads initiatives that seek to ensure progress based on merit and inclusion.
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Founder, RealAgriculture (Master of Ceremonies)
Founder of RealAgriculture, Shaun Haney manages one of the leading industry ag media companies for Canadian farmers and ranchers. RealAgriculture provides the latest in ag policy, agronomics, current events and farm management from their website, radio shows and podcast streams. Shaun is the host of “RealAg Radio” which is broadcast across North America on Rural Radio Channel 147 on SiriusXM daily at 4:30 PM Eastern, and also makes regular appearances on RFD-TV, “AgriTalk” and “U.S. Farm Report.” Together with Justin Funk of Agri Studies, Shaun helms RealAgristudies, a market insights partnership formed in 2019.
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Global President, AdFarm
Almost everyone is connected to agriculture in some way, but considering his family has been farming the same land for over 115 years, Ben’s roots run a little deeper than most. With responsibilities for the overall direction of AdFarm’s operations, Ben works closely with our staff and clients alike to provide strategy, perspective and insight on a daily basis.
Over his 20+ years with AdFarm, Ben has worked with a who’s-who of Canadian and U.S. agriculture companies, including Nutrien, Alberta Beef Producers, The Canola Council of Canada, Corteva Agriscience, New Holland and many others. No matter how your business is connected to agriculture, you’ll always want Ben at your table, in your field or riding shotgun for your brand. Outside of AdFarm, you’ll find him coaching and shuttling kids to a continuous stream of sporting events.
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President, Ki-Era Cattle and Consulting
Based in Alberta, Kendra Donnelly is the president of Ki-Era Cattle and Consulting, a company that provides business development, administration and CFO services within the beef industry. Donnelly was raised on a feedlot, cattle-feeding, farming and ranching operation near Acme, Alberta, Canada.
With a master's degree in business administration and a CPA accounting designation, she now consults for multiple companies and leads a team with expertise in finance and accounting, human resources and business development with a growing interest in sustainability. In addition to her professional achievements, Donnelly and her husband are parents to three children - Owen, Liam, and Fiadh.
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Founder and CEO of SimpleHedge
SimpleHedge gives you an easier way to hedge your crops and cattle. Prior to founding SimpleHedge Mark was Founder and CEO of TriplePlay (acquired by RBLX) and worked as a Product Leader at Meta. Mark has a bachelor of Engineering from the University of Alberta and a Masters of Finance from Oxford University.
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The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food
The Honourable Heath MacDonald is Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and the Member of Parliament for Malpeque, Prince Edward Island. First elected federally in 2021 and re-elected in 2025, he brings over two decades of experience in both the private sector and public service. Prior to his federal role, MacDonald served as a provincial cabinet minister in Prince Edward Island, holding the portfolios of Economic Development and Tourism, and later Finance. His professional background includes leadership in tourism and technology, as well as extensive community involvement across the Island.
Appointed to cabinet in May 2025, Minister MacDonald has prioritized building strong relationships with farmers, industry stakeholders, and provincial counterparts across the country.
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President at NuLeaf Farms
Ryan Wright is the co-founder, President, and CEO of NuLeaf Farms, a Calgary-based company pioneering sustainable indoor agriculture. With over two decades of experience in engineering, construction, project management, and industrial automation, Ryan has applied his expertise to revolutionize food production through controlled-environment agriculture.
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Founder and CEO of EmGenisys
Dr. Cara Wells is the Founder and CEO of EmGenisys, a pioneering ag tech company revolutionizing livestock reproduction through artificial intelligence. With a PhD in Reproductive Physiology and a B.S. in Animal Science from Texas Tech University, Dr. Wells brings over 15 years of experience in embryo development, evaluation, and commercialization of reproductive technologies for both animal and human applications.
As a technical founder, Dr. Wells has led EmGenisys from concept to commercialization, developing proprietary video-based embryo assessment tools that provide real-time, objective analysis of embryo viability. Her vision for data-driven decision-making in the embryo transfer industry has positioned EmGenisys as a category leader, with 15 issued U.S. patents and international protection in over 40 countries. While her current work focuses on the cattle industry, Dr. Wells is also passionate about expanding the technology to other domestic species such as horses and small ruminants, endangered wildlife conservation, human IVF, and mammalian reproduction in space.
Dr. Wells is a strong advocate for ag tech innovation and mentor to emerging entrepreneurs in ag tech and biotechnology. She lives in Dripping Springs, Texas with her husband, 2 horses, boxer dog and cat.
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Chair, Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. Vice President, Canadian Cattle Association
Ryan Beierbach grew up on a ranch in Southwestern SK, an area dominated by native grasslands. Ryan ranches with his wife Tania, and 3 kids in Whitewood, in the pothole region of southeastern Saskatchewan, where the landscape includes small wetlands with pastures mainly made up of tame grass. Beierbachs operate a mainly cow/calf operation with some backgrounding and grass cattle.
Ryan has served on many cattle industry boards and committees including the Saskatchewan Cattle Association (Board Chair; Chairs of Environment, Research and Animal Health Committees), and Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (board member). He is a former Chair of the Beef Cattle Research Council. He has been a director for the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA) Board since 2020 and was elected as CCA’s Vice President in March 2025.
Ryan began in the role of Chair of the CRSB in 2022 and represents the Canadian Cattle Association on the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef Board of Directors.
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Marlise Hunter - Director of Ecosystem Partnerships, Farm Credit Canada
Marlise is the Director of Ecosystem Partnerships at Farm Credit Canada, where she supports relationship development with key stakeholders across the agrifood tech and innovation ecosystems. Before joining Farm Credit Canada, Marlise had over 15 years of operational and business development experience with a strong penchant for supporting organizational growth, strategic partnership development and investment attraction. Her experience had led her to work at the intersection of academia, government and industry in previous roles within agtech venture capital, economic development and tourism. She also currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Simpson Centre for Food and Agriculture Policy which has a mandate to translate fact based academic research in the agrifood sector to help inform public opinion and drive public policy.
Coming from rural roots, she is now an impassioned advocate for bridging the urban/rural divide and driving change within the broader agriculture innovation ecosystem in Canada.
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Director, New Business – Canada, AdFarm
Brady is passionate about agriculture and the people and stories that shape its future. With deep roots in the cattle industry and a broad range of experience across the agricultural sector, Brady brings a unique perspective to his role as Director of New Business – Canada at AdFarm. Here, he leads business development efforts while serving as an agriculture advisor and advocate across the agency.
Before joining AdFarm, Brady spent seven years with the Canadian Cattle Association (CCA), where he played a key role in advocacy and policy, helping strengthen the beef sector’s resilience and advance industry goals in Canada. He later joined Calgary Economic Development, where he led agriculture initiatives focused on attracting investment and driving growth in the local ag economy.
Originally from southeastern Alberta, Brady remains closely connected to his family’s cow-calf and backgrounding operation. Outside of AdFarm, he enjoys spending time with his wife Erin, family, and friends, as well as playing golf and hockey.
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Blackfox Farm and Distillery
Husband-and-wife duo Barb and John are the passionate owners of Black Fox Farm and Distillery, located just outside Saskatoon. Partners in both life and business, they carefully cultivate grains, fruits and flowers to transform into award winning gin and whisky. Their spirits are found throughout Saskatchewan, in Alberta, Ontario, Europe, the UK, China, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Visitors are welcomed year-round to the distillery for tastings, tours, festivals and purchases. During the growing season, guests are invited to pick buckets of flowers or dozens of pumpkins from the acres of fresh cut flowers and pumpkins they grow.
As fifth generation farmers, Barb and John both have Degrees in Agriculture, were recognized as Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers, and have been awarded prestigious Nuffield scholarships. They have studied and consulted in agriculture across 5 continents.
Combining their passion for the land, with a dedication to craftsmanship, Barb and John are committed to creating exceptional spirits in a sustainable manner.
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Senior Vice President, Agriculture, Director Livestock Services
Marvin Slingerland, CPA, CA, is Senior Vice President, Agriculture with MNP, and is located in Lethbridge, Alberta. Drawing on more than 20 years of finance and agriculture experience, Marvin leads a team of dedicated professionals serving over 25,000 MNP clients in the agricultural, food processing, and farm management sectors across Canada.
Marvin is well versed in risk management programs, government relations, succession planning, benchmarking and enterprise analysis, delivering advice and solutions to help his team and their respective clients to succeed.
Marvin’s invaluable sector experience enables him to provide top-notch leadership based on critical industry insights and deep knowledge. He attends industry conferences to keep his team up to date on sector and government policy changes and opportunities. Marvin takes pride in helping his team grow their clients’ operations to their full potential.
Designated as a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and a Chartered Accountant (CA) in 2013, Marvin has a Bachelor of Management degree from the University of Lethbridge. He has served as an elected councillor for the Town of Coalhurst and sat on the board of directors of Community Futures Lethbridge.
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Dr. Guillaume Lhermie - Director of the Simpson Centre for Agricultural and Food Policy
Guillaume Lhermie is the Director of the Simpson Centre for Agricultural and Food Policy, located at the University of Calgary. Guillaume Lhermie also holds an appointment as Professor of Animal Health Economics and Policy at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Calgary.
Dr. Lhermie’ s research interests are in One Health challenges, specifically the interface between animal agriculture and human health. His research focuses on the economics of antibiotic use and resistance, governance of healthcare system, and in political science on controversies in agriculture and food diplomacy.
Guillaume Lhermie obtained a Doctoral degree in Veterinary Medicine at Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire de Toulouse (2005), a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics at Montpellier Supagro (2010), a Political Sciences diploma at Sciences Po Toulouse (2010) and a PhD. in Pharmaco-epidemiology and Innovation at Université de Nantes (2015). Dr. Lhermie currently serves as expert in animal health economics for international organizations (FAO, WOAH, WHO), national agencies and NGOs. He serves on the executive committee of the Global Burden of Animal Diseases programme, and is member of the Academie Vétérinaire de France.
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Director of Wine Education for Arterra Wines Canada
A 2003 extended wine trip to France was the catalyst for Elsa’s career shift from management consulting in financial services and telecom into the wine trade. Elsa joined Vincor Canada as a territory manager in downtown Toronto and performed progressively more senior roles in sales, marketing and ultimately became the Director of Wine Education for Arterra Wines Canada.
Always studying and traveling to expand her knowledge and experience, in 2018 Elsa achieved the highest standard of wine credential when she became a Master of Wine. She is one of 415 MW’s worldwide. Elsa delivers wine education to sommeliers, WSET diploma students, trade professionals and consumers throughout Canada. Elsa is an international wine judge (Decanter, National Wine Awards Canada, Lieutenant Governor’s Award) and consultant.
Elsa has traveled extensively to wine regions in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, USA and of course across Canada. Elsa’s passion is in understanding the unique expressions of this truly international drink and in helping people appreciate its pleasures.
