Douglas McIntyre and his daughter Kimberly. Douglas is the son of Vernon McIntyre who was also a 2011 Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame inductee.

The Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted two new members during a ceremony at the Glesby Centre in Portage yesterday. Douglas McIntyre accepted on behalf of his late father, Vernon, and says his dad would have been very proud to receive such an honour. Vernon McIntyre was born in 1919 in Neepawa, Manitoba and was raised in Kelwood along with his brother and sister.  In 1930, the family moved to a farm near Elphinstone.

McIntyre notes his father was very attentive to detail and took select seed growing to its highest possible level, adding Vernon also spent a lot of time training other farmers to become select growers. He says his dad was happier working in an one acre seed plot than in a thousand acres of canola, because he loved to get close to the plants and watch how they grew and matured every day. McIntyre adds being inducted into the Ag Hall of Fame really reinforces for their family how much Vernon's honesty and integrity meant to everyone. 

Vernon served on the board of the Manitoba Seed Growers Association (MSGA) as director for four years, vice-president for two years and president for two years.  He was also a national director of the Canadian Seed Growers' Association (CSGA) for eight years.  In 1969 he received the association’s highest honour, the Robertson Associate Award.

Although his primary focus was on farming, Vernon could recite poetry, quote Shakespeare and debate current affairs.  He was interested in other cultures and in his retirement enjoyed travelling.

Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame inductee Keith Smith

The second inductee this year was Keith smith of Oak Lake, who says it's a humbling experience to be included with such a wonderful group of men and women in the roll of honour. Smith notes the most rewarding part of his long career in agriculture was being able to work with farm people from all over the province, adding rural folks are special.  he says farming has certainly changed a lot over the decades, noting farmers are even smarter now and he believes agriculture has a great future. 

Smith was born and raised on a farm in the Oak Lake area of Manitoba.  Following high school Keith attended the University of Manitoba from which he graduated with a B.S.A. in 1955.  Three years later he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an MSc. in Extension Education.  In 1958, Keith married Joy Harris.  Together they raised four children:  Richard, Janet, Brian and Murray.

Keith began his 33 year career with the Manitoba Department of Agriculture in 1955—beginning as the Agricultural Representative at Holland, then moving to Winnipeg and later to Brandon as a Communications Specialist.  He finished his distinguished career as the Principal of the Agricultural Extension Center in Brandon. Zero-till was just one of the many new production practices Keith promoted across the province. 

Over his long career with the Province, Keith took several leaves to serve other organizations.  In 1970, he served as Director of Communications for Manitoba’s Centennial celebrations.  In 1972, he participated in a three-week Commonwealth Foundation Exchange trip to Kenya to study agriculture in a developing country.  In 1978-79, he served as a Senior Information Advisor in the United Nation’s office in Washington, D.C.  Here he was responsible for developing contacts and programs to tell the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) story to the USA and Canadian media.  In 1988, Keith served as a Senior Advisor to the World Bank-funded Nigeria Agriculture and Rural Management Training Institute.  He also helped to introduce zero-till farming in Zimbabwe.  Working in cooperation with the Marquis Project, Keith was active in the Uganda-Canada Sustainable Agriculture Exchange program aimed at improving farm practices and rural life for Ugandan farm families.