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Three more inductees into Sask Ag Hall of Fame for 2016

Jan. 13, 2016, Saskatoon, SK - Linda Braun, Robin Morall and Pat Beaujot will be inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame later this year. The announcement was made today at the CropSphere conference in Saskatoon. Three other inductees were announced in November at Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.

Linda Braun has worked in the agricultural food industry for almost 40 years. A graduate from the College of Home Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, Linda has worked to promote and advance many Saskatchewan food products including pork, pulse crops and flax. As executive director of Sask Flax from 1997 to 2014, she participated in the development and approval from Health Canada of a health claim for flax seed and she worked to build the foundation for the use of flax fibre. She also helped lead the industry in efforts to remove the genetically modified variety CDC Triffid from the Canadian flax supply. Linda was one of the founders of the CropSphere conference.

Robin Morrall is recognized nationally and internationally for his work on plant diseases. His pioneering research has served as a foundation for controlling sclerotinia stem rot in canola and ascochyta blight in lentils, chickpeas and field peas in Western Canada. Robin was a professor of plant pathology in the Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan from 1965 to 1997. After that, he continued to provide expertise on disease diagnosis and management as an Emeritus Professor and as an expert on seed-borne diseases for Discovery Seed Labs of Saskatoon. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with farmers with much of his research in farmers' fields.

Pat Beaujot is a pioneer of direct seeding equipment. Pat and his brother developed an independent hydraulic pressure opener and seeded their first crop with it in 1992. With the success of the opener, Pat quit his job at Simplot to focus on a new manufacturing business called Seed Hawk. By the late 90s, Seed Hawk was employing up to 30 people from the local area. Employee numbers grew to 250 as large, high-capacity carts with independent depth control openers became the industry standard. Seed Hawk continued to innovate developing sectional control to avoid costly overlap. In 2014, Seed Hawk was sold to Vaderstad of Europe, but the manufacturing plant remains at Langbank and Pat continues to look for ways to improve farming practices.

Linda Braun, Robin Morrall and Pat Beaujot will join respected veterinarian Byrnne Rothwell (deceased), hog industry advocate Florian Possberg and Agribition founder Barry Andrew (deceased) as the inductees for 2016.

The induction ceremony will take place on August 6 at Saskatoon's Western Development Museum which houses the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame. Information on the SAHF and all the past inductees can also be found at www.sahf.ca.

January 13, 2016  By News release