John Jamieson, B.A., P.Ag, Executive Director

John Jamieson will be responsible for directing Federation activities on a diverse range of agriculture industry priorities including policy implementation, government relations, regulatory matters, environment and safety nets.

Mr. Jamieson, a Professional Agrologist and Certified Nutrient Management Planner, has worked in the agriculture industry for a number of years and has a wide variety of experience.  He has worked with the Federation of Agriculture since 2004 with the Environmental Farm Plan program. Prior to that Mr. Jamieson worked with the PEI Hog Marketing Board as a food safety consultant and with the Atlantic Swine Research Partnership as a communications officer.

Mr. Jamieson is also very involved in community activities.  He is the current Chair of the Bonshaw Community Council, Co-Chair of the West River Watershed Enhancement Committee, Past-President of the PEI Wildlife Federation and President-Elect of the PEI Institute of Agrologists.

In his spare time, John is an avid cyclist, fly fisherman and outdoorsman.

Tim Seeber, Assistant Manager

Tim Seeber was hired as Executive Director of the PEI Hog Marketing Board in April 2008.  Since that time the industry has seen a dramatic decline in production which forced the downsizing of the Board office and staff and in an effort to maintain a board presence, Tim offered management and administrative services to other commodities.  He was consequently hired as Assistant / Policy Manager for the PEIFA and will continue to function concurrently in both the Hog Board and Federation capacities.

Tim grew up in the town of Dunnville in Ontario’s Niagara Peninsula until he graduated from high school in January 1977. After brief stays in Hamilton, Ontario and Miramichi, New Brunswick, he moved to PEI in December of ‘77and started working for Canada Packers.  He continued with the operation through various ownership changes for over 30 years, most recently as Plant Manager, until the closure of the facility in March 2008. 

Tim resides with his wife Sandra in Stratford where they have raised their four children. They have one grandchild. His various pastimes include gardening, walking, photography, woodworking, and travel.

Andrew Wood, BBA, Administrator, Advanced Payment Program

Andrew came to the Federation of Agriculture from the PEI Potato Board in June of 2008.

He lives in Charlottetown with his family and has 8 years of experience offering the Advance Payment Program to growers. He looks forward to working with you in 2009 and can be reached in office most anytime.

Andrew graduated from UPEI in 1994 with a BBA and comes from a farming background having grown up on a family beef farm in Bunbury.

Outside of work he can be found on the golf course in the summer or at the hockey rinks in the winter.

Karolyn Tweedy, Administrative Assistant

Karolyn grew up in the Sherwood area and now resides in North River.  She is busy mother of two children; Travis and Taylor, and proud Nanny to Regan.

She attended Holland College and received a diploma in Early Childhood Education and operated a daycare for 7 years. She then returned to school and gradutaed from Career Skills to presue the Office Management field.

Karolyn has over 15 years experince in Office Management  and looks forward to her position with the Fedeartion of Agriculture.

Jennifer Roper, EFP Group Planning Manager

Jennifer Roper has been working as an Agri-Environmental Club Coordinator in Carleton County, New Brunswick.  She helped start the club and has been working there assisting farmers in completingtheir EFPs, developing nutrient management plans and implementing beneficial management practices.  Much of her work has been with potato farmers with a particular focus on soil health and soil quality.  Jennifer has held a number of seminars on nutrient management and soil health, and was working on a demonstration cover crop project. Her coordinator role has not only kept her engaged in the farming community but allowed her to interact with the community at large. She has also been involved with local community groups, including the Meduxnekaeg River Association and was on the steering committee for Transition Town Woodstock.

Jennifer has a Master of Science in Agricultural Chemistry and the focus of her master’s project was on the movement of nitrogen through the soil in a variety of tillage systems.  Jen also completed her Bachelor of Science at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College and her undergraduate work was on the impact of field methods on soil organic matter.  Jen was also President of the NSAC Graduate Students Club and Vice Chair of the NSAC Environmental Club.

Jen will be leading a pilot project with farmers and watershed personnel on the Wheatley River and Southwest River watersheds.  The goal of the project is to work collectively to reduce nitrate concentrations in surface and ground water in these watersheds and to build a template for work in other watersheds.

Amanda Walsh, EFP Planning Officer

Amanda Walsh holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with minors in Environmental Sciences and Biology from the University of New Brunswick. In addition, she holds a Plant Sciences Technology Diploma Honours graduate from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

Having spent the last 3 summers as General Manager for Red Soil Organics, Amanda is responsible and performance oriented. She has developed Red Soil Organicsr certified organic vegetable markets from 2 acres to our current 20 acres of certified organic vegetable production with 90+ acres of certified rotation land.

Amanda was the founder of UNB’s Environment Committee and was also quite involved in the Fredericton Area Watershed Organization.  Amanda also has a very good handle on BMP’s and their role in protecting water quality.

Amanda will lead individual Environmental Farm Planning on PE and will assist in the development of data for the PEI Farmlog.

Mark Slater, Farm Safety Coordinator

Mark has taken on the part time role of Safety Coordinator at the PEI Federation of Agriculture. He was raised on a mixed farm in Bay View, Nova Scotia and educated in science and engineering at Memorial University. He has twenty years experience in manufacturing and aerospace management focusing on operations, product development, process improvements, project management, health, safety and quality. Mark is an active member of the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering.

In 2009 he started a consulting business “Competitive Advantage Development” , the company is a business development practice focusing on assessment, design and training in relation to Operations, Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) .  In this new role one of Mark’s strategies is to try and bring best practices from other industries into agriculture.