Banff (Rural Roots Canada) — Sebastien Dutrisac, from Northern Sunrise County, has been elected as the new president of the Association of Alberta Agricultural Fieldmen at their recent In-Service Training.

He says the association has achieved quite a bit in the 75 years it has been around.

“It shows the success of our program when we are seeing that different organizations are now looking at Agriculture Service Boards as a template because it’s a grass-roots way managing things,” said Dutrisac.

He adds celebrating 75 years is enormous.

“When you look at the impact, when we are standing shoulder to shoulder with our residents, with our municipal government, with our provincial government, we still are the only place that eliminated rats from our province that’s unprecedented.”

He says they have also done some great things when it comes to diseases and weed control.

“You might not be able to eliminate it, but we’re reducing the spread of it, reducing the impact; that’s because when people are engaged and committed to the same goals, we can accomplish great things.”

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The fieldmen recently gathered in Banff for their annual In-Service Training and will be convening again in January at the Agricultural Service Boards’ annual meetings.

He says the training they receive at In-Service Training is essential in their everyday tasks.

“When we are looking at the agenda, I like the fact that we have multiple subjects that will help various people within their duties. When we are looking at all of our duties, we’re dealing with a variety of things that affect our producers and our ratepayers, and as fieldmen, we are the last generalist.