Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan was incredibly proud to be among the nominators for the induction of Joe Kleinsasser to the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame in April 2026.
Joe Kleinsasser farms with his family on the Rosetown Hutterite Colony. He served on the board of directors of Saskatchewan Pork from 2002 to 2009 and was also a director of SPI Marketing Group from 1999 to 2013. A strong advocate for engaging consumers about where their food comes from, Joe served as chair of the Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan and later as the inaugural chair for Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan. He has been a board member of the Saskatchewan Agri-Food Council since 2019 and has also served on the Agriculture Development Fund board and the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship & Trade Certification Committee.
Many in the audience praised Joe’s inquisitive, thoughtful and progressive approach, as well as his openness in sharing about Hutterite culture.
“It’s a privilege to make even a small contribution,” Joe said in his speech. “I’ve been doing this for a long time. You might forget the details of some of the issues, but you never forget the people.”
Farm & Food Care was pleased to celebrate the evening with Jason Hofer, who serves on the current FFC SK Board of Directors and represents Sask Pork; Danny Wollman, who served with Joe on the inaugural Board of Farm & Food Care in 2014, Henry Van Ee, former chair of FFC SK who served with Joe during Joe’s second term on the FFC SK Board; Leonard Wipf, a longtime friend and fellow past FFC SK Board member; and Glenn O’Hara, who has served on the Agri-Food Council with Joe for the past seven years. Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton were appreciative of the opportunity to represent Canadian Food Focus and Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan to honour Joe’s many contributions to agriculture in our province and beyond.
Fellow inductees to this year’s SAHF included:
- Terry Baker, farmer and chair of the Global Transportation Hub and Agvita Canada, and former chair of Sask Wheat Pool, Sask Health Research Foundation and others.
- Norbert Beaujot, founder and president of SeedMaster Manufacturing, which revolutionized the no-till industry in Canada and beyond.
- Mary McKay Lindsay (1896-1991), cattle producer, pioneer of Highland cattle in Canada and developer of a new cattle breed called Speckle Park.
- Mark Pickard (1956- 2024), entrepreneur and trailblazer in Saskatchewan food processing, founder of Infra-Ready products, which developed over 200 custom-designed products for customers worldwide.
- Cecil Werner, international marketer and tireless promoter of Saskatchewan’s value-added industry, who pioneered flax processing and dehydrated alfalfa products.
Congratulations to Joe Kleinsasser and all of the 2026 inductees. More information on the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame is available here: https://www.sahf.ca/