Our sixth International Women’s Day Feature is Elaine Grant!
Elaine graduated in 1996 from the Biology Technology program at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College thinking she would go into forestry but ended up on a different path working in Quality Assurance at Hershey Canada, Moir’s then Scotsburn Dairy in both QA and Research & Development roles.
Through joining Perennia Food and Agriculture in 2011 as a Quality & Food Safety Specialist then as a Co-Manager of the QFS team, she has been able to return to her agriculture roots. She enjoys working with fruit and vegetable producers, processors, and other operations in various commodities to coach them through quality and food safety requirements and regulations.
Any day she can be outside is a good day and at this time of year especially she gets that opportunity working in the sugar woods at her family’s operation MacRae’s Rocky Ridge Maple making quality maple products for their customers.
Her message for #IWD2023
“When I get the chance to go on farm it is encouraging to see more women in leadership roles and choosing a career in agriculture. We have a great local community on social media of successful women encouraging and supporting others in the field. As a mom and wife, I know it is challenging for others to juggle those roles with the long hours that are required on farm. So, when assisting someone with on farm food safety our team of four women, try to streamline as much as possible to make following those customer and regulatory requirements a little bit more manageable and easier to maintain in the long run. When I see these producers’ products in retail stores or farm markets, I am more than happy to tell others about all the local options for safe, quality products. I hope everyone takes the opportunity to celebrate and thank women in agriculture for all they do.”