Keith Jones of Taber, Alberta-based Rowland Farms, is the new President of the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance, CHTA has announced. Jones, who replaces Russ Crawford in the position, is General Manager & CFO at Rowland, one of Canada’s largest industrial hemp growers.
Jones previously served as vice president at CHTA, which was established in 2003 to represent hemp industry interests and promote Canadian hemp products. Members include farmers, processors, manufacturers, researchers, entrepreneurs and marketers.
Family farm firm
Jones’ company is a producer of cereal grains, ancient grains, oilseeds and pulses. In addition to its dryland and irrigated farming operations, the family farming company also has four primary processing facilities in southern Alberta.
Jones, who also was recently appointed industry co-chair of Agriculture and AgriFood Canada’s Special Crops Value Chain Roundtable, has experience in finance, oil and gas, manufacturing, forest products and agricultural industries both in Canada and abroad. He holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Alberta and an MBA in International Business from the University of British Columbia. His family has farmed continuously near Calgary since 1903.
Crawford is honored
Rowland Farms and two partners recently announced Protein Industries Canada’s (PIC) first project investment. PIC participates in co-investment initiatives that have the potential to transform the agriculture and food production sector.
Outgoing CHTA president Russ Crawford was honored with the Dr. Ernest Small Industry Leadership Award for 2019 during CHTA’s recently held annual conference.