Dr Tarlok Singh – First SIKH to lead as the President of the Canadian Society of Agronomy

He was bestowed upon the responsibility of the President of the Canadian Society of Agronomy (CSA) on July 29, 2015. He was the first person of Indian origin and also the first Sikh to head the CSA, a national level scientific Canadian society. Last year, in July, he was unanimously chosen to be the President-Elect (for which normally elections are held). President-Elect becomes the President after one year and Past President after two years. One has different responsibilities in all the three positions spread over three years.

A Brief biography has been stated here

Dr. Tarlok Singh Director of Research and Business, Thunder Bay Agricultural Research Station (TBARS), Thunder Bay, Ontario, has been heading the TBARS since January 2004. Dr. Sahota has generated a lot of valuable agronomic data. As a result of Dr. Sahota’s research and public outreach, area producers adopted a number of crops/crop varieties and beneficial nutrient management practices, diversified and expanded their operations and initiated new small scale commercial activities such as a stone grinding mill and a canola press to extract edible oil from canola.

Some of the new crops (especially new to the area of his work, which is Thunder Bay, Ontario) include Galega (a perennial forage legume from the Scandinavian countries), berseem, sorghum sudangrass, durum wheat, hard red spring and winter wheats, hard white spring wheat, canola and chickpea. Through his research ne has been able to offer new and higher yielding varieties of spring cereals/and other crops. One year, there were 15 barley varieties grown on Thunder Bay farms; a diversity that was unmatched anywhere else. Dr. Sahota was first to identify deficiencies of secondary and micronutrients such as sulphur, zinc and boron in field crops of Thunder Bay/Ontario. The fertilizer nutrient package along with high yielding crop varieties recommended by Dr. Sahota improved crop production as well as quality of produce cutting down on feed costs by farmers. As a result the prosperity on farms in Thunder Bay is pretty obvious. Glenn Coulter, Intellectual Property Inc. Calgary, Alberta, Canada, an independent consultant hired to look into the long term sustainability of the research station headed by Dr. Sahota commented as follows:

“For a moment, let’s examine the productivity of TBARS. This consultant has had about 45 years’ involvement in agricultural research, either as a scientist or manager of agricultural research, and I can say without hesitation that I have never in my career seen so much productivity from so few on a very limited budget! One only has to look at the summary of findings generated and published during 2014 We find it quite amazing that one full time scientist, two seasonal technicians and some summer help can do this much work implementing projects, conducting analyses, and transferring the results to the agricultural community in such a timely fashion. TBARS provides an extraordinary return on investment!”

Dr. Coulter in his report also mentioned that “When conducting interviews throughout the Thunder Bay community, whether within agricultural agencies, or the larger Thunder Bay community, the consultant was struck by the high level of recognition of the existence of TBARS and to a person*, everyone believes TBARS is doing good work important to the community. There is clearly a desire to see TBARS survive and thrive.”

*This person is none other than Dr. Sahota who because of his innovative research and extension has got a mass recognition!

Originally from a family farm (Village Phalpota, District Jalandhar) from the Punjab State of India, Dr. Sahota has Master’s and Doctorate degrees in Agronomy with distinction, from the famous Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, India. Dr. Sahota was selected for the International Course for Development Oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA), Wageningen, The Netherlands (7 months course meant for young agricultural professionals) through an International competition. He was the only Indian among the 19 participants selected from 16 countries over the Globe.

Dr. Sahota started his career through the ARS in 1977, a national level competitive exam started by the Indian Council of Research in 1976. He was posted at the Central Potato Research Station, Shillong, Meghalaya, where he through his research and extension was able to bridge the gap between the potato yield at the research station and at the farmers’ fields. He has over 35 years experience in agricultural research, extension and development spread over four continents and 11 organizations. Highlights of his career include establishment of a 10101 acre commercially viable contract mint farming program for A. M. Todd Company USA and management of large scale commercial farms in Nigeria, including a fresh produce export project; involving production, grading and packaging of vegetables and fruits at Kano, Nigeria for shipping to London, England. Dr. Sahota served as an elected member of an International Panel for the Second External Review of ICRA, The Netherlands and has worked in multinational and multidisciplinary teams. Dr. Sahota has been an Ontario Certified Crop Advisor in good standing since 2007, has published over 300 research and extension papers and has made over 50 research presentations at the Canadian Society of Agronomy (CSA), Plant Canada, American Society of Agronomy, in addition to several presentations at the farmers’ conferences in Ontario.

Dr. Sahota is a member of the American Society of Agronomy for many years now and has been an Eastern Director of the CSA for two terms before becoming the President Elect of the CSA last year. He is a life member of the Indian Society of Agronomy and Indian Society of Soil Science and has held executive positions in the Indian Scientific Societies.

Since 1993, Dr. Sahota has held senior management positions reporting directly to the board of directors, has headed multimillion dollar projects/divisions and has served on the board of directors of a commercial organization, marketing agricultural inputs. Dr. Sahota was nominated for the CCA Award of Excellence in 2013 and for the Innovative Hero of the Year Award in May 2015. He was selected as one of the seven delegates for a professional visit to Seinajoki, Finland by the City of Thunder Bay in June 2015. Considering Dr. Sahota’s contribution to agricultural research, the Lakehead University, Thunder Bay appointed him as an Adjunct Professor with the Faculty of Natural Resources Management in July 2013. Dr. Sahota has a number of other awards to his credit.

~ Source: www.tbars.net