15 ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER OCTOBER 2024 she says. “But I also do really like diving into the data and writing up the results of all of our work too.” INDUSTRY ACCLAIM “We’re excited for Dr. Smith to excel in this new role,” says Shepherd. “She will play a leading role in connecting with Ontario’s agriculture sector on their pest management and crop production needs and help train the next generation of leaders.” In 2023, Smith won the University of Guelph Faculty Association’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her internationally recognized field and laboratory research programs include partnerships with Grain Farmers of Ontario, OMAFA, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Bayer CropScience, Syngenta, Corteva, and BASF. Being part of an international community of entomologists is an aspect of the job that Smith enjoys, and she sees a lot of value in collaborating with international colleagues. “I have a lot of amazing U.S. entomology colleagues, and lately, I’m getting to know more internationally,” she says. Among her research projects, Smith identified in 2018 the first case, globally, of field-evolved resistance to Bt corn in European corn borer (ECB), which has spurred extensive research projects and international collaborations focused on determining optimal resistance mitigation strategies, understanding the heritability and fitness costs associated with Bt resistance in ECB, identifying the genetic basis for Bt resistance, and enhancing susceptibility monitoring efforts. As a key collaborator in Canadian Insect Resistance Monitoring (IRM), her work includes overseeing annual field collections of corn pests, managing an insect-rearing facility dedicated to key corn insect pests, and testing their susceptibility to Bt toxins and insecticides. INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS Smith continues to farm in Lambton County with her family, growing grains and sugar beets, and she is a director with the Ontario Sugar Beet Growers Association – giving her a first-hand view of the challenges that face the industry and what needs to be done to solve the pressing issues that it faces. She says working in a cross-industry collaborative environment, where farmers, industry, government extension staff, and academia work together, is key to solving the issues that face agriculture locally and globally.• LEFT: DIAGNOSTIC DAYS AT RIDGETOWN CAMPUS IS ONE OF THE WAYS SMITH SHARES RESEARCH RESULTS WITH THE FARMING COMMUNITY. ABOVE: SHARING RESEARCH KNOWLEDGE THROUGH EXTENSION IS ONE OF SINGH’S PASSIONS, AND HE LOOKS FORWARD TO CONNECTING WITH ONTARIO FARMERS.
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