Canadian Cattle Young Leaders is pleased to announce this year’s industry-leading mentors who are kindly investing their expertise and time to lend a helping hand to the next generation of the Canadian beef industry.

Each year, Canadian Cattle Young Leaders (CYL) selects 16 program participants ages 18-35 from across the country and offers industry networking, travel, and skill building opportunities. A focal point of the program is matching participants with a hand-picked mentor in their specific area of interest in the Canadian beef industry for a nine-month mentorship experience.

There is an exciting array of mentorship focus areas this year, including sustainable grazing practices, agriculture technology, business management, cattle genetics, feedlot production, marketing strategies, livestock handling techniques, and much more.

“Now, more than ever, there is a growing need to invest and support the youth of our industry to ensure a successful future,” says Canadian Cattle Association President, Reg Schellenberg. “We are sincerely grateful to these mentors who have stepped up to the plate to help our young leaders as they look to build a sustainable future for their farms and ranches, or in their industry careers.”

The 2022-2023 program year mentorship pairings are as follows. Visit our participant spotlight webpage to learn more about this year’s mentees and mentors.

The formal portion of these mentorships began earlier this month in November 2022 and will conclude at the end of July 2023. Each participant is granted a $2,000 budget through the program thanks to the generosity of our program sponsors to fund various learning opportunities, such as travel to see their mentors and attending industry events.

The Canadian CYL program would like to thank all present and past program mentors for their incredibly generous support and vision for the future through their notable contributions made to mentoring young leaders in the Canadian beef cattle sector.

Applications for the 2023-2024 program year will be available at www.canadiancattleyoungleaders.ca from the beginning of January to the end of March 2023, where young people involved in all areas of the beef supply chain ages 18-35 are encouraged to apply.