The Rural Voice, 1983-09, Page 12PART II
AG. GRADS
Where do they go? What do they do?
by Alice Gibb
There's a special spirit about the
University of Guelph "aggies" - a
camaraderie that lingers long after
they've left the Ontario Agricultural
College and go on to careers.
It was that very feeling that drew
Mary Lynn Elder, 26, of London,
now a Royal Bank agrologist, to
OAC in the first place.
Doug Richards, 27, a fellow '80
OAC grad, now farming at R.R. 3,
Brussels, is another believer in the ag-
gie spirit which he says ensured that
many of his former classmates have
become "lifelong friends".
Jane Sadler Richards, 26, Doug's
wife, agrees. That special feeling is
one reason she's returning to the
University of Guelph for graduate
studies.
While Doug Richards, like many B.
Sc. (Agr.) graduates, is putting his
education to the test on the farm, his
story isn't exactly the typical return to
the family farm tale.
Doug was an urbanite who grew up
in Burlington, attended a large city
high school, and always intended to
study physical education at a Toronto
or Kingston university, and eventual-
ly teach.
Farming wasn't anywhere on the
horizon, but when Doug was a high
school senior, his father decided to
abandon his job in industry and fulfil
a lifelong ambition to farm.
After buying their Brussels' area
farm, the Richards crammed in
novice farming courses at the Univer-
sity of Guelph and chored weekends
on neighbour Howard Martin's farm
to get some valuable hands-on ex-
perience.
While his parents were establishing
their weaner pig operation, Doug
took a year off to work in a ski shop
in Western Canada and consider his
options. Then, in addition to apply-
ing to universities in Kingston and
Toronto, he also mailed off an ap-
plication to the University of Guelph.
The university accepted him and
Doug abandoned his teaching career
to study animal science.
Doug became active in class
politics, ending up as class president
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE, SEPTEMBER
Jane Sadler Richards and Doug Richards
in his final year - and started a
challenging part-time job in the
school's meat science wing, working
the abattoir.
Jane, known as a "cropper" in
OAC slang, grew up on an Ottawa
Valley farm that raised purebred
herefords and sheep. Unlike her
future husband, she knew from
Grade nine on that she wanted to go
to the University of Guelph and that
she wanted to study crop sciences.
"I guess the farm had an
influence," she explains simply.
Unlike many ag. students who enrol
1983
at the university with an
veterinary medicine, Jane's
was always the land.
Mary Lynn Elder was one of those
Guelph students who originally plan-
ned to pursue veterinary studies.
When she got to university, Mary
Lynn says "it seemed like a large
percentage of kids were going into
either animal science or crop science,
so I decided maybe I'd stay clear of
those and go into something else."
The something else was agricultural
economics, and extension education
with an area of emphasis on agri-
business.
eye on
interest