Sustainable Solutions: Connecting Gators to Gryphons with Dr. John Cranfield

Collegiate agricultural programs can vary, not only from different states but also from different countries. This podcast episode explores the University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College’s unique features and opportunities. Celebrating their 150th anniversary, OAC has fun activities lined up for their students. Dr. John Cranfield, Associate Dean of External Relations, shared insight into OAC, from celebrations to research and even majors/doctoral programs. Hosted by University of Florida Agricultural Education and Communication junior Brenna Sturgis. Listen to Brenna and Dr. Cranfied's conversation that creates a a cross-campus connection between these universities! 

Transcript

Brenna Sturgis: Hello everyone, and welcome to Sustainable Solutions from Guelph to Gainesville, a podcast brought to you by the Streaming Science Project. Streaming Science is a student driven program committed to connecting you with leading experts, exploring how science shapes our world, and how we can build a more sustainable future together. Throughout this podcast series, we're not only diving into topics of sustainable agriculture, natural resources, and science communication and literacy, but we're also taking an international perspective as we connect with alumni and experts from the University of Guelph Ontario Agricultural College in Ontario, Canada. I'm Brenna Sturgis, a junior at the University of Florida, and I'm your host for this episode. I spoke with Dr. John Cranfield to learn more about his experience as an associate dean for external relations. in the Ontario Agricultural College. During our conversation, we explored Dr. Cranfield's journey, his exciting work in advancing sustainable practices, and his insights into how we can all continue to pursue a more sustainable future in agriculture, natural resources, and broader science. So without further ado, let's dive into our conversation with Dr. Cranfield and explore the sustainable solutions he's championing, bridging the gap from Guelph to Gainesville.

Hello everyone, my name is Brenna Sturgis and welcome back to the Streaming Science Podcast. With me today I have Dr. John Cranfield from the University of Guelph, Ontario Agricultural College. 

Dr. John Cranfield: Thanks for asking me to be part of this. I'm really looking forward to our session here today, and hopefully I'll be able to bring a little bit of insight for the viewers and the listeners, and so they'll get a little bit of sense of who we are as a college. So my name is John Cranfield. I'm the Acting Dean of the Ontario Agricultural College here in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. We're one of the colleges here at the University of Guelph. I'm also a faculty member in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics. Uh, I've been a faculty member here since 2001 and was an undergraduate and a master's student back in the late 80s and early 90s and so to me it's, uh this is my home base and it's great to be, sitting in the dean's office chair for a little bit and getting some perspective on the, all things that make us good and great.

Brenna Sturgis: That sounds awesome. Crazy how it comes full circle, you get to hang out in Guelph. 

Dr. John Cranfield: There's still days where I pinch myself that how did I become the dean of the college that I was a student in, but here I am. 

Brenna Sturgis: Oh my goodness. Well, my name is Brenna Sturgis. I grew up in Plant City, Florida, which is about 20 minutes outside of Tampa. I grew up in a really agricultural community where we focused on, um, mostly strawberries. So, I've grown up running in the strawberry fields with my family and going to our, strawberry festival, which is a really big thing here. And I always knew I was going to have some sort of, role in agriculture. I showed animals growing up and I, was in the future farmers of America, which is an organization for youth here in the United States. And I started going to the university of Florida in fall of 2023. And my major is, agricultural education and communication. So. Dr. Cranfield, do you want to maybe just give us like the history of Guelph and Some things that our viewers can learn about it.

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah, sure. So, Ontario Agricultural College, or as we call it OAC, is one of the three founding colleges of the University of Guelph. And so as a university, we formally became a university in 1964. And so it was our college, the Ontario Veterinary College, and what was called the Macdonald Institute, which was a, an institute home economics, both and also a diploma in home economics. And there was also another college that, that joined us that brought, other disciplinary areas like social sciences and arts. And so that, that was the basis of the formation of the University Guelph. , but our college actually goes back 90 years before that. So we were founded, In 1874, our doors opened as a college on May the 1st, 1874. So we're in our 150th year. In fact, on May the 1st, we're going to start, kicking off some parties and celebrations to really mark this milestone for that longevity. And it's really been an amazing journey for us as a college. You know, the first class was a small number of people who were here for a one year program where they had hands on instruction, there was a professor of agriculture, , and it grew from there, and it grew kind of organically. And maybe that's a play on words when we're talking about agriculture. and it evolved into a two year program, and then a four year degree program that, was taught here at Guelph, but the degree was formally offered through another university, the University of Toronto. And we're, so we're about an hour's west of Toronto. So there's sort of some nice proximity there. And so, you know, , Along the way, we also developed a suite of graduate programs, whether that's in plant agriculture, plant science, or animal science, or my area, agricultural economics. There's a natural evolution in the undergraduate programs from, the baccalaureate level to the magistrate level, and then on to PhD level. And so, you know, as a college, we offer that full suite of a two year, Diploma, either here at Guelph or at one of our other campuses at Ridgetown, Ontario to our bachelor programs. And we run the gamut of, kind of cover the waterfront in terms of things that you might expect in a college of agriculture and then into master's and PhD programs. We've really embraced that past and I've used that as the basis for how we move forward with our future.

Brenna Sturgis: Well, it sounds like you're a very well rounded university with all this variety.

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah, yeah, well, I'm glad you mentioned that because we are considered what's called a comprehensive university in Canada, and , you tend to see three types of universities, those that are focused on undergraduate education, and so in the U. S. that might be akin to a liberal arts college, and then, comprehensive universities like ours, and then universities that offer, medical degrees typically, and so while we have a college of veterinary medicine, the Ontario Veterinary College, so we do have medicine, it's just. Medicine for animals. we're not considered, in , the same realm as some of the schools that do offer, physician training. So we're a comprehensive university, but we also, are a research intensive, university and, you know, , I'm proud to say that our college helps lead that research intensiveness in terms of having that connection into industry, having those industrial partners, having government partners alongside us, helping support that research, so that we can train the next generation, both in the undergraduate and diploma program. But also in our graduate training, and graduate programs, so making sure that, you know, we're feeding a talent pipeline. So, we like to think that we punch above our weight as a comprehensive research intensive university. 

Brenna Sturgis: Well, I know our listeners will love to hear about the research, but first I have to ask what are the celebrations for your 150th anniversary?

Dr. John Cranfield: Great question. So we're using this winter semester to do a bit of a soft launch on events. We have a tradition here that we call it the Aggies hockey game. So, in OAC, The students who are studying the core agriculture programs are the Aggies. And, athletics actually does a rebrand of the hockey jerseys where they splash Aggies across the jerseys and we try to get as many students out as possible. And in fact, on the 16th of February, we had the Aggies hockey game and they had some great players. Branding of the college, but what was amazing was the turnout. We had over 1200 people show up for this ice hockey game, including undergraduate students, recent alumni and older alumni. And so it was a great way to bring community together. And that's kind of what we're trying to do through our celebrations is bring people together. And celebrating not just our legacy, but also our future. Kickoff is going to be on May the 1st. And so we're going to do some things here on the campus that are about us celebrating us , as a college and making sure that faculty, staff, and students. Students are part of that. And then leading into the end of the summer, we're going to have a variety of different events and activities. A pinnacle of activity for us. A pinnacle event is every June on the Sunday or the weekend after Father's Day. , we have alumni and reunion weekend and so classes who are having milestone anniversaries come to Guelph, typically come to Guelph. They don't have to come to Guelph, but we like it when they do come to Guelph. They have a celebration of their classes. And so on, June 22nd here on the Guelph campus, we're putting an 800 person tent up on one of our big, green space areas, and we're going to have a sit down meal, and then some live music and some drinks and dance, for the night. And so we're really excited about it because, we've got, 21 classes who are coming back with reunions. And so it's really an amazing opportunity across the decades, to celebrate, the connections that they have with one another, the connections that they made with their classmates while they were here. And so, a great opportunity to really bring folks together and celebrate. And then throughout the rest of the year, we're going to be using events that we normally, either host ourselves or a part of to try to make extra special, you know, making sure that we've got a really good presence from faculty Staff and students, bringing our alumni together, and then, later in November, like in the U. S., we have a fall fair, season here in Ontario, and the culmination of that is the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair that's held in Toronto, and so there's usually a reception and a gala there, and so we're going to use that as a special way to cap off the year of celebration, and then, going into 2025, we're going to be putting together a, Digital time capsule and other things like historical displays, just as a way to capture how we celebrated this important milestone, but also for us, a big part of it is helping our students connect with our history. And so , having those memories, having the photos, the things that meant something to previous classes out non display for other students to see and start to see this shared experience that they had, whether it was a class of 2024 or the class of 1951. There's a shared experience there. And so making sure that people can see themselves in the college, but also have that sense of connection and that sense of pride and that sense of, okay, you know, we've had an incredible legacy and let's celebrate that, but then let's also be forward looking. Let's think about what the world will look like in 150 years when other people are in our roles and hopefully celebrating a 300th anniversary.

Brenna Sturgis: Yes. That sounds so exciting. The hockey game. I mean, go Aggies. I hope that was a good game.

Dr. John Cranfield: It, it wasn't the outcome that we wanted, but, the team put up a good fight and, um you know, it was really about people coming together, and really sharing and what it means to be part of the Guelph community.

Brenna Sturgis: Well, that is really exciting. I'm so happy for you guys. That sounds amazing, all the things you guys have going on there. , so I did have a question. What are the different majors that the OAC offers? 

Dr. John Cranfield: Great question. I'm actually going to take a bit of a different tact and focus on the majors.

I'm going to talk about our associate diploma program first and then our undergraduate program, if that's okay. So we do still offer a two year associate diploma program. And we offer a variety of different options in that both at the Guelph campus and at our Ridgetown campus. So Ridgetown is about two hours southwest of where we are sort of a little beyond the halfway point between Toronto and Detroit. So much closer to Windsor than it is to Guelph. Here on the Guelph campus, we have a diploma program in turf grass management. And so, you know, this is about, , not just about, golf course superintendents and looking after those green spaces, but public green spaces, whether that's in the education space or public parks and recreation, or even homeowners, and thinking about how they're gonna manage turf and the issues and pressures that they may face. At our Ridgetown campus, we have a variety of different, diploma programs, including, ones in agriculture, horticulture. we have a veterinary technician program. We also have an environmental management program, and then we've got varying programs on equine care at different levels in terms of the engagement. And then we also have a dairy herds person course that's offered there as well as a few other things. So those are traditional two year programs, very hands on, very oriented around, here's the concept, but more importantly, here it is in practice, and here's what it actually looks like, and, the students in both of those programs are really committed to, their studies and making sure that they have a good time, students have a good time, the college is about going and making those formative life bonds with people, but, they also take their studies seriously, and they really do appreciate it, especially at the Ridgetown, the small campus feel and, the connection that they can make, with each other and then also with their instructors and people in the community. And then here at the Guelph campus, we span a pretty wide waterfront in terms of our undergraduate majors, and they're typically, framed around, our academic units. And so we have six, departments or schools in our college. So a Department of Plant Agriculture, a Department of Animal Biosciences, a Department of Food Science, a Department of Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics, and then a School of Environmental Science, and a School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. In each of those, academic units, there's different majors. , and so we have a bachelor of science in agriculture program that includes an animal science major, a crop science major, horticulture, honors agriculture. , in my home department, we're ag economists. And so there's an agricultural economics major. Also focuses on food and resource, but then we have a food and agricultural business program. Our food science, , department has a really, well regarded, undergraduate program. We have an animal science program, but then also an animal biology program that, is often used or viewed as a pre vet program. We do have a veterinary college here at Guelph and, they have, I think 110 spots for students every year. And so students will sometimes come to our college and take the animal biology program as a way of, gaining access to the vet school. We've got a slate of environmental science programs under a Bachelor of Science in Environment, and those range from environmental economics and policy to ecology to environmental sciences. And then in our, other one that I want to mention is, we have a landscape architecture program. It's a certified landscape architecture program. It was the first in Canada, actually, and it's a well regarded program that's got a really strong history. then the last piece I would probably mention is a new program that we launched, a couple of years ago. That's a, recognition that, Western ways of knowing about science aren't the only ways of knowing about the environment. And so we have a program that is a merger of Western ways of thinking about environmental sciences. Combined with indigenous knowledge and practice around the environment. And so we call it a Bachelor of Indigenous Environmental Science and Practice. And that's really about two I'd seen. So looking at an environmental problem, both from a, rooted in a place of what would Western science say, and also rooted in a Place of what would an indigenous knowledge keeper have to say about that issue? And, and how can we use both of those ways of knowing and understanding to come up with creative solutions around environmental issues?

Brenna Sturgis: That sounds really cool. I can definitely see some similarities between our two colleges and how there's a common theme going on between the different agricultural colleges. I did want to ask about the, I think it was the rural design one. I've never heard of that, and that sounds really cool.

Dr. John Cranfield: The School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. Some amazing work that comes out of the school. And so it's got three different groups in it. So there's a Landscape Architecture group that is the corridor of Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. But then we have a Rural Planning and Development group, and then a Capacity Development and Extension group. And the latter two play more of a role in our graduate programs. Um rural planning and development is the name would suggest is really about planning. And we do have planners who are trained and in a certified program and so professional level of education that go into the world and do great things. And sometimes that rural planning takes the spin from what you might call the western and northern world rather than the global south, but sometimes it does take a global self perspective. So what are the rural development issues in emerging economies and then capacity development and extension is really about. Helping to understand how we train the trainers. , in the U S system, it would be, akin to not exactly the same as, but akin to extension education and educating people who are going to go into an extension system and mobilize knowledge and do that knowledge translation. It's a neat mix of people with some really amazing skills and they do some great things in that school, some really great things. 

Brenna Sturgis: when you're talking about the architecture of. the parks and all that stuff that had me thinking. There's like a new park that opened up near my hometown and it has gotten so much success because of all the new things they have incorporated with it. All the different paths and all the trails and everyone just loves it there. So I can see where they're thinking when they were designing it.

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah. One of the things I've learned in working with and talking with our landscape architects, not just since I've been the acting Dean, but before that is the importance they place on design thinking and placing the person at the center of that. So how is a user going to experience this space and what are they looking for? And that, you know, that's a very powerful thing to do. And , I would suggest that, whoever worked on that part probably got it right if people are using it in ways that, really bring that out.

Brenna Sturgis: Yes, they are always bringing their kids there, skateboarding, everything, you name it, it's there. Also I wanted to ask about, you know, going on with the majors and the different programs, what are some research opportunities? Because I know a lot of students are interested in how they can get involved in research.

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah, that's a great question. So, I mean, our research intensiveness, it, it translates through our faculty members research programs. But embedded in those faculty member research programs are our students. who are doing research sometimes at an undergraduate level, but mostly at a master's or a PhD level. And so all of our academic units have, master's programs. That is really woven throughout all six of our academic units. And it's tied back to, , the partnership between, our researchers, funding agencies and often with industrial partners. And so making sure that, , we've got some people alongside us who, for whom the problem that we're solving is a relevant and real problem, and making sure that we're able to use that partnership as a way of unlocking some support from funding agencies to make sure that the students can get access to that experience. But, also we've got the means to support the research enterprise broadly. And these are, sometimes these are very large labs. Sometimes it's programs with a lot of field work. Other times it's programs where you've got to go out and do things like surveying consumers. And so you need resources to do that. And then our PhD programs, again, every academic unit in our college has a PhD program. And those ones are, , what you expect from a PhD program. It's a terminal degree, often populated with people who are interested in, pursuing an academic pathway or a research intensive career. And I should say that, you don't need to have a PhD to pursue a research intensive career. You know, really strong master's programs can prepare people incredibly well for having a career in industry or government where they're working in a research lab or in a research capacity. And so we've, begun to offer, , course based masters and so they're professional oriented, programs, what's different is, we've taken the thesis research component out of it and it's almost entirely all course based. And so students, instead of taking a handful of courses are going to be taking Anywhere between two and four courses over the span of several semesters. Most of them are designed to be done in four semesters, so you can complete them in four semesters. And we've woven through all of them. A program that we're really excited about that we think is quite unique in North America. I'll say we think is quite unique. The landscape is always shifting, so we've just had approval by our faculty Senate and we are waiting final government approval, for a master's in sustainable agriculture. And, it's an exciting opportunity for us because the students who are in that program will actually start in a summer semester. So often grad programs start in the fall semester. We're starting in the summer semester. And those students will be down at our Ridgetown campus, actually living in residence. So you're going to get a nice tight cohort effect of people starting at the same time, living together, having meals together. And that Ridgetown experience in that summer semester is going to include, okay, here's some classroom based learning about sustainability, sustainable agri food system, what this means, how you measure it. The big genie, out of the bottle on that one is, well, how do you define sustainability? And so, that's an issue that's been debated since I was a student back in the late eighties. And so we're going to continue to debate it, but I think that's good because it means that what we think of as sustainable is changing. And then what's really exciting is they're going to be in Southwestern Ontario, the central part of the agricultural production in Ontario during their growing season. And so they're going to be able to get that classroom exposure, but then be able to go out into the field, literally in the field, and sometimes into the factory, to see these ideas in place and to hear from people who have been putting in place, sustainable practices or more sustainable practice. And I think what's important here is a recognition that, and we don't always see this and we don't always hear this, but it's important to recognize that so many people in agriculture are already doing a tremendous amount of work around sustainability and sustainable agricultural practices. And those farmers who are converting from a tillage system to a no till system, or converting where they can from rotations without any kind of intercropping or cover crops to putting in cover crops, and a variety of different alternative practices, getting our students into the field, seeing that, recognizing that, farmers in Ontario and the rest of the world do a tremendous amount of work already around sustainability. so it's a great example for some immersive learning for those students. And then they're going to come to the Guelph campus for a couple semesters and take a variety of different courses, including professional development course. And then their last semester is again, focused on an internship or, some kind of a group based, problem, based learning kind of experience.

Brenna Sturgis: Well, that sounds like a really unique opportunity that you guys have. And I know it's very current, it's very new, something that people are really going to be able to use for the future. And I think it's so cool that you guys have research opportunities all across the board for different degrees and for different majors. So that's really something that students I think will be attracted to to see that they have the opportunity. And to keep going on this, like rising new ideas and issues, I do have a question for you, about some of the new rising issues in the labor in Canadian and OAC agriculture. 

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah, I'm pretty sure Ontario is not alone in this. There is some real, labor challenges in agriculture. , I can give some background on what we've learned about our experience here in Ontario and then talk about how we might be able to start tackling this. . Over a dozen years ago, we commissioned a labor market assessment, to try to understand the needs of, people in the agri food sector. So we had , a third party do this work for us, so we weren't doing the work. And they went out and they surveyed, a bunch of our industrial partners and people who we hadn't had partnerships with, but who were clearly looking for, staff and talent. And what we found was, for every graduate from our college, there were three job opportunities. And to be clear, those three job opportunities, we took out, wage paying jobs, and in particular, minimum wage paying jobs. And so these are that first career step. And so lots of opportunities for our graduates. A number of years later, so in 2017, we recommissioned this report. And what we found is that for every graduate, there were now, four job opportunities. Now, you might think, well, maybe we're failing to meet the mark and not supplying the market with its demand, but what happened in the meantime was that our undergraduate enrollment grew by about 40%. So even while our undergraduate enrollment was growing by 40%, the job market was growing at such a tremendous rate that we weren't able to keep up. I suspect if you talk to anyone in a college of agriculture who's thinking about and looking at these issues that, regardless of where you are in Canada or North America, you're going to hear the same story, which is we can't keep up with the demands on the marketplace. This is a challenge because , we have to try to go , and secure that next generation of talent. And, like in a lot of agriculture or a lot of economies are, the Canadian agricultural sector can be characterized by a declining number of farmers, but farms are getting bigger. The traditional source of students to go into an agricultural program, have started to slip. And so what we're seeing is, an increasing trend to students who didn't grow up on a farm coming into an agricultural program. We've always had students not from a farm going into our environmental science programs and our food programs and some of our other non ag programs, but we're seeing more and more students coming to us who don't have a farming background, but they have a farming interest, an interest in agriculture. And I think that's, what's really important. Increasingly, as we're seeing agriculture become more digital and the rise of robotics, that story becomes more and more true. And so it's a great opportunity for us to really tap into a market. And a group of people who maybe wouldn't necessarily think about going into agriculture or food, but now they see the rise of, Oh, wait a minute. There's all sorts of coding opportunities, or I want to learn how to build and operate robotic systems. We've got robotic harvesting systems, and I'm sure you see this at University of Florida and autonomous vehicles and, weeding systems where, instead of having a crew of 10 people going into a field to weed, you've got one operator with a joystick and they've got some skills in handling that. And so I think there's some great opportunities there to tap into an even deeper talent pool and grow the people coming into agriculture. And at the same time, we're also seeing a changing face and a changing skill set needed in order to do things like operating commercial scale farms, and also servicing the needs of farmers through the agri input sector. And, this can take the form of high technology, it can take the form of a really sophisticated knowledge workers who have got a deep understanding of how the biological systems that we use to in agriculture interact with mechanical systems and digital systems to give that grower better information so that they can make better decisions. It's a pretty long winded answer, but I think it's an important issue. 

Brenna Sturgis: Yes, I totally agree, and it is something very relevant, we do see more and more now. I do like your perspective on getting people that, you know, aren't from traditional agricultural backgrounds, have backgrounds in technology because we can still use them in our field. And I think that is something that we need to market towards the younger generations, who are so tech savvy, but they don't know what to do with it, bring them over to agriculture, we can use them! 

Dr. John Cranfield: Well, and what's exciting is that it doesn't take those students very long to really get excited about the opportunities and I'm sure OAC's not unique in this regard, but one of the things that we have is a, I think, a cultural feature of our college is a mantra of never let your education get in the way of your learning. And what we mean by that is, there's a formal education that students are going to get here at Guelph and it's going to be world class. And we're really proud of that, but they also learn so much outside of the classroom, sometimes that's through field trips, but other times it's through non curricular activities. So we have a very active student federation, in our college. It's our student government with lots and lots of clubs and they do all sorts of amazing things, ranging from bringing in speakers on a regular basis so , the soil and crop club can learn more. the beef club can learn more to going out on field trips that they organized themselves. , so our dairy club has a tradition of going, across, different parts of Canada to go and see, well, what's it like to be a dairy farmer in Prince Edward Island or a dairy farmer in British Columbia. We've also had students go south of the border. We do an annual trip here at Guelph that it's actually a long tradition that we're really quite proud of that we had to pause it during the pandemic, but we started it up again. It's called the Midwest Crop Tour. And the Sunday before Labor Day weekend graduating students get on a coach with an instructor and another chaperone and they try to make it to Lincoln, Nebraska, and they've got stops along the way, and some of these stops are places that we've been stopping at for decades, and that crop tour is, it has a profound difference on students and their understanding. Again, it's another experience where we want to make sure that we don't let their education in a classroom get in the way of their learning.

Brenna Sturgis: I definitely think having those opportunities outside the classroom, like clubs and things like that, is so important for your growth and your learning. I do have one more question. Are there any, any interesting or, unique things that the University of Guelph or OAC does, or has to offer for students? 

Dr. John Cranfield: Yeah, that's a great question. I don't, where to start. I mean, that learning outside of the classroom, I think is a really important one. and that culture of, you're part of something that really transcends yourself. I emphasize this with the students is, you're going to be part of a 37, 000 person alumni network. And it's an incredibly well connected network that cares deeply about the success of the college and the people in it. And so, every school has that kind of spirit. I know, we've had that spirit for 150 years, and it really does show there's a deep sense of connection. I think another feature that helps OAC stand out, and, is maybe something that, people listening to this might be curious to learn more about is, we've structured, almost all of our undergraduate programs so that in semester six, so in the winter semester of year three, we've tried to arrange it so that students don't have any required courses. Now, you might be wondering, well, why are you doing that? We've got a, an ethos in our college of, go out and have a travel abroad experience and so by taking out, those required courses in one semester, it frees up the opportunity for a student to go on a student exchange and have the freedom of taking some courses that they otherwise maybe wouldn't be able to get here at Guelph. But that then becomes their free electives in that year six. And this has been transformational for so many students. And what's been great about it is the support that we've received from our alumni to allow us to do that. So we're really blessed with a tremendous number of travel grants that, support students going, everywhere from, Swedish Agricultural University to Wachenegen to Adelaide to, China and, sort of all places in between. And so for us, it's something that we've been very proud of in terms of saying, you know what, it's a big world, go out there and use this as an opportunity to grow. And we see it time and time again, that when students come back from those exchanges, they come back a changed person and much for the better.

Brenna Sturgis: I don't know if you saw it, but my jaw actually dropped because that is so cool that you guys think of your students that much, to incorporate that into the schedule and the flow of the semesters because I've never heard of a college doing that and I know I would enjoy that a lot. Well, thank you so much for being on the podcast today, Dr. Cranfield. I really appreciate it. 

Dr. John Cranfield: No, it's my pleasure and thank you for reaching out and your curiosity about learning more about what we're doing here in the Ontario Agricultural College. It's It'd be great time to see some students from UF maybe come up for a visit and have some exchange and get to know, some of the students here and maybe some of our students can head down to UF at some point.

Brenna Sturgis: Yes. Have them come to our warm weather.

Well, thank you guys so much for listening to the Streaming Science Podcast and I will catch you next time.

Thank you for listening to the Sustainable Solutions from Guelph to Gainesville series. on the Streaming Science Podcast. Make sure to check out our website and social media for more of our work. If you enjoyed this episode, we encourage you to tune into the other episodes of the series and to visit the University of Guelph OAC webpages and social media for more info.

Once again, I'm your host, Brenna Sturgis. Thanks for listening. For more information about this episode, visit the links in our show notes.