Recruitment Is Now Open For Class 21 Of The Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program
by Bob Montgomery
The Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP) is now accepting applications for Class 21 that begins in September 2025. During the executive leadership program, up to 30 individuals will embark on a personal journey to realize their potential, while exploring agriculture, food and rural economic development from the local to the international level through a leadership lens. Each Class is created with attention to the diversity of participants so that peer-to-peer mentorship, hands on experience and a broad network are developed.
Rural Ontario Institute Leadership Programs Director, Gabrielle Ferguson, says they just celebrated their 40th anniversary to mark the 40th year of the AALP program. Class 20 will graduate in March and Class 21 will begin in September of 2025, so they're taking applications now. “The program involves seven seminars around the province of Ontario, a North American Study Tour and an International Study Tour and to be part of the program we select up to thirty individuals from across Ontario in all parts of the agriculture value chain.”
Ferguson says applicants will go online to the Rural Ontario Institute and look for AALP, fill in an application form and then they do an interview when they're selected. Ferguson says the ultimate goal is that successful applicants will go back to their community and be leaders in that community. “So these individuals that are selected for the program already have leadership capacity. This is taking the leadership capacity that they have and building them into top leaders that will contribute to the agriculture sector and to rural communities. That might be as entrepreneurs, as farmers, as organizational leaders, as volunteers, we need all of those people in rural communities.”
Interested applicants are encouraged to attend AALP’s information sessions held throughout October to chat with alumni about their experiences and have their questions answered.
For more information about the program and on how to apply, please visit https://www.ruralontarioinstitute.ca/aalp/. The deadline for applications is October 30th.
