Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Farm Safety Nova Scotia is governed by a seven person Board of Directors. Six of the directors are elected from the membership, while the seventh is an appointed position from the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture Council.
Katie Keddy, President
Katie Keddy graduated from the NSAC with a B.Sc in Agriculture. She now lives in Woodville, working alongside her husband and in-laws on their farm growing sweet potatoes, inspected strawberry plants, raspberry and blackberry canes. Katie sits on various agriculture boards and committees all while taking an active role in her sons’ elementary school. This includes implementing the Farm to School snack program and helping out with the school garden. Katie and her husband, Phil, have two young sons, ages 4 and 6. They spend a lot of their time at the farm and show a keen interest in wanting to learn all that they can. As a farm wife and mom, she recognizes the importance of farm safety and making it an everyday conversation, not only for her own family, but also for their employees.
Janice Lutz, Vice President
Janice and her husband Larry own and operate Lutz Family Farm, an apple and peach farm in Rockland, Kings County. Janice has held various volunteer positions over the years and is currently a director of the Western Kings Memorial Health Society, the Annapolis Valley Farmland Trust, and also sits on the Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association’s Health & Safety Committee. At her previous employers, and on the family farm, Janice is responsible for Health & Safety and understands the responsibility of worker welfare.
Jean Lynds, Corporate Secretary & Treasurer
Jean Lynds grew up on a small dairy farm on the North Shore, and graduated from the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in 1990 with a B.Sc. Agri in Plant Science. Currently, Jean is the Farm Operations Manager at Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Agriculture. As the farm manager, Jean appreciates the importance and complexity of farm safety. She sees this as an opportunity to share experiences with people committed to the goal of improving safety on farms. Jean knows it is important to stay current and explore new options on how to change and improve farm safety culture with the students, who are training to become our industry’s future leaders.
Foster Murphy, Director
Foster is part of Doirie Maple Farm located in Mabou, Cape Breton. Foster is passionate about safety and is getting ready to begin an Occupation Health & Safety program through the University of New Brunswick. As a skilled tradesperson, Foster has worked on over 14 different industrial job sites across the country for which he has gained ongoing safety training that he has, in turn, translated to his farming activities. Currently, he sits on the board of the Inverness Victoria County Federation of Agriculture, as well as the volunteer based Machinery Committee out of Inverness Victoria. Previous board experience includes the Cape Mabou Community Pasture.
Peter Morine, Director (NSFA Council Representative)
Peter Morine and his wife Margaret have been farming for nearly 43 years. Together they have a son, Andrew; two stepdaughters, Lisa and Sherry; nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Born and raised in Avonport, Peter grew up on a mixed farm and had a 35-year career with Michelin – with 27 years in various maintenance positions and the last 7 years spent in Human Resources. Currently, Peter and Margaret are farming beef, forage and forestry with their son Andrew. Peter has been active in the agriculture industry for many years, he was one of the founding members of Farm Safety Nova Scotia, has sat on numerous committees with the NSFA and has been the President of the Lunenburg Queens Federation of Agriculture since 2003.
Bert Meyer, Director
Bert grew up in agriculture, as a kid his family had dairy and pigs. As he got older, they switched to dealing dairy heifers and beef cattle. Bert started dealing beef himself at the age of 14. Fast forward to today, Bert and his family operate Hummingbird Farm in Springville. Here they run beef cows and meat goats, and last year they planted 1200 raspberry canes and several fruit trees. For the past several years, Bert has also sold livestock supplies, everything from tags, to dewormers, to aluminum gates. Currently, Bert serves as a director on the Nova Scotia Cattle Producers Board.
Jennifer Van de Sande, Director
More details coming soon!