Savannah Gleim

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
College of Agriculture and Bioresources
University of Saskatchewan

It has been over a decade since I joined Dr. Smyth on his research and helped launch SAIFood back in early 2015. Originally, I thought it would just be a short-term position as a Research Assistant, as I figured out where my interests truly are in the broad world of agriculture. As it has turned out, it’s been over a decade and it has been a great opportunity to continue to expand my knowledge in the sector of agriculture. Not only do I get to carry out research I never knew I could do as a Research Officer, but I also continue to learn new skills, and have developed a true passion for communications.

Part of my job has been to manage SAIFood, as well as write and edit the blogs (you’ll find some jointly written posts under the author of SAIFood). The other side of my role as a Research Officer is to work with Dr. Smyth and his Research Team, which includes other Researchers and Master’s students, on a set of Prairie crop producer surveys, looking at producers’ crop rotations and their inputs, as well as looking at GM policy and innovations. Being the senior member on the team, I am lucky enough to get to work with a great group and help out on projects when I can. 

When an undergrad in Ag. Business, I never imagined myself selling for a company, working in a bank, and certainly not pursuing a career as an economist. But as my classes went by, I grew a greater interest in agriculture and the role economics plays in the background of our lives and industry. Not knowing what I wanted to be when I grow up (still don’t actually), I knew I could continue to pursue my education and my interest for learning and problem solving, which led me to my Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from the University of Saskatchewan. From this, I gained a passion for logistics, supply chains, and mapping in GIS. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue on the education train or not, so I went to Germany to intern at agri benchmark to take a break from this focus. When I returned home, I decided to shift my sole focus from Canadian grain handling using GIS and expand my research experience. This is how I found myself working for Dr. Smyth in November of 2014 and since then I have found that my research passion is not singular.