Savannah Gleim

Research Officer

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

In the fall of 2014, after a wonderful summer interning for agri benchmark in Germany, I returned home to defend my M.Sc thesis in Agriculture Economics from the University of Saskatchewan. While I had a passion for logistics, supply chains, and mapping in GIS, I thought after a few years solely focused on Canadian grain handling using GIS it was time to expand my research experience. This is how I found myself working for Dr. Smyth in November of 2014. Originally I thought it would just be a short-term position as a Research Assistant, as I figure out where my interests truly are in the broad world of agriculture. As it has turned out, it’s been seven years and 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 Master’s students on a set of Saskatchewan crop producer surveys, looking at producers’ crop rotations and their inputs. When I am not busy with these two main projects, I have the great opportunity to work on several smaller projects, like looking at the approval processes of GM crops, and the advancements in pathogen testing at export positions.