President's Bio

Youming Zhao (pronounced “You-Me”), P. Ag. M.Sc.,   was born and raised in a rural area of eastern China.  He studied   agriculture in China. He has also obtained his M. Sc degree of   Agriculture from the National University of Ireland (UCD). 

Youming  has over 30 years of experience within the Chinese and  Canadian  agricultural and agri-food industries. He has worked as an  agricultural  specialist in China. In 1991, Youming also attended a  five-month meat  science training program in Finland. 

After  immigrating to Canada in 2000, Youming also worked in the flower  and  horticulture sectors in the Golden Horseshoe area of Ontario for   several years. He joined the Ontario Institute of Agrologists (OIA) in   2002 and was promoted to a Professional Agrologist in 2004. Youming has   gained extensive knowledge of Canadian agricultural and agri-food   through wide contact with other senior agrologists and OIA professional   training programs.

Since   2007, Youming has worked hard to promote Chinese-Canadian immigrants  to  establish farms in Canada. Annually, Youming and his team organize  farm  start seminars and online training programs to help new farmers  adapt  to Canadian agricultural techniques. These seminars have become  very  popular.

In   July 2013, Youming also earned his realtor license. He hopes that this   license will further assist him in promoting his farm start program  and  also allow him to become deeply involved in the market of Canadian   farms. 

Youming  is a strong advocate of Canada-China cooperation and exchange  in  agricultural, agri-food and life sciences. Youming has been the   President of Canada-China Agriculture and Food Development Exchange   Centre since 2008.  He obtained House of Commons Canada, Canada-China   Trade Promotion Award 2016. 

Youming also has been actively giving back the community. He is a donor for Canadian agriculture future- 4 H Canada/Ontario, Canadian mental health in Agriculture-“the do more agriculture Foundation “and Hope, Healing, Discovery-St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation.