Larry Lenhardt B. Sc. (Agr), P. Ag., MG

Biography
Larry, a 4-H and Junior Farmer Association member, a graduate of Ontario Agriculture College, U. of Guelph, Horticultural Science, 1970, managed a diversified 500 acre tender tree fruit farm with processing plants and cold storage, then served as a Teaching Professor at Sir Sandford Fleming College’s School of Environment and Natural Resource Sciences until 2001.  He co-ordinated the two year Farm Management Program which became the first eco-agricultural training program in Canada.  He, as founding co-ordinator of Forest Nursery Program which helped establish greenhouse culture of the commercial coniferous forest tree species in Ontario.  He was acting co-ordinator for the two year Pest Management Technician program.

Larry was founding director and secretary treasurer of Organic Crop Improvement Association Ontario, the first organic certification agency in Canada, 1985 - 1991. He, with four others, established Organic Crop Producers and Processors Ontario Inc. (OCPP) a registered Canadian not for profit certification agency, in 1991.  He and partners operated a 150-acre certified organic farm (KHOF Ltd.) producing beef, vegetables and rhubarb.   He is:  Past President of Lindsay and District Horticultural Society; founding member of Master Gardeners, Lindsay; Past President of Canadian Organic Advisory Board, Central Ontario Beekeepers Association and Ontario Institute of Agrologists;  Director of Organic Foods Conferences Canada Inc; founding committee member of Kawartha Region Conservation Authority (KRCA); founding chair of Friends of KRCA; CEO of OCPP Ontario Inc. and President of OCPP/Pro-Cert Canada Inc. (OC/PRO), an accredited organic certification agency working in Canada and North America, until September 1, 2007.  

Larry volunteered for CESO in Hungary, Serbia, Bolivia and twice in both Ecuador and China.  He served on the Ontario Environmental Farm Plan, the Canadian General Standards Board consensus committees for the establishment of the Canadian Organic Standard (CAN/CGSB 32.310-99), and the CGSB committee To Label or Not Label Genetically Modified Foods.  He served on the Canadian Organic Regulatory Committee and as an alternate on the CGSB committee that revised the Organic Standard, CAN/CGSB 32.310-2006.   In November of 2003 he was named to Canada’s Expert Committee on Organic Agriculture and established OCPP/Pro-Cert Bulgaria  E OO D,  a certification agency working in Sofia, Bg. and in Serbia,  During 2004, he was active on the Administration and Co-ordination Working Group of the On-Farm Safety Strategy for Ontario; and in late 2005, he worked in Bolivia with Department of Economic Development to establish a national accreditation program for denomination of origin and organic certifications.  He was a Director of Organic Council of Ontario and is President of Organic Food Conferences Canada Inc., which operates the Guelph Organic Conference.  In September 2007 he became Zone 9 Director of Master Gardeners Ontario Inc. and set up Organic Advocacy, National and International Consulting within Lenhardt Associates Hort. Techniques Ltd.