R. H. (Dick) Graham was hired as the first Livestock Specialist for the Ontario Department of Agriculture in 1931. He had a province-wide role in livestock improvement at a time of profound change. He helped design, promote and deliver many programs and policies that greatly improved genetics and livestock health.

He often spoke to 80 farm meetings each winter, promoting ideas many farmers initially resisted. He proudly claimed to have worked in virtually every township in southern Ontario. Graham was a great communicator and once said, “I’ve never ceased to be a farmer in heart and mind …. I think like a farmer”.

Convincing farmers to adopt new ideas during the great depression of the 1930’s was not easy. One program alone, tuberculosis eradication saw him address more than 400 meetings, eventually gaining 88% support in a province-wide petition. Livestock improvement was enhanced by the swine progeny test station he set up and Dairy Herd Improvement Associations for grade dairy cows.

He and the Livestock Branch led the development of artificial insemination in Ontario, resulting in huge improvements especially in dairy cattle genetics. Dick Graham also had a hand in beef bull performance testing and premium policies, assistance to breeder clubs sales and the establishment of the Northern Stocker Sales organizations in Manitoulin in 1944.

R. H. Graham was Livestock Commissioner from 1961 to 1965 and a director of the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. He was known as a workaholic. Livestock farmers in Ontario were his community, a community he served with distinction.

Nominated by Garnet Graham, 2017