Veteran ALUS community leader Joe Csoff now available to support ALUS PACs across the country.
PRESS RELEASE / TILLSONBURG, ONTARIO / JULY 29, 2020 / ALUS Canada welcomes Joe Csoff as PAC Liaison
Veteran ALUS community leader Joe Csoff now available to support ALUS PACs across the country.
ALUS Canada is delighted to announce that, effective immediately, veteran ALUS community leader Joe Csoff will be available to support all ALUS Partnership Advisory Committees (PACs) across the country.
ALUS Canada is delighted to announce that, effective immediately, veteran ALUS community leader Joe Csoff will be available to support all ALUS Partnership Advisory Committees (PACs) across the country as our first-ever PAC Liaison.
“I am looking forward to the opportunity to speak with ALUS PACs and help them through any issues they have,” he said. “I like meeting new people and helping them do the right thing through ALUS.”
Joe Csoff is a farmer from Otterville, Ontario, who has been involved with ALUS Norfolk since 2008, first as a participant, then as a PAC member, farmer liaison, teacher, mentor and PAC Chair. Now, he is joining the ALUS Canada team on a part-time, ongoing basis to help support its national network of ALUS community leaders.
Over his many years of dedication to ALUS Norfolk, Joe has had an immense impact on the development of the ALUS program across Canada. He has also provided an outstanding degree of mentorship to many new ALUS communities over the years.
“I think this will be an excellent way to help ALUS PACs understand the important role they play within the ALUS family, on top of giving our Hub Managers a nice bit of support,” said CEO Bryan Gilvesy.
“As someone who has been involved for many years, Joe has already been offering advice to our PACs on an unofficial basis for years; this just makes it official.”
ALUS PACs, or Partnership Advisory Committees, are the key to deploying the ALUS program locally across Canada. The PAC is made up of farmers, ranchers, representatives of the legal entity that holds the partnership with ALUS Canada, and technical advisors (agrologists, environmental experts). The PAC determines its own environmental priorities and payment rates, reviews all project proposal, and decides which projects to approve.
“Dave Reid used to bring me along to speak to all the new ALUS communities that were interested in coming on board here in Ontario,” he said.
“When it comes to the ALUS concept, it is important to have everyone on the same page, talking the same language, agreeing to the same basic rules of the game, so we can all deliver a consistent end result. But the game plan is up to each PAC, depending on what will work best in each community. So PACs often have questions about all these administrative details.”
Joe has already been asked to advise on issues related to procedural matters, PAC leadership transitions and decision-making processes—such as determining who can be a voting member of the PAC, or assessing the validity of a project proposal to which it is not immediately clear how the PAC’s criteria would apply.
“I can offer a neutral, outside opinion to resolve these kinds of debates,” he said.
Joe will serve all 27+ ALUS communities across Canada. He is based in Norfolk County, Ontario, which makes it easy for him to attend PAC meetings in the Eastern Hub, but he plans to start making regular visits to ALUS communities in the Western and Prairie Hubs once COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted.
Joe is available to provide support and advice to ALUS PACs as needed: ALUS PAC members can ask their Hub Manager to set up an in-person meeting, or they can contact him directly by phone anytime from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Eastern time)—visit the Contact Us page for contact information.
