Mackenzie recently joined the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) as the weed management lead – horticulture crops, while Kristin Obeid is on maternity leave. Mackenzie is located at the Harrow Research and Development Centre in Harrow Ontario.
Mackenzie will be focusing her efforts on greenhouse trials for herbicide resistance screening, collaborative work with the University of Guelph on herbicide resistant pigweed in carrot production, and adding to the list of new herbicide registrations for Ontario horticulture producers.
Educational and professional experience
Mackenzie is fascinated by plants and the ways they get around human imposed stresses. She’s a self-described “plant nerd” who earned a Bachelor of Science (honours) in Plant Biology and then a Master of Science in Plant Agriculture from the University of Guelph. During her university research in herbicide resistance, Mackenzie found that giant ragweed could survive a lethal dose of glyphosate through its own genetic programming.
Mackenzie is an active member of the Canadian Weed Science Society and the Weed Science Society of America.
Contact: 519-738-1232 or mackenzie.lesperance@ontario.ca
Weed Information: ontario.ca/crops
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