Ralph Ferguson

Ralph Ferguson was a Canadian farmer and politician, born 13 September 1929 and died 30 August 2020. A farmer in southwestern Ontario and co-founder of the Lambton Pork Producers Association, he was first elected to the House of Commons as the Liberal MP for Lambton-Middlesex in 1980. When John Turner succeeded Pierre Trudeau as Liberal leader and Prime Minister, he brought Ferguson into cabinet as Minister of Agriculture from 30 June to 16 September 1984, succeeding Eugene Whelan; as minister he established the first controlled-environment seed bank to protect parent seed stocks and helped create the Canadian Agricultural Export Corporation. He returned to the House in 1988, retired from politics in 1993, and remained active as a conservationist and renewable-energy advocate until his death in 2020.