Celebrating Ashok Sarkar, 2022 Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame Inductee
On November 5, legendary flour miller and grains advocate Ashok Sarkar was inducted into the 2022 Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame. Ashok was honoured alongside his fellow inductees: grain storage expert Dr. Digvir Jayas, canola visionary Maurice Delage, and beef industry leader Mabel Hamilton.
While not many Canadians may be familiar with his name, global millers and bakers know Ashok’s reputation as a trusted miller and innovator, and a passionate supporter of Canadian wheat. He is renowned for his work developing milling efficiencies and generating flours with desired qualities and attributes for food products around the globe.
For more than 50 years, Ashok has dedicated his career to promoting the quality of Canadian wheat and grains to over 80 different markets. A talented teacher, Ashok has always had a keen interest in whoever he was working with in his global classroom and has made countless presentations on wheat quality, milling processes, and grain storage.
Throughout his career, Ashok’s analytical approach and natural ability to troubleshoot on the spot allowed him to offer practical solutions to improve process and outputs, regardless of the size of the operation, when visiting commercial mills around the world. Always an innovator, he developed a software program to maximize milling efficiencies and profits—a concept that is still used today.
Ashok Sarkar with official portrait
Ashok was born in India, where he began his lifelong career as an educator, innovator, researcher, and mentor in the Canadian and international milling and flour industries. Before settling in Canada in 1976, he worked in mills around the world, from India to Switzerland. He joined the Canadian International Grains Institute (now Cereals Canada) a few years later and rose to head of milling, a position he held until retiring in 2014. Even in retirement, Ashok continues to advocate for the industry as a consultant with the organization. “Ashok’s influence is known around the world, and he has played a key role in creating opportunities for Canadian grains,” says Dean Dias CEO of Cereals Canada. “On behalf of the board and staff of Cereals Canada, and the Canadian grains value chain, I would like to congratulate Ashok for this well-deserved honour and thank him for his innumerable contributions to our industry.”