John is the senior partner in a dryland grain farm at Radisson. He and his wife Marg farm with three of their children and have two younger daughters still in school. They operate a zero-till farm that produces wheat, canola and yellow peas. When the markets are right, they have also grown durum, barley, flax, CPS wheat and lentils. The farm has been continuous cropped for the past 20 years so it was a natural progression to move to a zero-till operation. They wanted to leave the land in better condition than when they started farming it in 1975. One of their most progressive steps toward improving the land has been the incorporation of legumes into their 4-year rotation. As well, their purchase of an airdrill made single-pass seeding using anhydrous ammonia both possible and preferable.
John has been involved on a number of community boards such as school, church, recreation and co-op. He was a Pool delegate for 9 years and a Canadian Wheat Board Advisor for 8 years.
In 1998, he was elected for a 4-year term on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Wheat Board. He serves on the Audit & Finance committee and chairs the Benchmarking committee. He also represents the CWB on the Western Grain Research Foundation.
John and Marg enjoy snowmobiling in favorable winter conditions and camping at the lake in the summer. John has a soft spot for IH antique tractors. But lately his favorite pastime has been playing with an energetic grandson.