Brian was born and raised in Winnipeg. His early contact with agriculture was with his cousins on their dairy farm just north of the city. After obtaining a degree in agricultural engineering at University of Manitoba, he went on to pursue his Master of Science in agricultural engineering at the University of Alberta. After brief stints with Alberta Agriculture in Edmonton and Environment Canada in Regina, he accepted a position with Agriculture Canada at the Research Station at Swift Current in 1986. His research in his first few years there focused on subsoiling and snow trapping. In 1990 he went to the Palouse country to take his PhD in Soil Science at Washington State University. Upon returning to the Research Station at Swift Current in 1993, he became leader of the conservation tillage research program. That program took his research into two branches, one of cropping sequences and rotations and the other of soil quality. He has been involved in considerable research on physiological adaptation of various crops for the semiarid prairie and how they could be most effectively placed in direct-seeded crop rotations. His research on soil quality started in the days before Kyoto but it soon became focused on carbon sequestration. He has been extensively involved in policy work on carbon sequestration including being a member of Canadian Delegation at several of the international negotiations on greenhouse gases.
Brian has been married to Adele for 19 years and they have three children: Michelle (15), Laura (12), and Ian (6). His family has been extremely supportive of his work responsibilities as travel takes Brian away from home for about one week out of every two between September and April (and Adele keeps track of this very closely).
Brian says, "Saskatchewan farmers should be justly proud of their successes in developing improved farming systems in the face of so many challenges. We have just come through some devastating droughts without the dust bowl scenes that would have occurred if it hadn't been for the conservation farming practices implemented by Saskatchewan farmers. When you consider everything, the future is bright for Saskatchewan agriculture. I am honoured to be part of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, making a contribution to make life better for Saskatchewan farm families."