Agriculture Financial Service Corporation’s (AFSC) board of directors has two new members, reflecting the government’s commitment to Alberta agriculture.

Jun 04, 2024

As key contributors to one of the province’s largest industries, it is critical that farmers and ranchers have access to insurance and income stabilization programs they can depend on. AFSC has been offering insurance and lending programs to rural and agriculture-based businesses and entrepreneurs for more than 80 years. To ensure that Alberta’s agribusinesses receive the best service, AFSC’s board members represent a broad and diverse cross-section of the industry.

Two new members, Ron Greidanus and Shelley Vandenberg, have joined the existing board of directors in providing oversight to AFSC. The board helps ensure the agency’s programs and services are delivered effectively and meet the unique needs of Alberta’s agricultural producers and agribusinesses.

“AFSC plays a vital role in helping Alberta’s hard-working producers manage business risks with its suite of crop insurance, disaster assistance and loan programs. Alberta’s government will continue to lean on AFSC’s board of directors to support a strong, sustainable and diverse agriculture industry.”

RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation
Ron Greidanus manages a honey-bee farm with more than 4,000 hives and has recently begun a cow-calf and custom farming enterprise. He served as a director for the Alberta Beekeepers Commission and the Canadian Honey Council from 2006-2008 and 2019-2023. His appointment took effect May 30.

On April 12, Shelley Vandenberg was also appointed to AFSC’s board. She is an experienced financial services executive with a wealth of experience in agriculture, agribusiness, rural entrepreneurship and board governance.

“I’d like to congratulate these new members on their appointment to the board. Their experience will bring valuable perspective as the board advances AFSC programming and services. AFSC is committed to working with producers to grow and sustain Alberta’s agriculture industry.”

Kelly Smith-Fraser, board chair, Agriculture Financial Services Corporation
AFSC’s current board members are:

Kelly Smith-Fraser, board chair – cattle producer, Pine Lake
Rodney Bradshaw – primary producer, Red Deer County
Ross Bricker – cattle producer, Didsbury
Ron Greidanus – beekeeper, Stettler
Andre Harpe – crop producer, Valhalla Centre
Michael Howden – accountant, Foothills
Chioma Ufodike – forensic accountant, Calgary
Shelley Vandenberg – financial executive, Calgary

Video: Western Canadian Agriculture: Hard Times Made the World's Best Farmers

Western Canadian agriculture produced the most advanced farmers in the world not through abundance but through adversity. The crow rate fell. The wheat price went nowhere. The brown envelopes stopped.

When the subsidies disappeared, the bad farmers left and the good ones stayed. And the ones who stayed could not just grow wheat anymore. They started growing lentils and canola and peas and flax and faba beans. They built crop rotation. They got serious about agronomy because there was no government backstop. That process produced the Western Canadian agriculture Dennis Bulani describes in this clip: the most advanced, most educated farming culture in the world.

His contrast with Iowa corn and soybean farmers is sharp. At a DeKalb farmer meeting in Okoboji, Iowa, he asked what crop rotation they ran. Beans on corn stubble, corn on bean stubble. How do you fertilize? The co-op agronomist handles it. Have you considered other crops? No need. We make so much money on corn and soybeans. Western Canadian agriculture was never allowed that comfort. And now those Iowa farmers are watching soybean markets lock up with China and corn prices slide, and they do not have the agronomy knowledge or the research base to pivot. Western Canadian farmers adapted on a dime because they had done it before.

Dennis also makes the case that Western Canadian agriculture keeps adapting in real time. Low commodity prices over the past year have pushed growers to look seriously at precision spot-spray technology. He knows a neighbor who bought a sprayer with the seeing-eye system and sprayed only 80 out of 320 acres. As a chemical retailer Dennis acknowledges that will affect his sales. He supports it anyway, because if it advances Canadian agriculture and makes farmers money, that is a good outcome.

The lesson Dennis draws from the tale of two farms: continuous improvement is the only durable strategy. When canola was $22 a bushel some growers went to Arizona instead of the Crop Production Show. When the price came down those same growers came back to the research and the discipline. Products do not go on Rack Petroleum's shelves unless they pass a replicated trial first. That is what Western Canadian agriculture built through hard times: farmers who do the work whether the times demand it or not.

Dennis Bulani is CEO of Rack Petroleum and Ultimate Yield in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Dan Aberhart hosts GTF Productions, Western Canadian Agriculture's foremost live briefing platform and its foremost AI training platform for ag operators