Remembering Phil Thomas

Jun 18, 2020

Phil Thomas who was known to many as Mr. Canola passed away on Saturday.

Chances are if you were involved in crop production, or growing canola, especially in Alberta, you knew him or knew of him.

He had a long career with Alberta Agriculture, working for the department for over 30 years starting out as a District Agriculturist before taking over as Supervisor of Oilseed crops in 1977.

He worked with thousands of farmers across Alberta and around the world from Australia to China, India, Sri Lanka and more.

It's said that Thomas literally wrote the book on Canola, as he did write the "Canola Growers Manual".

After retiring from Alberta Agriculture, he went on to work as a consultant with Agri-Trend Agrology.

Thomas was 77.

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