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Meet Your FCC Learning Events Instructor

Your workshop instructors share their real-world experience in farm management. As trained presenters and topic specialists, they'll help you develop your own action plan.

Become an FCC Learning Instructor

Learn more about your instructor.

Anik Rochat

Anik's understanding of agriculture came at a very young age — she grew up on a dairy farm and her father owned John Deere dealerships. Sales and business management came naturally to her.   

Anik earned her master's degree in accounting from the Université de Sherbrooke, and quickly put her knowledge and experience into practice with the accounting firm of Roy, Desrochers, Lambert, sencrl. In 2008, she decided to redirect her career path to focus on providing training to producers. Today, she's a consultant, assisting producers with accounting and financial statements so they can improve the way they manage their businesses.

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Anne Dunford

Anne is the general manager and marketing specialist for Gateway Livestock Exchange. Her background in the industry and extensive networks allows her to offer specialized cattle marketing expertise and personalized service to help her customers optimize marketing opportunities. Her professional experience includes 21 years with Canfax as a senior market analyst and shes currently a member of the Calgary Stampede International Agriculture Committee. Anne is also a board member of ALMA (Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency) and has been a keynote cattle market speaker at events across Canada and the United States, providing commentary to media and industry publications.

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Brent VanKoughnet, M.Sc., P.Ag.

Brent’s company, Agri Skills Inc., provides market development consulting, custom skills development and training, and field-scale precision trial services to manufacturers and retailers in Canada and the U.S. Over the course of his career, Brent has worked as a grain merchant with Louis Dreyfus, an agricultural marketing manager with Norwest Labs and has instructed at Assiniboine Community College.
 
Brent brings a unique combination of practical experience and insight as a producer, a marketer, a consultant, a /mediator and a facilitator. He continues to manage his family farm in Carman, Man. 

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Claude St-Louis

Claude, a Ste-Perpétue de Nicolet native, earned his B.Admin. at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. He has been a CGA candidate with the Quebec Ordre des comptables généraux licenciés (Quebec institute of certified general accountants) since 2003.

Claude worked three years in Montreal as an external auditor for Samson Bélair Deloitte & Touche. Since 1998, he has worked as an accountant for the Fédération de l'UPA in Central Quebec, preparing financial statements and tax returns for corporations and individuals. Claude is also responsible for developing management tools for producers in UPA's accounting and taxation services network. With several conferences and group training sessions to his credit, teaching has become a passion. A well-rounded trainer with an impressive career path, Claude listens actively to participants and cares about their success. He plans to become a CGA member in 2009.

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Éric Long, CA

Éric, a New Brunswick native, has a degree in Business Administration from Laval University. He's been a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1989. At age 24, Éric became an associate in an accounting firm. He worked as an accountant for 19 years at four different firms and, since 2003, has been an associate Chartered Accountant with Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, S.E.N.C.R.L. in Edmundston, New Brunswick. Éric specializes in business services and has also taught at the University of Moncton, Edmundston campus.  
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Felix Weber, P.Ag.

Felix co-ordinates and teaches FCC Management Software courses, including AgExpert Analyst and Field Manager PRO. With over 20 years in agriculture, Felix has extensive training and knowledge of computer programs dealing with tracking and GPS, soil sampling, crop inputs, production and crop rotation tracking, and programs for farm stock management.

As an Agri-Coach with Agri-Trend, Felix actively works with farm operators in developing and implementing nutrient management, overall farm management and computer management through his company, Ag Business & Crop Inc.

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Frederic Hamel

Frederic Hamel is an instructor at l’Institut de Technologie Agroalimentaire (ITA) in St-Hyacinthe and an environmental and risk management consultant. He grew up in the Richelieu Valley, a rural area where he got his early work experience in agriculture.

Frederic brings a wealth of knowledge about commodity price management structures (counterparties) to corporate customers and ag producers. He holds a finance degree, a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) designation and a Derivatives Market Specialist (DMS) designation from the Canadian Securities Institute. He’s also keenly interested in the emerging North American carbon and environmental credit markets. Frederic has worked at FIMAT, RBC Royal Bank and MF Global, where his focus was financial risk management for businesses.

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Greg Kostal


President, Kostal Ag Consulting Ltd.

Greg Kostal is an independent analyst and consultant based in Winnipeg. He provides fundamental guidance on agriculture trends, conducts market analysis and supplies consulting and advisory services to commercial and farm operations. Prior to starting his own company eight years ago, Greg worked for Sparks Companies, Continental Grain, ProFarmer and UGG. He also grew up on a family farm south of Winnipeg.

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Jean-Philippe Gervais

Jean-Philippe Gervais joined FCC as a senior agricultural economist in July 2010. He has over 15 years of experience in domestic and international analysis of agricultural policies and markets. Jean-Philippe is a featured speaker at conferences across the country on the linkages between the economy and agriculture as well as the determinants of competitiveness in agri-food markets.

Prior to joining FCC, he was a professor of agricultural economics at North Carolina State University and Laval University where he held the Canada Research Chair in Agri-industries and International Trade. Jean-Philippe obtained his PhD in economics in 1999 from Iowa State University.

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John Fast, BA, M.Div., PhD

Dr. Fast is a sought-after inspirational speaker on topics related to family business, retirement, work-life balance, leadership, and workplace integrity. He’ s currently the founding partner and president of Family Enterprise Solutions, a management consulting and training organization through which he has emerged as one of Canada’s leading experts on family business. He has co-authored numerous books and curriculum used by professionals and family firms including the Agri-Succession Case Study Commentary published by the Canadian Farm Business Management Council.

John is also the author of The Family Business Doctor: Ensuring the Long Term Health of Your Business Family, which has received wide acclaim for its ability to communicate the deepest issues facing business families in a hopeful and constructive manner.

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Lance D. Stockbrugger, CA

Lance is a Chartered Accountant and Senior Manager in Tax with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Humboldt, Sask. In addition to his expertise in tax and estate planning for high-net-worth agribusiness operators, Lance assists producers with succession planning, intergenerational transfers and tax reorganizations using partnerships, corporations and trusts. Along with his wife Marie and his brother, Lance owns and operates LD Stockbrugger Farms, a 3,000 acre cereal, pulse and oilseed farm at LeRoy, Sask.

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Larry J. Martin, M.Sc., PhD

As Senior Research Fellow of the George Morris Centre, Larry relies on his experience in agri-food marketing and policy, farm and agribusiness management and international agri-food trade. He has provided industry and government decision-makers with critical insight on issues affecting the Canadian agri-food sector.

Larry is an expert on competitiveness and has facilitated strategic visioning and planning for many organizations. He was named Fellow of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society in 2003.

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Leonard L. Davies, CFP, CLU, EPC, CAFA, CIP

Len has been a cash crop farmer since 1980 and has more than 20 years of experience delivering training to the agriculture and financial industries. As a Certified Financial Planner, Len brings knowledge and experience on issues including government programs, the commodity loan program, taxation, risk management and estate planning, financial planning for retirement, investment products and wealth accumulation.

Len is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Farm Advisers (CAFA) and is a Chartered Life Underwriter who specializes in estate and succession planning for retiring business owners.

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Mario Dumas

 

Mario is a farm tax specialist with expertise in farm transfers and accounting. Since 1993, he's been serving a mostly agricultural clientele from his base in Ormstown, Que.

Mario is a graduate of McGill University and a member of l'Ordre des comptables agréés du Québec.



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Mario Leclerc

Mario grew up on his family dairy farm in Casselman, Ontario. After earning his ag tech diploma from Collège d'Alfred, Mario returned to help the family operation until 1994. He was employed as an animal nutrition representative for a co-operative until he left to start his own company. In 1997, he co-founded Agtrek Nutrition, a dairy management consulting business he continues to own and operate throughout western Quebec and eastern Ontario.



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Martin Gooch, BA, M.AgriBus

Martin is Director - Value Chains at the George Morris Centre, a national agri-products think tank. Martin’s career spans the agri-food sectors of Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. He has assisted a diverse range of agri-food companies in developing value chains and marketing initiatives, some of which have won national and international awards of excellence.

Martin possesses qualifications in farm management; an undergraduate degree in International Business; and a Masters degree from the University of Queensland. Martin’s Masters thesis analyzed the critical success factors of forming and managing value chain alliances within the perishable food industry, an area that he is continuing to research through his recently commenced PhD.

Prior to joining the George Morris Centre, Martin was responsible for developing and leading Ontario's Value Chain Initiative, which was supported through funding provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).

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Martine Deschamps

Martine is a succession management consultant who helps both sides involved in the challenges of farm transfer, coaching them in conflict prevention and management, communication, skills transfer and personnel management. Over the past 11 years, she has developed solid and proven farm transfer and farm management tools. In the summer of 2010, she wrote an integration guide for Spanish speaking migrants who come each year to work for producers.

Now a speaker, consultant and certified trainer, Martine founded SynerAction Management in 2003. She’s accredited by the AgriConseils network as a consultant to agriculture operations and lectures at the Centre des Moissons and the Université de Montréal.

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Matt Wilson

Matt is an environmental specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs. He works out of the Woodstock office and provides extension services on agricultural environmental programs in the south central region of the province.

Prior to joining OMAFRA, Matt was an agronomist with Agri-Services. He was an OMAFRA-certified nutrient management consultant preparing nutrient management plans and strategies for Sylvite clients. Matt is a graduate from the University of Guelph with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture, majoring in animal science.

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Michelle Painchaud, CPT

Michelle has over 20 years of field experience in employee performance. She is recognized as one of Canada's leaders in behavioural science and human capital development helping clients understand factors that drive performance. Born in rural Manitoba and with her heart in agriculture, her business focuses in this industry, working closely with farmers and agriculture businesses across Canada.

Michelle is one of Canada's few Certified Performance Technologists. She is a member of the Canadian Consulting Agrologists Association, the Chair of the Manitoba Agriculture Expert Committee for the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Centre for Talent Retention and the Human Capital Institute.

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Mike Bossy, CA, CFP, TEP, CAFA

Mike grew up on a tobacco farm and has been serving the agriculture community as a chartered accountant for more than 25 years. As president of the Bossy Nagy Geoffrey, Mike works with a team of 46 to provide accounting, taxation and business advisory services to primary producers and agri-businesses. He advises in succession planning, farm transition and trust and estate planning.

He is a speaker for the Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management (C-Team) course, past president of the Tillsonburg District Chamber of Commerce and current chair of the Reliving the Legacy campaign.

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Mike Jubinville

Mike is lead analyst and president of Pro Farmer Canada, an independent market analysis and advisory service he started in 1997. Mike's experience includes work as a cash merchant with United Grain Growers, senior market analyst with Growers Marketing Services of UGG and an analyst with Manitoba Pool Elevators.

Mike was also employed as market reporter with Resource News International and Dow Jones Newswires out of Winnipeg and Chicago. He is based out of Winnipeg and can be contacted through PFCanada.com and on DTN.

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Neil Blue, P.Ag.

Neil has 14 years of experience working as a market specialist with Alberta Agriculture. There, he helped farmers and agribusiness owners to better understand the markets, learn about marketing alternatives, and develop and use marketing strategies. Neil’s several years of contract work includes Alberta Agriculture as well as Alberta Farm Consultation Service and the Canadian Farm Debt Review Board, specializing in financial management, debt resolution, estate planning and marketing.

Born near Hardisty, Alta., Neil graduated from the University of Alberta with a B.Sc. in Agriculture. He has farmed in the Mannville-Vermilion area since 1981, applying marketing strategies to his own operation in both grain and cattle enterprises.

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Peggy Donovan

Peggy grew up working with the family's purebred polled Herefords and shorthorns in Canada and the U.S. She was Canada's first female cattle-buyer and eventually started her own livestock business. She's currently a beef market consultant who often speaks to cattle industry stakeholders about such topics as performance, marketing options and trends, risk management, and quality-based values in beef production.

Peggy helped develop Cattlemen's Financial Corp. and was involved in forming the Alberta Order Buyers and Livestock Dealers Association. She has served on several boards and commissions related to the livestock industry.

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Peter Gredig

Peter Gredig is a corn, soybean and wheat producer based near London, Ont., who has a background in agricultural media and communications. He’s the president of Kettle Creek Communications and is working with a number of organizations on strategies and tools that use mobile technologies to help Canadian farmers.



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Pierrette Desrosiers, M.Ps., CHRP

Raised in a family of producers and married to a farmer for over 20 years, Pierrette has always been fascinated by the many human challenges facing family farms. She is a psychologist, speaker, trainer and work coach, specializing in the agricultural sector.

Pierrette focuses on emotional competency development. Powerful, original and recognized by the industry, Pierrette goes straight to the heart and sets the standard with her rigour, humour and the pertinence of her words. Her conferences and workshops challenge you to develop better management and interpersonal skills. She prepares managers to face the issues in agricultural family businesses: achieving objectives, co-administration, emotion and stress management, psychological distress, communication, motivation, emotional intelligence, and of course the pursuit of happiness.

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Reg Shandro, P.Ag

Raised on a mixed farm and purebred cattle operation in northeast Alberta, Reg has dedicated his career to helping farm and ranch operators prosper. Working his way up within the chartered bank system, Reg excelled at various agriculture lending positions throughout Alberta, including management. In 2002, Reg joined Meyers Norris Penny and managed their agricultural advisory department. Today, Reg operates his own advisory practice, Farmacist Advisory Services Ltd. Along with presenting seminars and public speaking engagements, Reg works with farmers and has contracted his services to Meyers Norris Penny, Farm Credit Canada, and the Government of Canada. 

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Réjean Prince

Réjean has a degree in agricultural economics from Laval University. Since August 2000, he has taught at St-Hyacinthe's campus of the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire (ITA), institute of agri-food technology, in the continuing education department and in the campus's agricultural operations and business management program. His areas of expertise include agricultural business management and grain marketing. Réjean also worked as a dairy and vegetable production consultant and as a general business manager of the agricultural co-operatives network.

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Simon Leclair

Simon is an instructor at Institut de technologie agroalimentaire (Saint-Hyacinthe campus) in the agricultural operations and business management program as well as the department of continuing education. His classes include agricultural operations and the use of technical analysis and elective courses in grain marketing.

With a degree from McDonald College, Simon has also worked as a crop protection and animal health officer and been in charge of marketing finishing calves.

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Sylvain Gaudreault (CRIA)

Sylvain was born and raised in rural Canada and spent his summers working on a farm. A graduate of Laval University's Industrial Relations program and a human resources management consultant, Sylvain works almost exclusively with small and medium-sized businesses. His expertise includes motivation, conflict management, harmonious management of interpersonal relationships and production of employee handbooks. Sylvain also works in the areas of recruitment and performance evaluation.

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Terry Betker, P.Ag. CAC

Terry is President and CEO of Backswath Management Inc., a Manitoba-based company that provides management expertise to farmers, primarily on strategic business and succession planning, financial analysis and risk management. Recognized for his work at Meyers Norris Penny, Terry was a partner and director of practice development in agriculture for over 12 years. Terry was successful in strategically positioning MNP in agriculture at the farm, industry and government level in Canada.

A popular speaker on management issues, Terry has delivered presentations to agriculture organizations throughout Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. He teaches at university and serves on many national and provincial committees. Terry has completed the executive program for agricultural producers at Texas A&M University. His credentials include certification in /mediation theory and strategic planning, and a science degree in agriculture from the University of Manitoba. He’s presently pursuing an interest in integrated risk management.

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Victor Aideyan, MBA

Victor has over 14 years of experience in commodity trading and marketing. He received a master's degree in business administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Currently, Victor is the senior risk management consultant and head of strategic planning at HISGRAIIN Commodities Inc.

Previously, Victor worked as senior consultant in risk management at Farms.com. He worked with clients across North America in swine and grain marketing, specializing in marketing and price risk for pork, corn and soybean producers.

Victor is also a Visual Basic programmer, an avid chess player and novice fisherman.

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Become an FCC Learning Instructor

Do you love agriculture? Do you have the experience and ability to inspire others? Then maybe you can become an instructor. Complete the presenter profile and send it to us along with your resumé. If you have footage of yourself in action, we'd love to see it too.

Presenter Profile (Word Format)
Presenter Profile (PDF Format)

Submit your information by:
email: info@agrisuccess.ca
Fax: 306-780-7618
Mail: FCC Learning, 1800 Hamilton Street, P.O. Box 4320, Regina, SK S4P 4L3

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