Farming Smarter Conference & Trade Show 2026

Ken Coles can speak about his recent Nuffield Scholarship trips and experiences, Precision planters, ag policies and politics, leadership, and non-profit governance.

Dr. Thierry Fonville can bring the knowledge from our research trials to your event. Insights from our observations and in-depth analysis of collected data, with a specialty in soil sciences.

Mike Gretzinger can share information related from our trials on maximizing barley while minimizing lodging, rotation studies, novel crops including hemp, quinoa, and grain corn.

Lewis Baarda will bring years of experience to talk about on-farm research and innovation, precision agriculture, field mapping and the practical application of ag technologies. His project presentations include seed alfalfa, spore trapping, VRI, GR kochia, flea beetles & neonics and variable rate technology.

Trevor Deering manages our Custom Research Projects. Call him if you have a project where you need third party results or simply want done on your terms. He makes sure clients get solid results by making sure everything happens when it should in the field and carefully analyzing the data.

Carlo Van Herk can talk about strip tillage, seed canola or ARD strip till canola project.

Sean can speak about communications, knowledge & technology extension activities, and reaching ag communities

Ken grew up on a mixed farm in southwest Saskatchewan, near the Great Sandhills. After completing his schooling, he joined the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. He worked in the Wheat Breeding Program for 18 years before transferring to the Flax Breeding Program for the last 18 years. He is responsible for the creation, maintenance, data collection and harvest of all the trials for the successful Flax program. He is always willing to assist producers who have questions about Plant Breeding and flax production.

Marc Vincent is a 5 th generation mixed grains farmer from Eastern Manitoba. He completed his schooling in the department of agriculture at the University of Manitoba in Agronomy, Plant Breeding and Genetics. He has been a plant breeder in numerous crops for the past 20 years. He has a passion for agronomy and research and has been running small plot and on - farm research trials for the past 10 years. These trials have focused on testing products to improve yield s . Marc currently is the Director of Agronomy, Research and Procurement with GS D unn . His agronomy knowledge and expertise spreads across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Dr. Thierry Fonville is Farming Smarter’s very own Ph.D. Research Scientist, bringing a unique, multidisciplinary perspective to our agronomy program. By blending his deep expertise in soil health with a rigorous scientific background, Thierry is dedicated to uncovering the relationships between farm management practices, nutrient availability, and long-term carbon sequestration.

Héctor Cárcamo is a Senior Research Scientist with the Science and Technology Branch of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at the Lethbridge Research and Development Centre, located near Lethbridge in southern Alberta. For the past 27 years, he has been researching management strategies for insect pests of canola, cereals, alfalfa and pulse crops. His BSc and MSc are from the University of Alberta (Agricultural Entomology) and PhD from the University of Calgary (Biological Sciences).

Jack Payne is currently the Agronomy Solutions Manager for South Country Co-op Ltd. He is responsible for technical support, applied research trials, design and delivery of professional development programs for their GROW Team advisors. Prior to joining Co-op , Jack worked with Farmers Edge as an Operations Coordinator. He was an Instructor at Olds College for 15 years, where he taught courses in pest management, soils , and fertilizer management. He also spent 12 years with Alberta Agriculture working as a District Agriculturist and Regional Soils Specialist in southern Alberta , where he focused on soil salinity management and reduced tillage. Jack grew up on a grain farm in west central Saskatchewan and received his formal education at the University of Saskatchewan.

Sheri Monk has spent over 20 years working with rattlesnakes across the Canadian prairies and has travelled extensively to study other venomous species. She moved west from Winnipeg just to be closer to the prairie rattlesnake . She jokes that this tells you everything you need to know about her decision-making.