Duane Thompson

Duane Thompson was raised on the property he calls home near Kelliher in the Parkland Region of SK about 125km northeast of Regina. After graduating from the U of S with a diploma in Agriculture and doing some traveling, he went back to his parents’ operation in 1989. He and his wife Paula have raised four children two of whom are on the ranch and two who are married to farmers. The ranch/farm has always been a mixed operation of cows, feedlot, forages, grains, pulses and oilseeds. The forages are rotated around half the land base and annual crops are seeded on the other half on a 10-15 year rotation. Density grazing has resulted in growing more forages than ever imagined possible while achieving exceptional animal performance. Their system approach has resulted in strong average annual crop yields using much lower rates of fertilizer and ever-increasing organic matter.  Soil health is a major focus of the operation and as the soil improves, with some fields nearly tripling organic matter to as high as 7.5%OM, the ability to support more households follows right behind.  The multiple enterprises make for a 365 day a year job but the synergy of the various enterprises working together continues to be more and more evident every year and self-insures us from market ebbs and flows. Their main goal is to build a profitable, sustainable business that provides a desirable lifestyle for all involved and to have the future generations that choose, join the team.

Duane has also been heavily involved in the local community on numerous boards, committees and projects, chairing several of them.  The livestock industry has always been his favorite and he has been involved in various capacities over the last 30 years.  Most recently he was the first Chair of the U of S Livestock and Forage Center of Excellence Strategic Advisory Committee and a Saskatchewan Representative to the Canadian Cattle Association where he Chaired the Environment Committee.

He is an active proponent of the livestock industry and agriculture in general and has spoken and presented across Western Canada at various levels.