Mentorship program helps young rancher to follow his passion
mliebenberg@prairiepost.com
A mentorship program for young producers provides a valuable opportunity to Swift Current rancher Scott Gerbrandt to learn more about the beef industry and build connections with others who share his passion.
He is a participant in the 2020-21 Cattlemen’s Young Leaders (CYL) mentorship program, a national youth initiative of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA).
He was immediately interested in the program when he saw a CYL advertisement on social media stating it is open to those between the ages of 18 and 35 with a passion for the beef industry.
“The biggest thing that jumped out at me was it looked like a great networking program,” he said. “I was intrigued and interested to meet some of the other candidates and get into the program, and the mentorship aspect of it was really interesting too.”
He was very excited to be one of 16 finalists selected for the 2020-21 program year, and he is enjoying the experience. He feels the ninemonth program will assist him to develop a business plan for his ranching operation.
“I’ve got lots of ideas that we could take on through our farming operation and it’s sometimes challenging to identify which one is going to be worthwhile or which one is going to be a better idea than the next one,” he said.
In addition, the CYL program will help him to get more involved with the beef industry as he becomes more established as a rancher.
“The networking and industry knowledge I will gain in this program will certainly help as I become more involved and put my name forward as a representative,” he said.
He grew up on a farm southwest of Swift Current, where his parents still reside. He graduated in 2010 from the University of Saskatchewan with a degree in agriculture and bioresource engineering, and has worked since then as a design engineer at Bourgault Industries Ltd.
He became more interested in the beef industry due to a growing involvement with the beef and hay operation on his grandparents’ farm northeast of Swift Current. Gerbrandt and his wife have been living on this farm since 2015. They manage a cow-calf herd along with a replacement heifer program, while he still works remotely as an engineer for Bourgault.
He feels the CYL program will be a good opportunity to gain a better understanding of the whole value chain in the beef industry and to learn more about the business management aspect of the industry.
The learning process already started during a virtual event in August 2020, when the 24 semi-finalists participated in roundtable discussions. He felt this event was certainly an early highlight of the program.
“Even if somebody was to get accepted as a semi-finalist, but not make it as a finalist, still participating in that roundtable discussion gets you in a face-to-face discussion with your peers,” he said. “It makes for good discussion and the topics are interesting and challenging at the same time.”
Mentorship is a key component of this program, and the 16 participants are matched with industry leaders in their area of interest.
“I was looking to learn more about the business management side and was also interested in some forage research,” he said.
His mentor is Brent Difley, who is currently a business development manager at Union Forage in Calgary. He still travels frequently to Saskatchewan to manage a joint venture with over 400 mother cows on a ranch north of Moose Jaw. He previously worked at Elanco Animal Health, where his 35-year career included roles in sales, sales management, strategic accounts management, and business development.
Gerbrandt finds the weekly telephone discussions with his mentor very beneficial. These calls are supposed to be an hour, but it will usually last longer.
“I had a big list of questions before I even had a mentorship,” he said. “So now that he has knowledge in most of these areas, I’ve
been whittling this list down and it’s been good to have somebody to chat with.”
Difley previously participated in the CYL program as a mentor about six years ago, and he appreciates Gerbrandt’s enthusiasm during their discussions.
“I’ve been very impressed with Scott,” he said. “I enjoy working with him. I think it’s going to be a very positive outcome. It’s a really good match for us, because his interests and mine just line up very well.”
He emphasized it is the role of mentees to organize these meetings and to make sure they get what they need from their mentors.
“My role is to look at his roadmap, the plan of what he wants to learn from the program, and then do my best to deliver on those pieces so that he gets what he wants from the program,” he explained. “So it’s either sharing knowledge I have or financial information that I have, or finding people that have that information that I know through my network.”
He has a passion for the cattle business and therefore considers his involvement with the CYL program to be a way to give back to the industry.
“You’re giving back some of your experience to new, young producers,” he said. “Rather than them having to learn the hard way, there may be some experiences that we can impart that will save them time and money in progressing towards their goals.”
According to Difley the personalized approach of the CYL program is a significant