Management Team
Elston Solberg, M.Sc. Soils
President and AGRI-TREND Senior Agri-Coach™
Elston grew up on a dairy farm in the Ryley Alberta area, and after earning his M.Sc. in Soils, went on to become a well-recognized researcher and author of many papers on different topics related to soil science and agronomy. His 22-year research career was complemented with adventures such as being the mayor of his hometown Ryley for eight years and managing a large-scale commercial waste disposal facility.
Elston has a unique style of thinking outside of the traditional paradigms and “connecting the dots” that, at first glance, appear to be unrelated. He has a passion for training others to “connect the dots” and develop solutions that are usually different from the status quo. It was his unique style and passion for training people that connected him with AGRI-TREND™ and eventually led him to joining the AGRI-TREND™ Network in 2002.
Elston was the original “Senior Agri-Coach” and continues to build Agri-Trend’s group of Senior Coaches. This prestigious group focuses on training the AGRI-TREND™ Network, advising on technical agronomy issues and providing the technical content of the many events and AGRI-TREND™ publications. Elston’s style has become the culture of this entire group and as a result, they are researching ideas they would have never dreamed about as part of the institutions they once worked with.
In 2008, Elston was thought to best reflect the heart and soul of The AGRI-TREND™ Network, and best to lead it into the future as its president.
Robert D. Saik, P.Ag., C.A.C.
CEO and AGRI-TREND Senior Agri-Coach™
Rob Saik founded Agri-Trend Agrology in 1997 when he began working as
an agronomy consultant with farmers in Western Canada who wanted to do
better. He is the creator of The Strategic Crop Plan™, our agronomic
leadership program delivered to farmers through a nation-wide network
of professional Agri-Trend Agri-Coaches™. Rob has since gone on to
found and become the CEO of the AGRI-TREND™ Group of Companies, which
include AGRI-TREND™ Agrology Ltd; AGRI-TREND™ Aggregation Inc, a carbon
offset company, AGRI-TREND™ Marketing, a grain marketing company;
Agri-Trend Data Corporation, an agri-data management company and
Agri-Trend Australia Pty, an Australian consulting firm.
As CEO, Rob continues to provide AGRI-TREND™ Agrology with professional
services, agronomic expertise as an AGRI-TREND Senior Agri-Coach™ and
is still an AGRI-TREND Agri-Coach™ with a number of clients.
Rob holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Alberta and is a
Professional Agrologist and a Certified Agricultural Consultant.
Darren Howie
Network Manager - British Columbia/Alberta/Manitoba/USA
Darren Howie is our Network Manager for BC, Alberta, Manitoba and the US. As Network Manager, he is responsible for recruiting and training new AGRI-TREND Agri-Coaches™ as well as assisting AGRI-TREND Agri-Coaches™ to build their consulting businesses.
After graduating from Olds College with a diploma in Agronomy, Darren has gone on to continue to upgrade his training and skills, with various courses in sales, management, accounting, administration, computer software/programming and agronomy. Sales success and project achievement have been the hallmarks of Darren’s career. With Monsanto Canada, Darren received an Achievement award for organizing and chairing an international symposium on soil conservation. At Parkland Agri Services Corp. Darren worked as a Crop Production Advisor and later as a Sales Manager. Darren has managed a number of other businesses, including a golf course, a construction company and a large farm (3500 acres crop, 1500 acres forage and 195 cow/calf operation).
Darren joined AGRI-TREND™ Agrology Ltd. in 2000. Since then, he has helped shape AGRI-TREND’s structure, model and strategy. Darren directed the conversion and further development of AGRI-TREND’s proprietary software to an internet based “MySCP™ Netware” and Agri-Data Solution database that is now used by more than 1,000 farmers, retailers, agronomists and industry partners across Canada, Northern United States and around the world. In 2002, MySCP™ Netware and the creative use of the internet in the management of their business resulted in AGRI-TREND™ being awarded Alberta’s E-Business of the Year in the Agri-value category. Darren oversees the further development of the AGRI-TREND™ Network in Alberta as well as assists in project and business development initiatives for the AGRI-TREND™ Group of Companies.
Brett Jenson
Network Manager - Saskatchewan
Brett Jenson is our Network Manager for Saskatchewan. As Network Manager, he is responsible for recruiting and training new AGRI-TREND Agri-Coaches™ as well as assisting AGRI-TREND Agri-Coaches™ to build their consulting businesses. Brett is also building his own AGRI-TREND Agri-Coach™ business in the Saskatoon area. Brett has a solid sales focused agronomy background coming from 10 years in the country elevator system with Cargill in various locations, buying grain, selling farm supplies and developing long-term relationships. He also spent two years with Custom Ag Services, now Richardson (Pioneer) in Saskatoon.
Brett has lots of business building experience having spent two years developing a bio-diesel product made from oriental mustard seed oil at DSG Canada Saskatoon Diesel; BioArmor Diesel Fuel Additive still selling today. As well, he spent the past year developing a bioenergy-from-biomass project and recently closed a deal to set up the first ever-manufacturing plant at Craik, SK.
Jill DeMulder, B.Sc., P.Ag.
Research and Logistics Coordinator
After obtaining her BSc in Agriculture at the University of Alberta, Jill worked for Alberta Agriculture for 24 years, primarily in their agronomic research program. Her role started with providing technical expertise and grew to providing both strategic and operational leadership for numerous research projects; their development, implementation and evaluation. During her time with Alberta Agriculture, she worked with many of the Senior AGRI-TREND Agri-Coaches™ on their many research and extension projects as well as projects with researchers from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, University of Alberta and Alberta Research Council. Research topics have ranged from fertility and fertilizer placement, disease and insect management, optimizing yields and quality, micronutrients, herbicide tolerance and new crop adaptation. She has co-authored and edited numerous research papers and final reports. Jill also lead teams responsible for organizing the original Agronomy Updates and contributed to the initiation, development and success of the Diagnostic Field School from its beginning in 1989.
Her career in agriculture began with Dr. Ieuan Evans where she was responsible for coordinating the province-wide potato bacterial ring rot and other crop disease programs. This ultimately led her to take on the operations management of Alberta Agriculture’s Crop Diversification Centre North, a 340 acre research facility in northeast Edmonton. As well, she provided project management for the nationwide Canadian Triticale Biorefinery Initiative and assisted in writing the proposal for CTBI that recently received $18M in federal funding. Jill managed the central Alberta research sites for this project and several other research projects led by Dr. Ross McKenzie.
