Joerg Zimmermann, Chair – MB
Joerg was raised on a cash crop farm near Stuttgart, Germany. After internships on grain farms in France and Canada, he graduated from the University of Hohenheim, Germany majoring in Agricultural Economics. He completed his PhD in the area of management techniques for large farm enterprises at the same German university.
During his extensive research of management strategies and control systems employed by large scale agricultural enterprises in Eastern Europe and the CIS – mainly in Russia – he got to see a wide range of farm operations in this part of the world. Besides the work on his PhD thesis Joerg consulted large scale farms in Eastern Europe and the CIS in the area of Business Management for more than 7 years. Starting in 2002, he built up and co-owned a 2,000 ha (5,000 ac) farm in Samara, Russia, where valuable lessons about practical farm management were acquired.
Between 2005 and 2008 Joerg developed a seed sales network in Northern Kazakhstan and managed an affiliated 2,000 ha (~5,000 ac) demo farm in this area. Shortly after that, Joerg joined an US-based investment fund with large farm operations in Eastern Europe and the CIS, where he planned, analyzed and benchmarked the farms owned and operated by the fund.
His pioneering days in the agricultural sector of Eastern Europe and the CIS were concluded, when he and his family settled in Winnipeg, MB in 2009. After a position in International Sales with Ag Growth International Inc., he most recently was managing the International Sales Support Organization for the same company. He introduced new processes and built up a team responsible for the design and price estimation of grain handling and storage systems as well as order fulfillment and international logistics.
Joerg keeps close ties to German agriculture as he is involved in a 4,000 ha (10,000 ac) farming partnership in Eastern Germany operating several independent farms including his own.
Going back to his passion Farm Management, Joerg started his own Farm Management Advisory business GlobalAgAdvisors Ltd. in March 2013, where he works with his farm clients in Western Canada on strategic planning, goal setting, cash flow management, financial analysis, income projecting and more. Furthermore Joerg facilitates a peer group with farmers from North Dakota and Manitoba and holds a number of board positions with progressive farms. In his low season in August and September, he you can see Joerg operating a combine on his neighbor’s 6,000 ac farm.
Joerg is following the activities of Farm Management Canada since 2010 and is an active member since 2013. He believes, that Farm Management Canada contributes enormously to the excellence of the Canadian Farming Sector. He is thrilled to join Farm Management Canada’s Board of Directors while adding his unique skills and experience from Academia, Business Development, Farm Management and International Agriculture to position Farm Management Canada well to play a leading role in Canada’s Agricultural Sector now and in future.