What is your name?
Mark Wobick
Where do you work, and what is your current job title?
I work at MNP in Lethbridge. My job title is Senior Manager – Farm Management Consultant.
How long have you been working in the agriculture industry?
I have been working in agriculture all my life. I was born and raised on a farm, and still own and manage a small farm today! I spent 6 years with Alberta Pool/Agricore as a producer services rep. Now I have been with MNP for 15 years as a farm management consultant.
Explain your role and what a typical day looks like for you?
Client service is our primary function so we are always interacting with our clients based on their business needs. A typical day would look as follows:
– Start off by staying on top of the agricultural landscape by reading various market reports (for example financial, crop and livestock markets, and industry updates)
– Contact and meeting with clients on various projects or engagements we have with them.
– Seasonality will come into play in terms of how we are helping our clients, for example winter time is heavily weighted to creating plans for the upcoming year, monitoring those plans with the client, benchmarking as well as conducting feasibilities on new opportunities and being a general sounding board for our clients.
What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
In my spare time I enjoy running, and spending time with my family.
What is something interesting, that people might not know about you?
Something people most people don’t know, is that the most famous person I know was my university hockey coach in 1993/1994 at the University of Lethbridge … Mike Babecock!
What is your earliest agriculture memory?
It would have to be riding around in my Grandpa’s old 1940 something three tonne grain truck that was still kicking around the farm.
What is your favourite part of working in ag?
My favourite part of working in agriculture is helping and seeing clients succeed in their plans.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from growers over your career?
Farming is not easy. The most successful farmers understand that they can’t do everything by themselves, and surround themselves with a solid team of advisors and mentors.
If you could only give growers one piece of advice when it comes to farm management, what would it be?
‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’??
What I mean is, a planned approach with proper due diligence towards any opportunity will in most cases, help ensure you succeed.
Salty or sweet? Sweet
Favourite song? Summer of ’69 by Bryan Adams
Name one thing you could never live without? Bacon
Who’s your hero? Terry Fox
In one word what do you attribute most to your success? Parents
Mark Wobick is a Farm Management Consultant with MNP in Lethbridge, AB. Mark advises on a wide range of business issues relating to the Agricultural Industry.
Raised on a Grain Farm in Alberta, Mark continues to manage his own farm business. This hands-on experience coupled with nearly 15 years of industry experience and formal training has given Mark the unique insight that his clients appreciate. Working one-on-one with farmers and agribusinesses, Mark helps his clients optimize their production, control their costs and risk as well as market their products effectively to remain profitable and competitive.
To get in touch with Mark, you can email him at [email protected]