Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council

Derek Brewin has come full circle. As he sat around the table at the inaugural Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council meeting in 1996, Brewin had no idea that 12 years later he would join the MRAC board of directors.

“I knew about MRAC as a new way to deliver programs and I thought it was a good idea. Producers set the priorities. It’s relatively effective and it doesn’t cost that much to get the money out,” he says. “So years later when Don Flaten approached me about joining the board I was honoured.”

Brewin knows the importance of agricultural research. He has worked as a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, obtained his PHD in agricultural, environmental and regional economics from Pennsylvania State University and is now a teacher and researcher in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba.

“MRAC has the flexibility to fill in where other federal programs aren’t supporting research. I think that’s a very important task,” he says. “Most of the research I see come through MRAC has a positive impact.”

As a member of the MRAC project committee, Brewin is able to delve deeper into the project proposals and often seeks the expert advice of someone familiar with the work.

When evaluating projects, Brewin tries to keep an open mind.

“I don’t mind throwing a little bit of money to an idea that seems really outside our realm because sometimes really great things come from those ideas,” he says.

Rural roots

Brewin’s love of agriculture began on the family farm near the hamlet of Purple Springs in southern Alberta.

“I was raised on a mixed farm with irrigation on some of our grain land,” says the 45 year old. “The biggest return in our area was from silage corn so feeding animals was a big part of most production systems there. Now it’s started to switch over to potatoes.”

After obtaining a bachelor of science in agricultural economics from the University of Alberta, Brewin faced the same difficult decision most of his students face – whether to return to the family farm or pursue an agriculture-related career.

“Our grads face a tough choice between lots of risk and potential opportunity with farming and lower risk, wage earning jobs that are also interesting,” he says, noting he ended up taking a job with Farm Credit Canada followed by the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Association (PFRA) and then the Canadian Wheat Board.

In his spare time Brewin follows U.S. college football, specifically Penn State. He became a fan of the team while studying at the school.

“It’s just so much fun - the tailgating and the football games. It’s such a ritual down there,” he says as he proudly donned his Penn State jacket.

Brewin also enjoys curling in the faculty league, playing hockey in a city league, as well as camping and canoeing.

Brewin is a past councilor and current member of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society, and is a member of federally funded policy research networks focused on agricultural innovation and regulation, and the structure and performance of the industry.

~ Teresa Falk, MRAC Communications Officer