Jeff Nielsen

Chair, Grain Growers of Canada, and Farmer

Jeff earned his Chartered Director (c.Dir) certificate from Degroote School of Business and McMaster University in 2007. He has farmed since 1980 on land cultivated by his paternal grandparents, who emigrated from Denmark in 1930. Jeff’s maternal great grandparents were original homesteader’s northwest of Olds. Jeff and his husband Tim Hollman, a steam chief (first-class power engineer) at a local naturalgas processing plant, operate their 1,350-acre farm where they grow wheat, barley and canola.Being a true steward of the land, Jeff practices minimum till and variable rate fertilizer and seeding rates, following precision agricultural recommendations by their agrologists. Jeff has been an active member of the agriculture community since 1999, when he was elected to the board of directors of United Grain Growers. Since then, Jeff has served as a director for Agricore United, president of the Western Barley Growers Association, board director for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), and director and delegate with the Alberta Barley Commission.