Alberta’s Steve Funk recognized for his contribution to farm management excellence

Farm Management Canada recently held its annual Agricultural Excellence Conference where Steve Funk was announced as the 2023 recipient of the Wilson Loree Award.

Now in it’s twenty-first year, the award honours individuals or groups who have made an extraordinary contribution to advancing farm business management in Canada.

Funk retired earlier this year, as Director of MNP’s Agriculture Risk Management Resources, where he helped producers and industry understand AgriStability and other business risk management (BRM) programs, how these programs impact and support farm financial viability, and how to optimize program coverages and payments within the context of an overall farm insurance risk management strategy.

He oversaw the firm’s provision of AgriStability, AgriInvest, Ag Risk Management Projector, and other risk management services, where he was instrumental in service design, development, implementation, and training and monitoring of service delivery systems and processes.

Over the last 27 years of Funk’s career, he dedicated himself to helping government shape the current BRM framework. He has also educated hundreds of people across Canada on business risk management to create awareness and further educate the industry on BRM helping make a positive influence on many policy decisions related to BRM.

More recently, Funk has been a strong supporter of financial fluency in Canadian agriculture. He has drawn a key correlation between a farmer’s level of financial fluency and their ability to understand risk management and support farmer mental health through risk management planning.

Wilson Loree proudly presented Funk with the 2023 Wilson Loree Award on November 22, 2023 during Farm Management Canada’s Agricultural Excellence Conference.