Colin Steen - CEO of Legacy Agripartners - Farming, Rural America, Sustainability

Sustainability, Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Politics, Activism, Biodiversity, Carbon Footprint, Wildlife, Regenerative Agriculture, Circular Economy, Extinction, Net-Zero · One Planet Podcast

Colin Steen is CEO of Legacy Agripartners. He has had a lifelong career in agriculture, spending over 25 years with Syngenta in a variety of commercial leadership and Venture Capital roles before joining Legacy Seed Companies (now Legacy Agripartners) in July 2020. His prior experience in running Golden Harvest Seeds has given him a deep understanding of the needs of the U.S. farmer. Colin grew up on a grain and cattle farm in Weldon, Saskatchewan, and holds a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Saskatchewan and an MBA from the University of Guelph.

"Farming was really important to him. My dad brought cattle into the farm. He didn't have a high school education at the time, went back in the late eighties to finish off his high school diploma, which was something I'm incredibly proud of him for doing that. And farming in the late eighties was tough. And tough for mom and dad. So, a lot of the land was borrowed at 18 to 21% interest rates. The old Volcker years, right? So, incredibly high interest rates. And then when it didn't rain in '88 and '89, that's a problem, right? When you don't have income coming in and large loan payments and high interest rates to be made was a real issue. So a lot of the land went back to the bank. We continued to farm half of it. Kept the cows. My mom went back to being a nurse, so she was a nurse when her and dad first met and a nurse throughout until my brother and I were born and then took some time off. So she went back to work. Worked incredibly hard to help make ends meet for everybody. So, it was good. I would say, while we didn't have a lot, I don't ever remember not having what I wanted. It's like we always had money to play hockey. We always had time to go, while we were at the cattle sales...you know, it was fun. I would never once go, Man, my childhood, there was so much missing. My parents provided so much for us around every corner, all the opportunities in the world to do what we needed."

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