Whenever I mention the name Peter Johnson to someone in agriculture, it always gets a reaction, be it a smile, a shake of the head or a roll of the eyes. That’s the price you pay for being passionate, unafraid to share an opinion and continually challenging the industry to step up their game. Not everyone is going to agree with you, and not everyone is going to appreciate your style.
I would hope though, that Peter has earned many people’s respect; he certainly has mine.
After a 30-year career with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the “Wild Man” will be ending his post as the provincial wheat specialist with the field crop unit. He will not be retiring from Ontario agriculture, however, so expect many contributions in the years to come.
I have had three completely different interactions with Peter spanning some 34 years. My first encounter with him was around 1980. His farm was located on the next side road east of the farm I grew up on and where I live today. I went to grade school with his nephews and, for a brief time, his oldest son Jeremy. Peter and his brother Paisley farmed a considerable amount of ground and while riding the school bus I would often see them working the land. This was also the peak of my one-sixty-fourth-scale tractor-collecting phase and I was determined to collect any tractor I saw in the fields of Guelph Township. Their farm presented a unique challenge for this conquest. Although I was able to easily grab an Allis Chalmers 8000 series toy tractor that they had, try as I might I could never find their unusual-looking Muir Hill tractors, or the “yellow beasts” as they were sometimes referred to by my classmates. I remember they grew sunflowers, a crop you simply didn’t see anywhere else. They owned a “White” combine, just like my dad did. My dad sold his in 1991, Peter still uses that same one. Around 1984-85, Peter and his family moved to Lucan and we would not cross paths for another 15 years.
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My first full-time job out of university was as a sales rep for a crop protection company. I was at one of the “ag breakfast meetings” that the ministry hosted and when asked a technical question about a product, I simply regurgitated an answer a colleague had previously given because I had little personal experience and didn’t want to come across like I didn’t know the answer.
Not surprisingly, Peter had a lot of challenging followup questions that I couldn’t provide any satisfactory responses for. A valuable lesson was learned that day: It’s all right to say “I don’t know.” From Peter’s perspective it has always been about making the best information available to the Ontario farmer so they can make the best decisions for their operations. That comes with experience and wisdom, and since that encounter I have made it a priority to talk less (which can be debated) and learn more from others in Ontario agriculture so as to gain more experience. This will be a lifelong pursuit.
Lastly, I became a colleague of Peter’s about 12 years ago and it has been invaluable. I will miss him because of his fierce loyalty to those he works with and for. I will miss him because of his incredible support, especially when things haven’t gone as planned. I’m excited for what he will do next because I have no doubt that it will benefit the agricultural community in some way.
