John DePutter
PRESIDENT, DePutter Publishing Ltd.
First, I’d like to give you a bit of history. In the late 1970s I was working as Secretary-Manager for the Middlesex Federation of Agriculture in London Ontario, while finishing up my Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Ontario. I also took on a part-time position with CFPL Radio, broadcasting farm news and market reports.
The radio work was exciting. Farmers were in the early stages of learning about commodity futures and were anxious to hear the latest forecasts. Buoyed by the commodity boom of the early ‘70s, they craved to discover more about hedging, forward contracting, basis contracting and other marketing tools. I became enthralled with all this. I took a course on the commodity marketing at Ridgetown College and read books, attended seminars in the U.S., interviewed experts and so-called gurus from across North America and charted the markets.
In 1981 I established DePutter Publishing Ltd. and the AG-ALERT service to provide Ontario farmers with market information and analysis. I taught courses for several colleges - learning as I did so - and became a sought-after speaker and freelance writer. Since then I have had the remarkable experience of speaking in almost every province in Canada, dealing with farmers coast to coast.
The years have been rewarding, although certainly not easy. This is a challenging business. With support from my Vice President Ranulf Glanville, the long-time support from Wayne MacLean and a long list of valued clients, we have managed to impart what we feel has been useful market knowledge, theories and strategies - and we aim to continue doing so in the future.
The mission of this company today, as it has been for over 20 years, is to provide useful insight, analysis and recommendations for farmers and for the companies and organizations that work with them.
