I grew up on a farm five miles northeast of a little village, Plum Coulee, MB where I watched my father, several hired hands, and my brother farm. Dad went by the Henry or [H. C.] Siemens planted at least a thousand acres back in 1960 growing wheat, oats, barley, flax, field peas, sunflowers, and whatever other variety he could get his hands on a foundational and commercial seed grower.

I can remember driving car or truck at the age of ten or 11, and the Ford tractor with eight harrow sections behind to harrow after dad or my brother had planted. Often, dad would be waiting at the one room country school at 3:55 PM so I could get back on the tractor.

At the age of 13, I umpired my first men’s fastball game together with my father. Since then I’ve umpired more than 1,500 ball games, all ages, baseball, fastball, and slow pitch.

From 1965 through 1975, I farmed with my father and brother, although I chose to get an education during this time and started my career as a farm broadcaster in 1971.

During this period, I also became involved as a lay minister in my local church, then pastoring another church for seven years, and continuing a music ministry in our church’s men’s quartet,l which I continue to this day.

While choosing the farm broadcast career early on, 14 years in radio, nine years as host of the Manitoba Farm Report on the MTN TV network in Manitoba, and speaking, training in effective communications, sales, and presentation skills, being a farmer’s advocate was always at the top of the list. My tagline on Twitter – As a freelance farm journalist and podcaster, I help farmers and ag people tell their stories one person at a time. I want to help you to understand yours is what I’m about today. Whereas I used to follow everything in farming, every segment, today I pick and chose. Today there are three publications that I started writing for when they published their first edition. The Prairie Hog Country, the AgriPost in Manitoba, and now the Morden Winkler Voice in southern Manitoba. Each one, while overlapping somewhat, is in a unique market, at least from my perspective.

My wife Judith and I hosted our first tour to Europe in 1983, then on to Hawaii in 1984. In 2006, we started to host tours for an American firm R and J Tours from Wilmar, MN which we did for the next ten years. Our farm-related travels have taken us halfway around the world, learning and participating different cultures, using our mother tongue German sometimes, and writing about those experiences. I once asked a friend, also a communications specialist to write my bio for my website Siemenssays.com. Harry Siemens, communicator extraordinaire, interacts with his vast agricultural audience through speaking, writing, and commentating. As an advocate for the farmer, he creates an awareness of what is happening in agriculture and provides a rare edge, never afraid to express his own informed opinion. With his experience of more than 46 years, people respect and trust him to provide the most relevant and current farm information consistently.

As an independent farm communicator and farmer advocate, Harry comments on the news and gives his own opinions to the public daily through various media outlets. Along with his popular website publishing to 5700 people on Twitter and 11,700 on LinkedIn, he writes for numerous publications across Canada as already mentioned.

As a commentator, I try to give you more than the story. Enhancing the story with an opinion, he provides a perspective on the possible or actual direct effect of the issue on the reader or listener.

In the United States, Harry appears regularly with Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson on This Week in Agribusiness, seen and heard weekends on the RFD-TV Network, giving the Canadian perspective. He works in close cooperation with Lynn Ketelsen and Linda Brekke to share the issues that face producers in Canada on the Linder Farm Network, heard on over 40 radio stations in Minnesota. Ratings show this to be the most-listened-to half-hour farm broadcast in the United States.

My faith is fundamental to me, and I enjoy sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherever I go through the written word, music, and sharing it in churches, and seniors homes. • — By Harry Siemens