Mike grew up on his family’s cash-crop farm outside of Mitchell, ON, growing corn, soybeans, wheat, and edible beans. He remains an active contributor to the family farm in Mitchell, where he still resides with his wife and two young children. Mike graduated from the University of Guelph with an Associate Diploma in Agriculture, then became employed with Thompsons Limited (which later became Sylvite Agri-Services) shortly after, where he gained valuable experience as a sales agronomist and seed lead, which helped him establish a solutions-based approach to dealing with the complex world of crop production. He obtained the Certified Crop Advisor designation in 2008.