28 Our Advertisers Appreciate Your Business Better Farming | April 2024 ‘IT’S LIKE DRINKING FROM A FIRE HOSE’ After a tech career, Heath Fairley returned to the family farm. By Emily Croft UP CLOSE After 20 years of working in the software industry, Heath Fairley returned to the family farm. Heath and his brother Blair partnered 13 years ago to form Fairley Bros AG Ventures, a grain farm near Baldwinton, Sask. “I graduated high school in the mid-’80s and at that time, farms were struggling. My dad farmed, and as I was finishing high school, he said that he couldn’t afford to have both sons on the farm – so I’d have to find something else to do,” says Heath. “When I graduated high school, I was interested in computers, so I applied to technology schools. I went to Saskatchewan Technical Institute in Moose Jaw for business data processing. It was a software and computer programming two-year course. “I started working as a software developer, and by the time I left, I had worked up through the ranks and was VP of Software Services-Americas for the company I worked for.” Heath worked all over the world while developing and installing telephone billing software, including Edmonton, Toronto, Los Angeles, Heath and Mia Fairley. Alte Studios photo
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