Benjamin J. McBain: A Pioneer In Alberta Farm Business Management

Farm Business Management as a professional practice is relatively new in the province of Alberta. It was not until 1962 that the University of Alberta established the Department of Rural Economy within its Faculty of Agriculture. Consequently, only the recent generation of Alberta professional Farm Business Management Specialists have had the opportunity to gain that status within their own province. Support for establishment of such a department within the University came not only from farm organizations, but also professionals working with farm managers within the province, on business management problems. One of these was Benjamin J. McBain B.Sc.(Agric). He was a participant in the establishment of Fluid Milk Price Control within the province, and spent most of his professional career as Head of Dairy Cost Studies, located at the University of Alberta, but employed by the Province. He soon discovered that cost accounting was an important key to successful farm management decisions, and the program was expanded to other types of farming, with increased staff. It became one of the important catalysts in the push for a Farm Management Extension component within the Alberta Department of Agriculture, and the establishment of the Department of Rural Economy at the University of Alberta. Both of these entities came into being in the early 1960’s, and have become institutions which are of strategic importance to the farming industry andfarm business management professionals. Ben McBain has willed a substantial portion of his estate to the University of Alberta for research in farm business management topics which are potentially useful to farm managers and professional farm business management advisors. It provides, into perpetuity, an annual scholarship of $12,000 which is available to the successful candidate for a two year period of post graduate training. The scholarship is named “The B. J. McBain Scholarship in Farm Business Management. ”