Jason Bradley
The functioning of nature-based systems for food production, the idea of innovation and co-creation, the practice of design thinking, and a predisposition for connecting and serving people has led Jason Bradley through a non-linear career with experience in high-tech manufacturing, agriculture production, applied research, ag tech innovation, and ecosystem development. As a fifth-generation Albertan and a first-generation cattle rancher, Jason has developed a drive for understanding and demonstrating the practice of nature-based systems, leading to his passion for understanding and implementing regenerative agriculture systems.
Jason’s experience includes 19 years as the ranch manager at Red Deer River Ranches, a 50,000-acre cow/calf grazing operation on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies in west-central Alberta. Subsequently, he spent five years as the director of Smart Agriculture and as farm manager at the Olds College Smart Farm where he was asked to design and implement a vision to integrate the applied research and academic components of the college to the enterprise-scale crop and livestock production enterprise on the entire 3,300-acre farm.
Most recently, Jason led an ag tech company through the commercialization of a soil carbon measurement technology to provide growers with regenerative-based knowledge to drive decision making towards increased profitability, improved functional soil health, and enhanced nutrient density of the food they are growing.
Most recently, Jason led an ag tech company through the commercialization of a soil carbon measurement technology to provide growers with regenerative-based knowledge to drive decision making towards increased profitability, improved functional soil health, and enhanced nutrient density of the food they are growing.
Jason also recently completed his Master of Arts in Transformational Servant Leadership at Trinity Western University where he researched how collaboration, team leadership, and people development are integral to the practice of transformational servant leadership and its values and ethics.
My agriculture production experience comes from divergent experiences, all of which have informed and enriched my regenerative journey. However, it was during the last three years of my tenure at the 50,000-acre Red Deer River Ranches that I realized success in managing the ranch wasn’t about just doing things better, it was about changing the way I was seeing things.
It was this perspective that led me to design an adaptive multi-paddock grazing and gravity-fed water system across the pastures around the main ranch. By the end of the third year, I was able to measure a three-fold increase in forage production and utilization without the use of any synthetic inputs. This significant improvement left me convinced that a regenerative agriculture systems approach would allow any ranch to be more profitable and create resiliency in the soil
and the business.
Today, as an Understanding Ag consultant, I’m delighted to combine my practical, on-the-ranch experience with my data, research and technology background to help my clients, my fellow ranchers, grow more profitable enterprises, as well as more nutritious food and hopeful futures.