Management Team
Agri-Trend Marketing draws on over 55 years of national and international trading experience in grain marketing.
Our Agri-Trend Market-Coaches are part of the Agri-Trend Network, and are based throughout Canada. Overall guidance is provided by our experienced management team who comprise of proven risk, logistical and senior analytical specialists.
Robert Saik
CEO, Agri-Trend Group of Companies
As founder and CEO of the Agri-Trend Group of Companies, Robert holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Alberta, is a Professional Agrologist and a Certified Agricultural Consultant.
Mr. Saik has prepared, published and delivered many technical papers, and has been featured in many industry publications. He has provided leadership in the area of strategic marketing to many firms including TD Canada Trust. Robert has travelled extensively in North America as well as the UK, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, the Middle East, Kazakhstan and Ukraine where he has been involved in a variety of projects and speaking engagements.
Robert is currently the Alberta Director for the Canadian Consulting Agrologists Association, is a member of the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce Agricultural Policy Committee, and is a Director for the Red Deer Chamber of Commerce.
In 1991 Robert received the President’s Award for outstanding contribution to the agricultural industry from the Western Fertilizer and Chemical Dealers Association and is the co-chair for the Canadian Association of Ag Retailers Conference in Calgary in February, 2007.
In 2006 he was recognized as Distinguished Agrologist of the Year by the Alberta Institute of Agrology.
Derek Squair
President, Agri-Trend Marketing Inc.
From an early age, Derek was brought up with a deep appreciation for agriculture and grain marketing. Driven by his inherited passion for grain marketing, Derek began his career in the Perdue facility, which had two main elevators and two satellite elevators; it also had a large fertilizer blending plant and was a major retail site for herbicides.
In 1994, Derek became Assistant Manager in Aberdeen Sask. There, he grew the business from one elevator and a small retail warehouse to include a new fertilizer blending plant and NH3 site, doubling sales and growing the largest business unit in the territory. In 1996, Derek was promoted to the Elevator Manager.
In 1997, Derek became General Manager at ConAgra’s Nokomis Inland Terminal, where he oversaw 15 grain elevator staff, and 3 marketing staff. Derek would later become Operations Manager of Canada, where he managed 4 inland grain terminals in western Canada. After six years with ConAgra, Derek went on to become Director of Operations of Terminal 22, a Cargill joint venture with an Inland Grain Terminal located in Balcarres, Saskatchwan. Faced with a mandate to improve the business’ profitability, Derek was instrumental in a major restructuring that not only achieved that objective, but earned the company a ranking of 67th on the Saskatchewan Top 100 Companies list two consecutive years. During his time as Director of Operations at T22, Derek also served as the Vice President of ITAC (Inland Terminal Association of Canada), where he participated with other agriculture industry leaders in developing policies for the Canadian Grain Commission and the Canadian Wheat Board.
From T22, Derek migrated to a different side of the agriculture when he was approached to be a partner in a John Deere Dealership with a Company called Cervus Limited Partnership. As a TSX publically traded company, Cervus LP raises capital to purchase existing privately owned dealerships across western Canada.
Sean Gatin
Vice-President, Agri-Trend Marketing Inc.
Sean Gatin lives in Winnipeg, MB with his wife Kimberly and daughter Stefanie. He entered the grain industry in 1996 after graduating with a BA from the University of Winnipeg. He worked throughout the prairies with two of the major grain companies before joining the malting industry. Sean added to his experience in value added agriculture by managing an oat processing facility. Sean has a wide range of trading experience merchandising most grains grown in western Canada. Sean is President of North American Food Ingredients Inc. and Director of Grain Marketing for the Port of Churchill. Sean is known for having many relationships in the agribusiness industry and he loves his work.
