Art Froehlich grew up on a mixed livestock and crop farm near Rhein, Saskatchewan, certain from a young age that agriculture would be his life’s work. Over a career spanning roughly 50 countries, he has run companies, mentored entrepreneurs, and served on boards that shape how Alberta grows and exports food, work recognized with his 2022 induction into the Alberta Order of Excellence.
A Childhood Built Around 4-H and Curling
Arthur Klause Froehlich was born on December 7, 1953, in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, the eldest of five children raised on a family farm near Rhein that operated one of the region’s first feedlots. His father John had emigrated from Germany in 1950 and met Art’s mother Evelyn soon after; both became 4-H leaders, and Art joined the Yorkton Multiple Project Club at age 10, where he met Shirley Benjamin while competing against her in the 4-H beef show. The two also curled against each other, and when Art couldn’t beat her on the ice, he asked her out instead. They married in 1974. Art studied soil science at the University of Saskatchewan, a discipline he chose because he understood early that a healthy farm starts with healthy soil.
A Scholarship That Set a Global Course
After his first year of university, Art won a four-month scholarship to intern with shipping magnate Peter Dalgliesh’s companies in the United Kingdom, an experience that convinced him to build a career in international agriculture. Over the following four decades, he did exactly that, working in roles from Director of Sales and Marketing at Hoechst Canada to General Manager of Operations at Alberta Pool and President of Westcan Malting. A 1993 program at the Wharton School of Business helped him realize he was happiest running his own ventures, and he went on to invest in more than a dozen agriculture, food, and biological sciences start-ups.
Building AdFarm and Advising an Industry
In 2000, Art became president of AdFarm, the Calgary-based agricultural marketing communications company founded by two close friends, and helped it grow into a firm with international reach. According to his Alberta Order of Excellence profile, he has served on the boards of the Alberta Agricultural Research Institute, Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions Corporation, Genome Alberta, and Ag-West Bio, and was the first Thought Leader in Smart Agriculture at Olds College, where he helped establish the Smart Agriculture Ecosystem. His volunteer work has ranged from contributing soil science expertise to Chernobyl remediation efforts to conducting food audits for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and advising the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on using plants to stabilize eroding soils and waterways.
A Foundation Reaching From Calgary to Peru
Through the Froehlich Family Foundation, Art supports social agencies across Alberta and Canada, and his agronomy expertise helped create the Manchay Gardening School in the mountains outside Lima, Peru, where women learn to grow vegetables in arid, difficult terrain. The program has graduated 400 women so far. Art received the Distinguished Agrologist Award and the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005, was inducted into Alberta’s Bioindustry Hall of Fame in 2012, and received an honorary degree from Olds College in 2014. In 2022, he received the Rotary Paul Harris Fellow Award alongside his Alberta Order of Excellence induction. Art and Shirley live in Calgary with their two children, Lindsay and Robert, and two grandchildren.
What would Alberta’s agriculture sector look like if more young Albertans saw it the way Art Froehlich always has, as a place for every kind of career?
