Meet the man that is the silent backbone of the shop, keeping everything up & running - Toby Mandel, Farming Smarter Site Manager. Anyone that owns equipment needs a Toby. He can build, weld and maintain all the working parts needed to run just about anything in top shape.
"I enjoy working at Farming Smarter because I get to do what I enjoy every day," said Toby when asked about what he likes about Farming Smarter. "Even if that means spending more time inside of a combine, pulling out hemp, rather than on the combine harvesting."
His name comes up whenever someone starts a question with "I wonder if we could build... or Do you think we could get it to..." Toby is not afraid to at least try as long as you understand it might not be humanly possible. But if it is, he'll get it done.
Toby used to do the same at Hammond Ag Research where he kept its equipment around the shop & help seed plots when he's got the time!
Toby joined Farming Smarter in 2012 and we're happy to have him for the past decade, and we think Toby's happy to be here - or at least that's what he tells us!
What we do know is that Toby enjoys every aspect of his work at Farming Smarter as he gets to do what he enjoys doing for a purpose he supports. When something breaks at Farming Smarter, he's the one to fix it and get operations underway!
When Toby's not at Farming Smarter, he enjoys spending his time carving up meat. He's been butchering as a hobby for the past 30 years and grew up butchering on the family farm! Toby's favourite cut is pork ribs - easy to cut and delicious! Sometimes, he shares his excellent homemade sausage with his coworkers and that's why we will keep him for as long as we can! Well that and the equipment thing.