Tyler Fulton is no stranger to hard work — a trait he now brings to his role at the Canadian Cattle Association
As a cattle rancher himself, Tyler Fulton is passionate about serving his fellow farmers and ranchers. In March of 2025, he was named the new president of the Canadian Cattle Association at the annual general meeting in Ottawa, Ont., allowing him to do so even more.
“I really feel fortunate to be in this role, to have the support that I have, and feel confident that I can represent the industry,” Fulton says.
Back to the farm
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Fulton grew up near Birtle, Man., helping on the family farm. When he left for university, it was always with the goal in mind of coming back to the farm.
Fulton earned his degree in agricultural economics at the University of Manitoba. He then got a job with Hams Marketing and was able to move back to the farm with his wife, Jill, in 2007. The couple welcomed twins shortly after.
After returning to the farm, he dove headfirst into the cattle business.
“It was the year that we had our kids… and so that was kind of the start of it.”
Fulton is the fourth generation to take over the farm. It started with his great-grandfather and then moved to his great-uncle when his great-grandfather went away to fight in the Second World War. Over the years, the farm came back to Fulton’s direct lineage.
The farm was growing back then and has continued to grow as Fulton and Jill have taken over. Currently, they run around 650 head in their main herd and try to keep all their heifers. They graze in the summer and feed a corn and hay winter ration, where they grow around 300 acres of corn. They also grow 500 acres of forages and have a crop enterprise of around 1,000 acres.
Because of Fulton’s involvement with CCA and his past involvement with the Manitoba Beef Producers, he has hired three employees to help manage the work on the ranch.
“The way it tends to work out is, I do chores in the wintertime, more often on the weekends, which means I can dedicate more time to more management responsibilities as well as the stuff with CCA when it comes up during the weekdays.”
Fulton still works part-time with Hams Marketing as the director of risk management. Hams Marketing serves the pork industry in Manitoba, and Fulton has worked for the company for 25 years. His main role is to develop strategies and help hog producers manage their risk.
“It’s kind of just been really flexible around my schedule.”
Industry involvement
It was Fulton’s off-farm job that initially made him want to get involved with policy work. As the director of risk management, Fulton spends much of his time helping hog producers manage price risk, and using futures and options to make tools to address that risk.
“That gave me some insight in terms of what really works and what doesn’t in the context of a business risk management tool.
“So, I felt confident in those areas already. And so, when I started getting involved on the policy side with both Manitoba Beef Producers and CCA, that’s kind of where I found most of my interest.”
Fulton has been involved with CCA since 2020 when he joined the board of directors. He became the vice-president in 2023. He has served as chair of both the foreign trade committee and the domestic agriculture committee.
Fulton has been involved with the Manitoba Beef Producers since 2019 when he joined the board of directors representing his area of district seven in Manitoba. He became the president in 2021 and currently serves as the secretary for the organization.
“My involvement with CCA started, I think about five years ago and so in the first two years or so, I wasn’t in a leadership position but was always really engaged.”
Challenges and opportunities
Now moving into the role of president at CCA, Fulton is keeping his attention on current challenges.
Primarily, he is focused on the U.S. tariffs and the potential issues they may cause the Canadian beef industry. When dealing with tariffs, Fulton is focusing on the business risk management tools available and how producers can mitigate tariff risk. CCA will also continue to communicate with the federal and provincial governments.
“It causes uncertainty. It is chaotic, and quite simply, represents the biggest threat to our industry that we’ve seen in decades, really, since BSE,” Fulton says.
Though tariffs are the number one priority for the CCA and Fulton right now, there are other things Fulton knows they must focus on too, such as the increased number of foot-and-mouth cases in Europe and across the world and new traceability regulations in Canada.
“I know that I’ve got specific skills and strengths in the areas of managing this tariff threat risk with respect to trade and risk management, which I know will serve me well. But we’ve also got to be doing other things.”
Despite the concerns regarding tariffs, Fulton sees many opportunities in the industry right now — especially regarding cattle prices and the current demand for beef.
“We’ve been so extremely fortunate that the demand for beef just remains so strong. We get so much support from consumers and know that they believe Canadian beef is safe, nutritious and sustainable and they love it. And so that is the biggest driver behind my optimism for the industry.”
Fulton is also looking forward to watching technology advance in the industry and seeing the future possibilities for artificial intelligence, genomic testing and advancements in machinery.
“The industry, in particular the grassroots producers, the cow-calf sector, has an opportunity to take some of those profits and invest it into their operations in some pretty cool tools.”
Future
Though there is much to accomplish, Fulton is ready for the challenge and looks forward to the future. He is excited to continue to do what he has always done throughout his time with CCA — attend industry events, connect with ranchers and industry professionals, and serve the ranching community.
“The best part about it is just meeting all of the great people that just are so motivated to make the industry better.”
The CCA has seen some other changes to its board since the AGM in March. Former CCA president Nathan Phinney has now moved into a past-president role on the CCA board. Sheila Hillmer and Doug Roxborough of Alberta and Jack Chaffe of Ontario retired from the board. Past-president Bob Lowe, who was at the helm through the pandemic, also retired.
