EPISODE · Mar 12, 2021 · 41 MIN
An Architect Who Went Back to the Barn
from Growing the Future · host Patrick Verkley, Dan Aberhart
Patrick Verkley went to architecture school partly because he thought it would pay for a way back to the farm. It did, just not the way he planned.There was no room for him on the family's 150 acres and broiler barn, so he went to Waterloo for a Bachelor of Architecture. He had been doodling dairy barn layouts on graph paper since he was a kid. In a high school design class he found SketchUp and started modelling robotic milking barns. His dad looked at the screen and saw a business.What's Inside- How 3D modelling changes an expansion decision, and why seeing the yard before spending the money is worth more than the drawing costs- Why a dairy is not a building. It is cows, calves, milking, feed and manure flow, and optimizing one piece at the expense of the system is how a farm builds in the wrong constraint for thirty years- The structure he and his parents put together so he could acquire acres, build a modern broiler barn and custom crop alongside the home farm- Living with ADHD, the years of feeling demoralized before a diagnosis explained why, and how he now builds a business around what he is actually good at rather than fighting it- An Ontario perspective on the rural and urban divide, and his argument that agriculture is too small a population to win anything by demonizing the other side- Why he thinks progressive agriculture should be at the carbon table with technology and sequestration revenue rather than outside it saying noWant to learn more about Verkley Design and Modeling: https://www.verkleydm.comSay hi to Patrick on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pverkleyConnect with Growing the FutureWebsite: growingthefuture.caYouTube: Growing the FutureInstagram: @growingthefuturepodcastLinkedIn: Growing the FutureSubscribe to the Growing the Future Podcast wherever you listen, and register for Convergence Conference 2027 at convergence.ag. Register for the Convergence Conference at convergence.ag and stay updated by subscribing to the Growing the Future Podcast at growingthefuturepodcast.ca.
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What this episode covers
Patrick Verkley is President and CEO of Verkley Design and Modeling and farms broilers in Ontario. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Waterloo, a degree he pursued partly as a route back to a farm that had no room for him. In this conversation he explains how 3D modelling lets a farm see a yard expansion before committing millions to it, why designing structures in isolation builds in constraints that outlast the people who chose them, and how he structured an arrangement with his parents to establish his own broiler operation. He also speaks openly about an ADHD diagnosis that followed years of undiagnosed depression, and how understanding it changed the way he builds a business around his own strengths.
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An Architect Who Went Back to the Barn
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