Phillip Harder grew up on a sheep farm near Clavet SK. Further appreciation and exposure to different aspects of agriculture were gained with experiences ranging from loading rail cars and mixing fertilizers for a major ag corporation, field operations, irrigation and potato handling on a seed potato farm, and operation of a small scale horticultural business. Currently he resides with his family on a small farm near Saskatoon, SK raising beef and goats.
Phillip trained in hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan graduating with a:
- BSc (2008) Physical Geography
- MSc (2013) Physical Geography: "Precipitation Phase Partitioning with a Psychrometric Energy Balance: Model Development and Application"
- PhD (2018) Physical Geography: "Stubble-Snow-Soil-Atmosphere interactions on the Canadian Prairies"
Between 2008 and 2011 served he as a Data and Information Manager for the Drought Research Initiative based out of the University of Manitoba which was a multidisciplinary research network that investigated the causes, extent and impacts of the early 2000's drought on the Canadian Prairies.
Since 2018 he has been a PDF/Research Associate with the Centre for Hydrology at the University of Saskatchewan working for the Agricultural Water Futures and Transformative Sensor Technologies and Smart Watersheds projects of the Global Water Futures research program focused on observation and modelling of ag-water interactions in Canadian Prairies dryland systems and drone remote sensing.
Translating research into useful tools to improve agricultural outcomes and understand water related risks for producers is an ongoing interest.
