Ferguson was a farmer in south-western Ontario and co-founder of the Lambton Pork Producers Association.
Ferguson's cabinet career was short-lived, however, as both he and the Turner government were defeated in the September 1984 federal election.
As a backbench MP, Ferguson participated in several trade missions as an advocate of export market expansion.
He was successful in his attempt to return to the House in the 1988 federal election having campaigned strongly against the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.
Ferguson did not run in the 1993 federal election, preferring to retire from politics and return to the farm where he was an active conservationist.