Producers

Entrepreneurship drives outstanding young farmers in B.C.

The Bears (let with their daughter) and the Vaandragers.

Jan. 13, 2017 – After graduating from high school, Gary Baars hung up a shingle as TNT Agri-Services, offering “relief milking and much more.” “Much more” soon started becoming a reality and on Jan. 11th, the now 33-year-old Chilliwack, B.C. dairyman, hay salesman and cattle dealer and his wife, Marie…

Quebec and Atlantic families named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016

Pictured (left to right): Komie Hossini (Bayer), Teresa Garside (John Deere), Jennifer and Andrew Lovell (Atlantic Canada winners), Célia Neault & Dominic Drapeau (Quebec winners), Arvid Dhar (CIBC) and Luanne Lynn (COYF president).

Dec. 7, 2016 - Andrew and Jennifer Lovell of Keswick Ridge, N.B. and Dominic Drapeau and Célia Neault of Ste-Françoise-de-Lotbinière, Que. have been named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016. These two farm families were chosen from seven regional farm couples across Canada at OYF’s national event last week in…

New chair for Chicken Farmers of Canada

Benoît Fontaine from Stanbridge Station, Que., is the latest chair of Chicken Farmers of Canada.

Nov. 28, 2016 - On Nov. 24, 2016 the board of directors of Chicken Farmers of Canada (CFC) elected Benoît Fontaine of Stanbridge Station, Que. as its chair.Fontaine most recently served as the 1st vice-chair of the CFC executive committee. He initially joined the board of directors in 2013 as…

From field to flock

Jerry Mandel (above) and his father John have been successful with integrating crop and poultry units.

In 2014, Canadian farmers produced more than 595 million dozen eggs per year and had eight straight years of sales growth. According to a recent study by Egg Farmers of Canada, it takes 69 per cent less water and half the amount of feed today to produce a dozen eggs,…

Nova Scotia - Nick de Graaf

Nick de Graaf’s broiler and turkey operation is 100 per cent self-sufficient in corn for rations, and he’s working on increasing soybean acreage.

Nova Scotia broiler producer Nick de Graaf passed several significant milestones in 2008.First, he bought out his father’s share in the Annapolis Valley poultry farm founded by his Dutch grandfather in the early 1960s in Kings County, Nova Scotia, between Canning and Port Williams. Next, Nick bought more quota, increasing…

Adrian and Jodi Roelands Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016

Sept. 26, 2016 - Adrian and Jodi Roelands of Roelands Plant Farms Inc. have been selected as Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016. The winners were announced at the Ontario regional event in Stratford, Ontario on Sept. 13.Roelands Plant Farms Inc. is a greenhouse in south western Ontario where Adrian…

Alberta - Susan Schafers

For Susan Schafers, the choice to go cage-free in 2007 was obvious. “At the time, my father still owned the quota, and he downsized from 30,000 to 7000 layers,” she explains. “For that smallish flock size, free-run made sense financially. And also, my brother, Martin Kanehl, was selling poultry…

New Brunswick - TJ Harvey

Very few Canadian farmers schedule their farm projects around when the House of Commons is sitting in Ottawa. But that’s the case for New Brunswick egg farmer and Member of Parliament, TJ Harvey. By the end of June when the House adjourns, TJ will break from his hectic travel schedule…

Manitoba - The Froese Family

Sometimes in life we have to wait for things, but they are worth it. In Vernon Froese’s case, it was broiler quota that he waited for, first applying while he was still in high school in 1969. “I knew there were about 30 or 35 people ahead of me at…

Ontario - Clair Doan

Clair Doan with his daughters, (L to R) Camryn, Sophia and Charlotte.

Clair Doan wears many hats – family man, banker, turkey farmer, and most recently, Nuffield Scholar. Both raised on dairy farms, he and his wife Kathryn love working with people and in the agricultural industry – he as a regional Associate Vice President of Agricultural Banking for National…

Andrew Campbell receives “Farm & Food Care Champion” award

April 13, 2016 – Andrew Campbell of Strathroy has been named the 2016 recipient of the Farm & Food Care Ontario Champion Award. The award was presented at Farm & Food Care’s annual meeting on April 13 by Bruce Christie, a Farm & Food Care board member. Campbell was nominated…

B.C. poultry and egg producers named 2016 B.C. & Yukon Outstanding Young Farmers

(L to R) interim BCOYF chair Sara Harker, 2016 BCOYF winners Jewel and Brian Pauls, and incoming BCOYF chair Troy Harker. Photo by David Schmidt January 14, 2016 - Chilliwack B.C. poultry and egg producers Brian (37) and Jewel (35) Pauls have been named the 2016 B.C. & Yukon Outstanding Young…

Ovila Lebel inducted into Agricultural Hall of Fame

The late Oliva Lebel was inducted into the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame

November 24, 2015 - The late Oliva Lebel was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame at a special awards banquet on November 22, 2015 in conjunction with Canadian Western Agribition. Other 2015 inductees are Dr. Ron DePauw, the Hon. Grant Devine, the late Edgar Ward Jones, and Anthony…

Vic and Judy Redekop – British Columbia

Vic had the job of delivering feed to his family’s broiler and turkey farm, and that’s how he met his wife Judy, who used to skip school and accompany him. Aldergrove, B.C., turkey and chicken grower Vic Redekop has seen a lot of changes in his 60 years – watching…

Art and Elaine Pruim – Saskatchewan

Art and Elaine Pruim made the move to Saskatchewan to continue farming, adding poultry to the mix.

In the late 1990’s, Art and Elaine Pruim were living in Abbotsford, British Columbia when they made a life-changing decision. They would uproot and move two provinces over to Saskatchewan, hoping that their choice would be the right one for their growing family in the immediate and long-term future.…