Author: viewfromtheranchporch

Dear Sask Roughriders, don’t you want me as a fan anymore??

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It rained a lot last week. And when it rains here on the ranch, it means we typically have a little more time for TV watching. This also also happened to be the week that A&W Canada launched their latest commercial – one that is breaking all the parts of my heart – the beef producer section as well as the sports fan section.

Like everyone growing up in Saskatchewan, we bleed green around here. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are our team, through and through. In good years and in bad years, we have loyally cheered them on, and loved every second of it. In fact, one of our very first dates as a young couple was at a Rider game.

But this week, the sight of the Rider symbol is making me clench my teeth in frustration. Something I never thought could happen.

Weeks ago I knew that A&W was at a game filming. This was sad enough to me, knowing that as a company, they have chosen to promote fear over science in their food. As a Canadian beef producer, I have spoke frequently about their decision to source the majority of their beef from far away countries, rather than from here in Canada, where some of the best beef in the world is raised. But I was not prepared for that very A&W commercial to showcase something far worse than imported beef that they can stamp some scientifically dubious labels on – because let’s face it – all beef is good beef, even if I don’t love the intentions behind the label.

No, this commercial is far worse than I had braced myself for. It’s for the Beyond Meat burger, and for so many reasons, is a direct slam to the hard working, dedicated, honest, beef producers in Saskatchewan. The very people buying Roughrider tickets.

Now, let me set one thing straight, I am all for a good veggie burger. For those who cannot, or chose not, to eat meat, a veggie burger is an awesome option. We are blessed here in Saskatchewan to have almost unlimited food choices, and plant based protein is a great option. Our farms here also grow amazing pulse crops, which (in theory), could be made into plant based burger patties. Options are awesome. I think that plant based proteins are the special teams of our diet here (to keep with the football theme).

But the Beyond Meat burger is a different story. It is no surprise to me that A&W and Beyond Meat teamed up so quickly. They are both dedicated to marketing based on “fear the other” rather than promoting their own merits, and to top it off, Beyond Meat doesn’t even help out our pulse producers here in Saskatchewan. Their patties are made in a USA factory, using their own ingredients. As for our beef producers here – Beyond Meat has made it their mission to smear beef production. To slander the way cattle are raised. To paint the people (like myself and my family) as those who care little for the environment, and are willfully destroying it.

For the Saskatchewan Roughriders to play a part in this narrative is breaking my ranching heart.

I cannot begin to count the dollars that this ranch has spent on Roughrider tickets. The thousands spent over the years on merchandise. The fact that we are raising the next generation of Roughrider fans, who also happen to be young beef producers in their own right.

For the past week, as that commercial played, I had to turn the channel. I can’t watch. But yet I have never left a Rider game early.

So, with all of this, I have a couple questions for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Do you value me as a fan? As a customer? Are you comfortable with telling people that what I do, in raising beef, is bad? What is next? A smear commercial on the oil and gas industry? Would you lend your logo to that?

I believe that Saskatchewan Beef Producers are noble people. They care about the animals, the land and the earth. They are focused every single day on raising the best food possible for their own families as well as the world. But now I wonder – do the Saskatchewan Roughriders feel the same? Today, I don’t believe they do.

30 Harvests

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I feel beat up.

I feel like the world has turned their backs on me, my family, and our livelihood.

I am so damn proud of the work we do here on the ranch. The way we care for our animals, the beef we put on people’s plate, the way we are improving our land, our soil and the environment. But, the media has decided that we are the bad guys, and no matter how hard we try, they refuse to see the good parts of what we do.

But I also refuse to let that stop me. I refuse to go quiet. I will continue to reach out. To share. To connect. The way we farm and raise beef has an amazing story to tell, and I will continue to tell it.

Today, when I saw Jay Hill’s short film, it brought tears to my eyes. In public. It shows the exact struggles I have felt over the past year. Please, take the 5 minutes to watch it. Tell me what you think. Did it affect you the way it did me?

Watch Jay’s video Here.

This Is What Farm Stress Looks Like.

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This is what farm stress looks like for us. An empty feedyard amidst a grass and forage production crisis.

This spring has been unlike any other in our decades of farming. Drought combined with late, hard frosts, has resulted in almost no grass and forage growth across the ranch.

We have had farming seasons before that turned us upside down. We have survived BSE – when a sick animal from a different farm in a difference province cause the bottom to fall out of the beef market – and the value of every animal on our farm dropped to pennies. We survived the early 2004 frost, when every acre of our grain farm froze in the fields. Those moments will be forever etched in our minds, as they will for many of our fellow farmers. We have survived floods, a lightning strike to our cattle herd, trade wars and more. We know and understand farm stress as well as anyone.

But this spring is different. Our ranch is built around forage production. Over the years, that has ranged from high to low, and everywhere in between, but we have NEVER experienced zero production, and it is weighing heavy on our shoulders.

More than the financial hit we are taking, more than the uncertainty of what the best course forward is, there is such a weight of responsibility on us. The responsibility of having living, breathing animals relying on our decisions is immense. Crushing. We need to know that we have enough feed to nourish the animals in our care for not only the summer, but also the looming winter months as well.

We are already selling off animals, so they can be shipped out of province to parts of the country that still have feed. While it hurts to sell at a financial loss, moving those animals off the farm will free up what little feed we have for the animals that are left.

So we will make the best decisions that we can. We will remind ourselves that the struggles of our past have made us better farmers. We will knuckle down and pray for rain. We will look for ways to manage our stress as best we can. But – that pit in our stomach, the strained smile on our faces, the sleepless nights and the grouchy attitudes – those will be with us for a while. This is what farm stress looks like.

A Mother Allows Her Children To Walk Into A GMO Field Sprayed With Glyphosate. You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next. 

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It was a beautiful summer day, the perfect day for a family road trip to the lake cabin. A mother and her two children had packed the car, and hit the road for a weekend of fun. Along the way, they stopped on a quiet country road to picnic beside a field of beautiful yellow flowers. They snacked and frolicked without a care in the world. 

For those of you who know about Canadian agriculture, you will know that these yellow flowers are a crop called Canola, grown for it’s oil, much of which is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), and sprayed with Glyphosate. 

So, as the children played, and smelled the beautiful flowers, and their mother looked on, what happened? 


Well, the simple answer is – absolutely nothing. 

You see, as a farmer herself, the mother understood that GMO plants held no risk to her children. Her university education and science background taught her that a field previously sprayed with Glyphosate held no more toxicity for her children than a field sprayed with salt water, which actually has a higher toxicity level. 

That mother knew that Glyphosate and GMO are scary sounding words, but science and research hold far more weight than any fearful scare tactic or headline she may see online. 

That mother, who loves her children more than anything on this planet, allowed them to smell those flowers with confidence in agriculture, confidence in science, and confidence in the farmer responsible for that particular field.

I am that mother. Those are my children. And I am thankful every single day for the science that allows farmers to grow bountiful, nutritious and delicious food that I can feed my children. 

Important Note: Never, ever enter a farmers field without permission. Not only are the crops in those fields their livelihoods, but only the farmer can tell you if it is safe to be in that particular field at that particular time. 

When Ranchers And McDonald’s Spend A Week Together, Amazing Things Happen!!

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Many of us have enjoyed a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but have you ever glimpsed at the business behind the burger? Have you ever wondered how the beef gets from farms and ranches into those juicy, beefy sandwiches? (Are burgers really sandwiches??)

This April, I had a rancher’s dream opportunity. A chance for a behind-the-scenes peek at McDonald’s business. An insider’s view into not only their corporate executive minds, but also a chance to speak with their restaurant owners – those with boots on the ground, literally selling the beef from my very ranch.

In theory, cattle ranchers and the burger giant McDonald’s should go together like peanut butter and jelly – but in reality, there is rarely a direct connection between retails and those who raise the beef that they are selling. As food producers, we have made a concerted effort in the past few years to connect with the people who consume our food, but have somehow skipped over those who are selling it.

Full disclosure, I have been a huge fan of the McDonald’s organization for many years now. They have treated Canadian beef producers in a way that no other end user ever has before. Beyond their commitment to serving Canadian grown food to Canadian people, McDonald’s has done so much more. In a world of fear based marketing, McDonald’s has risen above and embraced the primary producers of food. Their “Not Without Canadian Farmers” campaign has filled farmers and ranchers from across Canada with pride. So, when I was invited to Orlando to attend the McDonald’s World Wide convention, I didn’t just jump at the opportunity – I leapt.

 


The convention itself was a once in a lifetime experience. There were 15,000 people from all over the world registered. To put that into perspective, the population of people attending the conference was more than 23 times larger than Ituna, the town we ranch near. The conference population would have been in the top handful of largest cities in our entire province. It was BIG.


My purpose for attending this massive event was twofold. I would have opportunities throughout the week to meet and talk with McDonald’s executives, their greatest minds who keep the global wheels of their entire organization rolling. From supply chain to communications, I was to have the unique chance to share with them my thoughts on how to bridge the gap between beef producers and consumers. I was also going to spend time in the Sustainable Beef booth speaking with restaurant owners and corporate McDonald’s people about what sustainability means to my own ranch.


From the first session (which happened to feature a surprise performance by Pitbull), I had an entirely new appreciation for their commitment as an organization to sustainability. There, on a stage in front of thousands and thousands of people, global CEO Steve Easterbrook spoke of their Scale for Good commitment. As the largest restaurant company in the world, they saw that they could create positive change in a way that no one else could. They could make changes within their own restaurants, as well as within their supply chains, which could have ripple effects across the globe. He spoke of this with pride, as well as determination. It would not be an easy task, but it was a noble one.


It made me think back to when McDonald’s first launched their Sustainable Beef Pilot here at home. It was a ground breaking approach, for an end user to come to us, as an industry, and say “Here is our goal. Let’s work together to figure out the best way to get there.” By all accounts the project was a huge success, and has now transitioned to being a part of the Canadian Round Table for Sustainable Beef. There is also now the Canadian Beef Sustainability Acceleration Pilot with Cargill and partners like Verified Beef and BIXS, which brings the work that McDonald’s started even further along. All along, McDonald’s vision has not been about creating an elite brand of beef to market, it has been about helping beef producers learn from each other and to grow as an industry.

Being on the enourmous conference floor helped me see McDonald’s restaurant owners in an entirely new light. The scope of their business is not unlike that of a large farm. There were booths for drink dispensers, uniforms, print material, insurance, banking, cleaning supplies, and on and on and on. Chatting with many restaurant owners, it was a complete surprise to find that succession planning was just as big of an issue in their business as it is in my own.

Spending time one on one with those owners, also helped me see that they are as disconnected from food production as consumers are. It was absolutely fantastic to see just how excited each one was to hear directly from a beef producer, and to get a little glimpse into a cattle ranch. Cargill, who makes all of Canada’s patties for McDonald’s, had created an amazing 360 degree video showcasing beef production from ranch to feedlot to processing plant and through to patty plant. It was a huge eye opener for each person to see, and was incredibly fun for myself, to be able to guide them through the video with anecdotes from my own farm. Every single time that I introduced myself as Adrienne, a Cattle Rancher from Canada, I was met with the same huge smile and exclamation of “No way!! That’s amazing!!” It was heartwarming to see not only the excitement of people wanting to talk to ranchers, but also that McDonald’s saw this need, and wanted to make sure that as many people as possible had the opportunity to learn from us. Yes, learn FROM us, not talk down to us. It was so refreshing, just thinking about it now has me craving a Big Mac….

 

Corporate Executive VP, Francesca DeBiase believes in beef producers. She made me feel as though we are on the same team.

I was amazed with how much their corporate executives wanted to chat with us ranchers, and how much they valued our opinions. We sat down with many of their corporate staff to share our views on how we thought McDonald’s could continue to do business with beef producers. The idea that they not only wanted to bridge the gap between their beef producers and their customers, but wanted our opinions on how best to do that, gave me goose bumps. These people, including the Corporate Executive Vice President herself, Francesca DeBiase, as well as many other vice presidents, directors and managers of McDonald’s global business, deeply valued our boots on the ground experience.

 

Corporate VP, Sustainability Keith Kenny walked the trade show with me, highlighting Scale for Good sustainability projects.

From McDonald’s Canada’s CEO, Chief of Marketing VP and General Council VP, each were thrilled to meet and chat. I met a man  who works in their HO treasury branch. I asked him about how they hedge markets and peg currency to lower their risk. He was shocked and amazed to hear that farmers need to be experts in these areas as well, and that we, as producers, need to be constantly managing our exposure to markets. He had never thought of agriculture as that kind of business before. It was a great conversation.

It was a week that filled me with pride in the food I am producing, as well as excitement for the future of the beef industry. In my eyes, those golden arches are glowing pretty bright these days, in ways that this country girl would never have expected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Are All Broncos

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Yesterday, our small Saskatchewan world was rocked by the news of the kind of horrific accident that every parent fears on some level. 

A bus filled with an exuberant, not to mention talented, hockey team of 16 to 21 year old young men was in a terrible accident on route to what was meant to be an exciting and jubilant playoff hockey game. 

Just shy of their destination, on a crossroads not too far from my home farm, fate intervened and 15 lives were suddenly and tragically lost forever. The 14 surviving boys were each rocked with significant and critical injuries. 

As the news spread, the collective hearts of Saskatchewan broke as though they were one. 

For the past 24 hours, I, and everyone I know, have been unable to think of anything else. Whether or not we had a personal connection to those on that bus, it and it’s precious cargo have not strayed from our thoughts. 

Saskatchewan may be large geographically, but our population is not. We are one big small town at heart. A neighbor’s loss is our loss. When a neighbour greives, we greive. But this loss is more. This loss is deeper. This loss has rocked each of us to our core. 

You see, those boys were so much more than hockey players. They were heroes. 

As a proud hockey mom, I have spent countless hours watching my son’s passion and dedication to the sport grow. I’ve watched him spend hours on end perfecting his shot in the basement net, and drove miles and miles to cheer him on at games. I have watched him examine every move that his favourite junior hockey player makes, and then emulate those same moves on repeat, until he has them perfected. Those junior hockey player heroes, were some of those lost yesterday. 

As that bus pulled out of Humboldt for the final time yesterday, in Saskatchewan  there was not a minor hockey player that hasn’t dreamt of being on that bus. These young men and their dedicated coaches were living the lives that my son and his own teammates dream of every single night. They were hockey heroes. 

Those who’s lives were lost were in the prime of their lives. From the 20 year old team captain, Logan Schatz, to the 16 year old rookie, Adam Herold, who was called up to play in this important game, these young men were examples of great leadership in their community. To learn more about each of them, see more here. 

Anyone who has had the fortune of being a part of a hockey team, either as a player, parent or coach, knows that your team becomes your family. Your teammates are your siblings, their parents your defacto parents. This knowledge only makes the heartbreak that much deeper for those who survived. They and every family involved with the Humboldt Broncos all lost so, so much. Too much. 

As our tears fall, and our province and our entire country pull together in this time of great sadness, I keep a beautiful picture in my mind. I have a picture of those boys on the most perfect sheet of ice, skates laced, taking shots with legend Gordie Howe, under the watchful eye of their caring coaches. I can almost hear the tinkle of laughter floating across the ice…. 

May your shots be bar down forever. 

Please, please – take a moment and donate to the Go Fund Me page supporting the families of this tragedy.

Weaning Day!!

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It’s weaning day! (Or at least one of them….)

Today we are taking one group of around 300 cow/calf pairs and sorting them off.

Once the calves are separated from the cows, we will “process” them – where we weigh each individual calf, vaccinate them, treat them for internal and external parasites (like worms or lice), and sort them into heifer or steer pens.

Weaning is the one time of year that we expect the cattle to be loud. They are unhappy about being separated, and cattle vocalizing is a sign of stress. We avoid stress on our cattle as much as possible, as stress causes illness.  That being said, we have learned a lot over the years about how to make this process easier for them. 

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You will hear in the video that the calves are actually quite quiet. The cows are unhappy, and showing it, but the calves seem quite content. A big part of this is the fact that we wean as late in the year as possible. Most of the cows have long since stopped milking, the calves diets will not have a significant change with weaning. 

Looks like the guys are almost finished the hard work, the sorting. Now it’s my turn to get my hands dirty and help set these calves up for healthy, productive lives that will help nourish not only our family, but yours as well. 

Why You Need To Care About The Sask Party Leadership Race (And What To Do About It)

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If you live in Saskatchewan, I am sure you have heard the news that our Premier, Brad Wall, has announced his impending retirement, and the search is on for the new leader of the Saskatchewan Party. 

I don’t know about you, and perhaps it’s a result of my age, but I have never taken an active part in party (any political party) politics before. I’ve always seen party leadership races as something for the super engaged politico’s to deal with. Something for “those in the know” to decide. 

This leadership race is very, very different. This leadership race is unlike any other in modern Saskatchewan history. You see, our vote in the Saskatchewan Party leadership race is not only deciding the future leader of the party. It is not only deciding the face of one single party. THIS leadership race, this party election, will determine Saskatchewan’s next Premier. So, for Saskatchewanians, whether you vote in this race or not, whether you feel “in the know” or have been watching with slight, side eye interest, the results of this election WILL be the leader of not only the Saskatchewan Party, but also of our entire province. When you realize this, you will also realize just how important it is to have your say, insert your influence, by taking the opportunity to vote. 

So how do you vote? 

The only requirement to voting is very simple – purchase a membership to the Saskatchewan Party. This is not a life long commitment, you are not signing away your first born child, or even committing a vote for their party in the next general election. To have your say in who our next Premier is, all you need is a simple $10 membership. But here is the kicker – YOU NEED TO PURCHASE YOUR MEMBERSHIP BEFORE DECEMBER 8th!!! 

How to buy a membership? It’s easy!! Click right HERE, and it will take you right to the page on the Saskatchewan Party’s website where you can purchase one. 

Another little known tidbit – your kids can vote too!! There are Youth Memberships available for people aged 14–18, and their memberships are only $5. 

Then what? 

Voting will happen later in January. A ballot will be sent to your mailing address for you to fill out and send back to the party. It is not the same as a general election. In this case, you get to vote for more than one candidate. This is a preferential ballot – where you not only get to choose your top choice, but also your second, third, and fourth, choice (and so on), if you so choose. 

I have been very vocal in my support of Alanna Koch. She is someone who has inspired me for many years. Not only is she a strong, fiscal conservative, but she also brings balance to the equation. She understands that the reason we need a strong, vibrant business and investment friendly province, is to provide the backing for equally vibrant and efficient social service sectors, which allow the people of Saskatchewan to have the comfortable standard of living that we deserve. 

Having worked with Alanna in the past, she is someone who seeks to understand. Long before this leadership race, she made a point of touring our ranch in order to learn more about parts of agriculture she wasn’t as close to. She wanted to know more, and that is something you don’t often see outside of a leadership or political race. 

Alanna is a solutions based leader. In her work as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, as well as Deputy Minister to the Premier, she is someone who finds solutions, and will forge a path forward once the right solution is found. In short, she is an inspiration and, I believe, the right person to be our next Premier. 

I encourage you to have a look at each of the candidates, see who speaks to you, and buy a membership. Again, if you do not have a memebership by December 8th, you will not have a say in our next Premier. This may just be your most important purchase in December….

Balancing Leadership in Agriculture Requires Many Solutions

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Recently an Agriculture Commentator, Kevin Hursh, from right here in Saskatchewan, sparked a heated debate with a tweet commenting on what women need to do in agriculture. 

The quote he tweeted about was from Jen Christie, a respected woman in Ontario Agriculture. She was speaking at an event by Chatelaine Magazine, and was explaining the dynamics of board leadership in agriculture. 

This same tweet prompted a great discussion between myself and my husband. Aaron sits on many boards. He was asked to sit on every one of them them by experienced board members and executives. We listed off many of the (male) board members that we know. They were all asked to sit on boards. The local director for our Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association was first asked to run for that board. I have never been asked to sit on a board. The very long list of my confident, accomplished female friends have never been asked to sit on boards. This was a pretty simple light bulb moment for both of us. Board members need to be aware and look for great future board members of BOTH genders. It was a great discussion, one that Mr. Hursh did not seem to find in that quote. 

After receiving many questions and objections on Twitter, he then continued expanding on this opinion in a piece for a mainstream newspaper. Read it here. 

Over the course of the past week, I have written, then deleted, a snarky tweet response to Mr. Hursh at least a dozen times. I believed that a public spat over Twitter would do little good for myself, women in agriculture, or the industry as a whole. But upon reading his very public expansion, using terms such as victim mentality, I could no longer remain quiet. 

Since Kevin is (very obviously) not a woman in agriculture, I though that perhaps he could benefit from some context of what being a woman in today’s Ag industry actually looks like. Allow me to share some stories. 

A woman is told that the retail she is managing will quickly go to hell with a woman running the place – they would have been better with a toddler manager. The three other men in the office laugh and laugh, and comment that perhaps she best run the fertilizer blender in a skirt and heels. In the best interest of keeping the customers happy, of course. 

A man quietly walks (sneaks?) into a woman’s office while her back is turned to the door. He grabs her shoulders and proceeds to move his hands towards her chest. He is surprised at her anger, and makes comments about her need to “keep her customers happy” and to “not make trouble.”.

A woman is demoted for taking the standard maternity leave that the law affords her. With no warning and no discussion she is moved from a sales rep to a junior associate. 

A woman is at a commodity group meeting. She is told by three different men how odd it is that she is at the meeting instead of her husband. Would she not have been better off caring for the children so that he could be there? 

Do you think that these are isolated occurrences? Are these old school instances that no longer happen? Well, let me fill you in on a little secret. They were all me. Every single one. I am a woman in agriculture, and, at under forty, a fairly young one at that. That last example? It was last week. 

Now, perhaps you will think that by sharing these stories, I am falling into the “victim mentality” that Kevin referred to. I almost wish he had experienced a close up of his posterior posted on Ag Twitter to be examined and measured, as did a horrified young female summer student I spoke with last year. Perhaps he would understand that the hesitation to step up often has nothing to do with “victim mentality.”

The truth is that I have never spoken of these before. I have not complained or tattled, whined or whinged. I took each incidence for what it was, and made sure to make the best of each one. Sometimes you can laugh it off. Sometimes a fuss must be made. 

I know that I am not alone in these experiences. Just as I know that they have not ceased to occur. These instances, and my response to them, are experiences that I can share with younger women. Women who may not have my confidence, or my network to fall back on. 

Of Kevin’s opinion piece, I can point out some glaring mistakes. He did not get pulled into this discussion. He inserted himself into it, after reading a single tweet that he had no context behind. His generalization that “many women just aren’t interested in rural municipal politics or one of the many crop commissions” is pretty far off base, in my slightly more expert opinion. The women that I talk to are very interested. They are struggling to see the path onto many of these boards, for a multitude of reasons. 

I had the confidence to tell the grey hairs that I deserved to attend our regional meeting. I can only imagine their shock if I ran for a position. Fear of failure is not a reason to hold back, but it is a wall that needs to be climbed in order to move forward. Climbing such walls takes time, and an incredible amount of confidence. Kevin believes that these barriers are based on perception not reality, yet they still seem to leave a mark when we run ourselves into them. 

Mr. Hursh, I would like to believe that your intention was to inspire women to step up, rather than to tear down events and organizations that many women see value in, but let me assure you, that message was lost in your condescension. 

So here I am, as a confident, competent woman in agriculture, telling you, Kevin Hursh, that you do not get to tell me what it is that I need. There are many areas that I could learn from you and your valuable experience, but the struggles of being a woman is not one of them. 

Women and their personal experiences are as diverse as this amazing industry is. There is no one right answer in creating more balanced leadership. What does not help is bashing options. I, myself, have not attended many women focussed Ag events, but I would never belittle them as an option for those who seek their value. 

It is in the best interest of agriculture as a whole, for our boards and commissions to be diverse in both opinions and gender. It is a problem that they are currently not. Many issues require many solutions, but let’s all try to be part of the solution rather than the grey haired problem. 

#OurFoodHasAStory Post 31 Clinton Monchuk: My Food Story Is Also The Story Of Me

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It is the final day of Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan, but I ask each of you to continue to share your food stories throughout the year. This is something that I am sure today’s guest post author, Clinton Monchuk, would agree with. You see, beyond farming, Clinton also heads another of my favourite organizations, Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan. This is an organization devoted to helping consumers navigate through the multitude of food options by bringing them one step closer to the farmers who produced the food, and bridging that gap.

Follow Clinton on Twitter @cgmonch or Farm and Food Care SK @FarmFoodCareSK and visit their website here.  

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My Food Story

When I consider the many blessings this beautiful country of Canada has provided for my family and me, I feel it would be short sighted to not remember our past and how my food story has been formed. Similar to many prairie beginnings, the story of me is also my food story.My food story started at the end of WW1 when a young prisoner of war, my grandfather, left Eastern Europe in his early 20s in search of a peaceful country where food would be abundant. Canada’s promise of “utopia” still included its challenges. Although there was a lot of land, much of it had to be cleared of trees and broke to be made suitable for farming. I try to picture myself and my family breaking land in scorching heat of our summers with the labour done by hand. It is hard for me to imagine producing food for my family and others under the same conditions that he would have done it. Yet, he raised a family on 160 acres, which is roughly what I can plant now in 5 hours.


Sometimes we romanticize food production of the past and it’s simplicities but fail to recognize the difficulties. When there were crop failures from drought or early frost, the ability to support a farm family disappeared. This resulted in malnourishment, higher infant mortality rates and family members being more susceptible to disease. This concept is so far removed from our generation that it seems like a physical impossibility, yet it happened. One only has to read the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck to make an emotional connection to the hardships that occurred with farm families during this time.


My father took over the farm when he was 17 years old, after my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. As a young man he could identify the need to move forward and expand as other smaller farms were already falling by the wayside. Through the years not only did he and my mother raise six children, but they also expanded their land base, built a large scale dairy operation, increased their beef herd and dabbled in selling fresh fruits and vegetables. I remember numerous times being late to sporting events and family suppers as a result of a cow calving, taking her well-being and the well-being of the calf over the importance of whatever we were to attend. I can also appreciate the progression of grain farming from cab-less tractors and combines, to the comforts of cabs. I still have phantom scratches as I combine malting barley thinking of how my father would have had that chaff blowing around his face.

Growing up in agriculture allowed me to appreciate the sweat of the spring and summer, while reaping the rewards of harvest. The vegetable growing season was a busy time tending to the garden after the cows were milked by picking weeds and potatoes bugs, hoeing, hilling and the back-aching task of harvesting it all. But we also enjoyed all this fresh produce as a family. Some of my greatest memories of meal time are eating thick, juicy home-grown BBQ steaks with fresh potatoes smothered in cream and dill sauce, fresh lettuce picked an hour before supper, then topped off with fresh strawberries and cream with a touch of sugar. Hard to not read that and lick your lips!  


Fast forward to today and my food story continues. My brother and I are now in the process of taking over the family farm and our children and spouses are involved in the process. Our kids ride with us in the tractors and combines so they too can feel the appreciation of growing food. Gone are the days of cab-less tractors or combines, but producing food for our family and thousands of others is still in our blood.  


For me, my food story is the feeling of planting a crop, working with family, watching a calf being born, picking a fresh strawberry or smelling the settling dust during harvest, and it’s that feeling where I want my children’s food story to start.