In June, Modern Farmer asked our community to tag interesting or inspiring young farmers. We received a lot of suggestions and wanted to share some of these farms and farmers with you. We asked each of them to tell us what makes their farm special, why they chose farming as a career, and what advice they would give to any future farmers.
This story is part of our Future Farmers series, highlighting the joys and hurdles of farming careers today.
Graeme Foers
Lost Meadows Honey and Bee Factory
Location: Essa Township, Ontario, Canada
Age: 33
Year of cultivation: 13
Tell us a little about your farm:
My farming season starts in early February with maple syrup. I make maple syrup the more traditional way using buckets and flat pans over an outdoor fire. Then the season shifts to bees with my first queen starting in early May. I produce about 100 queens a week for 12 weeks to sell to beekeepers across Ontario. My queens are bred for a number of traits, but the most important are hygiene, mite resistance, and wintering ability. In addition to the queens, my 200 hives produce honey from about mid-May to September. I keep my honey separate for each pasture and each month. This creates a variety of honeys that vary in flavor based on the type of flowers that are blooming and the amount that the bees are gathering. I try to keep my bees away from commercial agriculture to help minimize its impact on the bees and also to affect the flavor of the honey. I also own a small honey factory on the farm with my sister, we use the honey from my hives to make honey and have won several awards for this product at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto.
Why farming? What attracted you to this profession as a way of making a living?
I wanted to do something that I felt was meaningful in my life and that I felt I could leave behind as a contribution to society. For me, it was through beekeeping and specifically queen breeding. My first hive died and I was devastated. I decided that if I was going to keep bees again, I would never want another hive to die, so I would have to be the best beekeeper I could be. This led me to queen breeding and eventually queen breeding and finding bees that were resistant to varroa mites and other larval diseases, bees that were docile and could thrive in this changing climate.
Do you have any advice or insights for young people interested in farming?
Don’t stop believing in yourself, and try to surround yourself with people who believe in you. Don’t be afraid to be part of the change even if a more experienced farmer tells you that it’s not the way to do it or that it’s not the way it’s supposed to be done. Doing it your way could be the little difference you need to get customers to buy your product and gain market share.
What are the barriers to being a young farmer and how are you addressing or overcoming them?
The biggest hurdle for me is the extremely high cost of everything from equipment to land and everything else involved like fuel and gas. I had relatives lend me some money to buy equipment and I try not to expand too much at once so as not to stretch my resources too thin.
Keaton Sinclair and Alanna Carlson
AKreGeneration
Location: Treaty Six Territory at Fiske, Saskatchewan, Canada
Age: 32 and 33
Years of farming: 5 years (over 20 years of experience as a 3rd generation farmer)
Tell us a little about your farm:
We are connected to family farms and practice regenerative agriculture practices that prioritize plant and soil health. AKreGeneration is committed to restoring land for generations to come, acre by acre according to AKre. Using the seven generation principle, we remember those who have come before us and our decisions are guided by the seven generations that will come after us. Some of the different methods we use include: diverse crop rotations, cover crops, intercropping, low chemical use, biofertilizers and seed treatments, soil amendments, and livestock integration.
Why farming? What attracted you to this profession as a way of making a living?
We grew up farming with our families and thrive on working on the land and connecting and learning from the plants, animals and other farmers. We see regenerative farming as a way to listen to the land, improve soil health, natural ecosystems, plant nutritional integrity, improve profits and enhance our lifestyle. We are both educated and city-dwelling, but are drawn back to the land and want to farm in a way that is sustainable for us and the ecosystem.
Do you have any advice or insights for young people interested in farming?
Get your hands dirty and get experience working the land, any land. You may not get many clear answers if you ask for advice directly. Build relationships. Join groups and unions. Find farmers who will spend time talking or working with you so you can learn different methods and principles; everyone does things differently. Listen to their stories and wisdom and follow what you think fits your plan. Nothing happens in a hurry.
