Woodleigh Farms, a sixth-generation farm located in Cavan, Ont., has made a dedicated effort in recent years to shift away from traditional methods of agriculture to more regenerative and sustainable farming practices.
Norm Lamothe joined his wife Emily’s sixth-generation farm when her parents were at that fork in the road so many farmers find themselves in these days: to sell the farm or find a way to keep it in the family.
As an agtech company founder, Lamothe was visiting and consulting on a lot of other farms. Initially collecting data through drone tech, the company morphed into something bigger with a focus on soil sampling and data management — all of which helps farmers make smarter decisions at the farm level. “But I was spending a lot of time outside the farm, helping others improve their farms and kind of neglecting our farm. So, I decided to transition back to the farm, which allows us to focus on what matters on our farm,” says Lamothe.
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Applying his tech knowledge has led him to have more questions than answers. Those questions have led Lamothe to look for ways to maximize profits on a per acre basis through soil sampling and variable rate on “just about everything” and making the soil more resilient to ensure it lasts for future generations.
“What really intrigues me about agriculture is that you’ve got a thousand opportunities to do something with every single acre and there’s no repetition. So, how (do) we make a system that really works for the soil?”
Find out how Woodleigh Farms finds systems that work and what innovative approaches they’re planning next (like the Catching Carbon initiative) by listening to the audio clip above or at the Country Guide podcast page.
