“In response to a formal request from the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, the government has directed the Canadian International Trade Tribunal to conduct an inquiry,” federal finance minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a March 13 news release.

A statement via Ottawa government relations consulting firm Maple Leaf Strategies bills the association as “the voice of Canadian vegetable growers, harvesters, employees and processors from coast to coast to coast, working to protect and strengthen the sector from farm to consumer.”

The CITT will have 180 days to decide if imports of frozen and canned vegetables are harming or threatening to cause harm to domestic growers and processors. If so, it will propose remedies to the federal government.

It has also been asked to consider impacts to food affordability and security for Canadians, the news release said.

The CITT, in a separate release March 16, confirmed it has launched the inquiry as requested and will report back to Champagne by Sept. 9.

In its notice of inquiry, the CITT said anyone wanting to make submissions to the tribunal on this matter must file notice by April 2 of their intent to do so, and it will hold its hearing on the inquiry in Ottawa starting June 15.

In an order in council, the government said that it appears importation of increased quantities of vegetables is a result of obligations under the World Trade Organization Agreement and “unforeseen developments in global trade.”

These have led some WTO members to restrict imports of vegetables into their markets, which has led those goods to be diverted into Canada.

In 2024, 55 per cent of Canadian fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food were imported, according to Farm Credit Canada’s 2025 food and beverage report. That category includes frozen and canned vegetables and fruit, pickling and drying.

The Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, in its separate statement, described the government’s move as “an important first step,” saying the domestic frozen and canned vegetable sector “has been facing a sudden surge of low-priced imports that is disrupting the Canadian market. Temporary, rules-based safeguard measures will restore fair competition and allow Canadian growers and processors to compete on equal terms.”

Such measures, it said, “will help stabilize supply chains that retailers and consumers depend on.”

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) on Thursday announced an agreement with Mexico’s national service for agri-food health, safety and quality (SENASICA) to allow shipments to Mexico of Canadian potatoes for consumption or processing.

CFIA said it will “work closely with the potato sector in the coming months as next steps are implemented.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Almost 93 per cent of Canada’s fresh potato exports by dollar value in the 2024-25 marketing year were to the U.S. alone.

Canada’s potato exports to Mexico today are almost entirely in frozen potato products. According to Statistics Canada export data for 2024-25, Canada shipped about 55,526 tonnes of frozen potatoes, valued at about C$77.7 million, to Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA/FAS) says Canada that year held about a 34 per cent share of Mexico’s total imports of frozen potatoes, compared to a 52 per cent share for the U.S. and 14 per cent for Belgium.

Meanwhile, citing information from Trade Data Monitor (TDM), FAS says the U.S. has been “Mexico’s sole supplier of fresh potato imports” in recent years. In the 2023-24 marketing year, those imports came in at 204,165 tonnes.

The bulk of Mexico’s potato consumption is supplied by its domestic growers, who produced about 2.12 million tonnes in 2024.

A 2025 FAS report on the Mexican potato market said its consumers favour the domestically-grown Alpha potato variety, and “the dominance of domestically produced potatoes in the Mexican market, accounting for 91 per cent of domestic consumption, limits awareness of other potato options among Mexican households.”

FAS noted Mexico requires any fresh potato imports to be packaged in 20-pound bags or smaller, adding that Mexican consumers prefer to hand-select produce and buy relatively smaller quantities more frequently.

Imported fresh potatoes in Mexico, FAS said, today go primarily instead to “restaurants seeking to offer differentiated premium products to their customers.”

Mexico’s new move to allow Canadian fresh potatoes follows a trade mission last October by Canada’s federal agriculture minister Heath MacDonald, during which the two countries “agreed to enhance regulatory and technical co-operation” under a 2025-2028 action plan.

Those talks continued during another trade mission to Mexico last month, led by Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. trade, CFIA said Thursday. MacDonald also took part in that mission, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

The 2025-2028 action plan called for the two countries to make progress on a sanitary and phytosanitary work plan to improve market access for agricultural products for both countries’ consumers and processors, and on mutual recognition of electronic certification for plant, animal, aquaculture and fishing products.

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The report was full of predictions that came true, as well as a few surprises. This year’s report was the 16th annual.

Food prices were driven higher in 2025 by meat, said Sylvain Charlebois, the lead of Canada’s Food Price Report. Charlebois is the Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He leads Canada’s Food Price Report, but the report was developed by a collective of scholars.

“In fact, we claimed last year that meat would be driving food inflation, and we underestimated how significantly meat prices would go up. That was really the big story in 2025,” he said.

Meat prices to stay high

Unfortunately, the group expects meat prices will remain a huge factor for 2026.

“Beef is an issue, of course, it’s been an issue for a while now, and we don’t see how the situation will normalize itself before at least mid-year 2027,” he said. “Ranchers are leaving the industry. It’s difficult for ranchers across North America.”

The high prices of beef are encouraging people to change to other types of meat, like chicken.

“We’re short on chicken because of higher beef prices. The situation with beef is really a major issue for meat counter economics in general,” he said.

Chicken raised in Canada is under supply management.

“Supply shouldn’t be a problem, but it is a problem right now, because we’re importing more chicken from abroad. But I don’t think that is going to last. I do think the chicken industry will recover eventually. It’s kind of awkward to have supply management and import more chicken from the United States right now,” he said.

Fruit and vegetable inflation down

Vegetables and fruits had their inflation rates go down in 2025 compared to 2024.

“We were expecting increases to be in the positive, but the increases didn’t accelerate as much as we expected,” he said.

The group thought the “Buy Canadian” movement and the entire American boycott would put a lot of pressure on grocers to source products that are cheaper or the same price in America.

“But we were spared, and I think that’s due to the Canadian dollar. I think the Canadian dollar remained a non-issue. That came as a surprise, I would say,” said Charlebois.

Food affordability is a top concern for consumers. A quarter of Canadian households are considered food insecure, and nearly 2.2 million people visited food banks in Canada monthly this year.

Charlebois said there are numerous factors that affect food prices including geopolitics, global weather events, policy enactment, consumer behaviour and changes in retail models. Energy costs, climate change, interest rates, labour costs, the level of consolidation in a sector, and consumer demand, including whether consumers have more money or less money to spend on food.

“These are the things that impact food prices over time. But the bottom line is that not one node of the growth of the food supply chain totally controls food prices,” he said.

Trade wars affect food prices

In 2025, food prices were affected by the trade dispute between Canada and the United States and subsequent policy changes. Consumer-led movements also altered the economic retail landscape, impacting food price inflation.

Charlebois said farmers would say there’s a weak correlation between protein prices, and retail prices, and they’re correct to say so.

“So even though there is a weak correlation between the two, production does have an impact on how food is sourced to supply grocery stores in general,” he said.

When people spend more money at the grocery store, the farmer gets a bigger proportion of the farm bill. With retail, 13 to 15 per cent of the money spent at the grocery store goes back to the farmer compared to food service, where about four per cent to five percent goes back to the farmer from food service.

“Right now, there is a strong movement towards staying retail for consumers, because they’re trying to save as much money as possible, and they’re avoiding restaurants, so that could actually be a positive for farmers in general,” said Charlebois.

Temporary foreign workers

Temporary foreign workers are widely used along the food supply chain. In 2024, Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program brought in over 78,000 workers into the agricultural industry. The Canadian government is revisiting its immigration policy and has announced plans to reduce the share of temporary residents in Canada to less than five per cent of the population by 2027, to encourage more domestic labour and improve youth employment rates. Agriculture is exempt from this cap.

The current population of temporary foreign workers is at seven per cent.

There are concerns that shifts with temporary workers could lead to a major labour shortage in agriculture, disrupting the supply chain and costing businesses already operate on tight margins. The costs would be passed down to the consumer.

Charlebois said the research team is concerned about the temporary foreign worker problem.

“It’s a very important program to support our farmers,” he said. The information about temporary foreign workers was added to Canada’s Food Price Report, to send a clear signal to government that the temporary foreign worker program in agriculture should not be compromised, he said.

Food bill to rise “a lot”

The report also contains predictions for 2026.

“We’re expecting the average family (of four) to see their food bill increased by $1,000, so we’re expecting an increase of four to six per cent, so that’s a lot. I believe it’s the highest we’ve ever seen in 16 years. That’s going to be pushed by two categories; meat and the centre of the store. That’s pantry goods and dry goods. This is not going to help consumers,” he said.

“We think it’s going to push inflation higher,” he said.

The ongoing trade dispute with the United States will continue to affect prices next year. The inflationary aspects of the tariffs and counter-tariffs will continue in 2026 as trade tensions reshape the economic landscape. Canada is strengthening its relationships with other international trading partners to build resilience and competitiveness.

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Nielsen’s experience in public policy, trade and global development spans two decades and includes positions with Export Development Canada, food aid non-profit Nutrition International and Global Affairs Canada.

Nielsen, in the newly-created role, will lead policy development and research initiatives and engage governments and other stakeholders on the interests of the Canadian fruit and vegetable sector.

Nielsen’s “talent for forging strategic partnerships, will be pivotal as FVGC intensifies its efforts to deliver results for Canadian growers” said Fruit and Vegetable Growers executive director Massimo Bergamini in a news release.

“As the voice of Canadian fruit and vegetable growers, FVGC must ensure their priorities and concerns are heard and acted on,” said Bergamini.

After assuming the role mid-August, Nielsen will reach out to FVGC members to gain more insight into the sector.

“I’m excited to work alongside such a dedicated team to advance policies that strengthen the sector and ensure Canadians continue to have access to healthy, sustainable food,” Nielsen said in the release.

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A new analysis of 450 genomes from cultivated potatoes and 56 genomes of wild potato species has revealed that the potato lineage originated through natural interbreeding between a wild tomato plant and a potato-like species in South America about 9 million years ago.

This hybridization event led to the appearance of the nascent potato plant’s tuber, an enlarged structure housing nutrients underground, according to the researchers, who also identified two crucial genes involved in tuber formation. Whereas in a tomato plant the edible part is the fruit, in the potato plant it is the tuber.

“Potatoes are truly one of humanity’s most remarkable food staples, combining extraordinary versatility, nutritional value and cultural ubiquity in ways few crops can match,” said Sanwen Huang, a genome biologist and plant breeder at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and senior author of the study published on Friday in the journal Cell.

“People eat potatoes using virtually every cooking method – baking, roasting, boiling, steaming and frying. Despite being stereotyped as carbohydrates, potatoes offer vitamin C, potassium, fiber and resistant starch, and are naturally gluten-free, low-fat and satiating – a nutrient-dense calorie source,” Huang added.

Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine and ferments in the large intestine, feeding beneficial bacteria in the gut.

Etuberosum to Solanum tuberosum

The modern-day potato plant’s scientific name is Solanum tuberosum. Its two parents identified in the study were plants that were the ancestors of a potato-like species now found in Peru named Etuberosum, which closely resembles the potato plant but lacks a tuber, and the tomato plant.

These two plants themselves shared a common ancestor that lived about 14 million years ago, and were able to naturally interbreed when the fortuitous hybridization event occurred five million years after they had diverged from each other.

“This event led to a reshuffling of genes such that the new lineage produced tubers, allowing these plants to expand into the newly created cold, dry habitats in the rising Andes mountain chain,” said botanist Sandra Knapp of the Natural History Museum in London, a co-author of the study.

This hybridization event coincided with the rapid uplift of the Andes. With a tuber, the potato plant was able to adapt to the changing regional environment and thrive in the harsh conditions of the mountains.

“Tubers can store nutrients for cold adaptation, and enable asexual reproduction to meet the challenge of the reduced fertility in cold conditions. These allowed the plant to survive and rapidly expand,” Huang said.

Study may improve potato breeding

The study’s findings, according to the researchers, may help guide improved cultivated potato breeding to address environmental challenges that crops presently face due to factors such as climate change.

There currently are roughly 5,000 potato varieties. The potato is the world’s third most important food crop, after rice and wheat, for human consumption, according to the Peru-based International Potato Center research organization. China is the world’s leading potato producer.

“It always is hard to remove all the deleterious mutations in potato genomes in breeding, and this study opens a new door to make a potato free of deleterious mutations using the tomato as the chassis of synthetic biology,” Huang said.

The study also may open the door to generate a new crop species that could produce tomato fruit above ground and potato tubers below ground, according to Zhiyang Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

The potato and tomato are members of the nightshade family of flowering plants that also includes tobacco and peppers, among others. The study did not investigate the evolutionary origins of other tuberous root crops that originated in South America such as the sweet potato and yuca, which are members of different families of flowering plants.

While the parts of the tomato and potato plants that people eat are quite different, the plants themselves are very similar.

“We use different parts of these two species, fruits in tomatoes and tubers in potatoes,” Knapp said. “If you look at the flowers or leaves, these are very similar. And if you are lucky enough to let your potato plant produce fruits, they look just like little green tomatoes. But don’t eat them. They are not very nice.”

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“We are growing hydroponic lettuce entirely with fog water in the driest desert on the planet,” Orlando Rojas, president of the Atacama Fog Catchers Association, told Reuters near Chanaral in the Atacama, where some areas do not see rainfall for years.

“We have had other crops that have not yielded results, which is why we have tended towards doing lettuce.”

Researchers at the UC Atacama Desert Center are launching an open-access web mapping platform to show the location of the areas with potential for fog-water harvesting in the country, trying to open up these arid areas for cultivation.

“We know its potential and we know it can be an option and a solution for different scales of water needs in different territories where there is significant water scarcity,” said Camilo Del Rio, director of the UC Atacama Desert Center.

Amid barren rocky hills and dry, white sand, the system works by using a mesh suspended between two poles that intercepts the small amount of moisture in the air, turning it into droplets that are collected and stored in water tanks.

“We are able to collect 1,000 to 1,400 liters of water in these inhospitable places, where we are clearly not favored by nature in other ways,” said Rojas in a region where lemon trees were also growing from the collected water.

“We have the potential for life, which is this water resource. Once we learned about this project, we haven’t stopped because it is vital for human subsistence.”

Mario Segovia, also from the fog-catching group, said that the water collected from moisture in the air was pure.

“The harvest doesn’t look bad, it’s a super healthy food, pure nutrients that are organic,” he said. “They’re in a state of water with nutrients, because this fog-catcher water is completely neutral, it has no minerals, no chlorine, nothing.”

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Exports of greenhouse-grown cucumbers also equal or exceed imports.

“Canada continues to rely heavily in imported fruits and vegetables, especially during its long winters,” wrote FCC senior economist Amanda Norris in a May 28 report.

“Different types of controlled environment agriculture (CEA) are gaining momentum to overcome this problem.”

While greenhouses are the most recognized form of controlled environment agriculture, the category also includes insect farming, aquaculture, lab-grown meat, and vertical farming, Norris added.

Opportunities

Due to their extended growing season and ability to stack crops vertically to reduce footprint, greenhouse-grown crops tend to yield more per acre than the same fruits and vegetables grown outdoors.

Canadian greenhouses can typically operate for nine months out of the year.

“The advantage is striking, ranging from five times more pounds per acre for tomatoes to an impressive 30 times more for herbs,” said Norris.

Along with growth in peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, greenhouse-grown strawberries have also gained ground in Canada. Production went from neglible in 2020 to 16.5 million pounds in 2024.

Canada has also added 70 new operations and 19 per cent more greenhouse area since 2013 outside of Ontario, the hotspot for greenhouse ag.

Lettuce, herbs and strawberries represent areas for further expansion.

“To realize this opportunity, Canada must invest in practices to boost productivity through labour and resource saving technologies, research and development for new crops, and explore ways to bring CEA to more regions,” Norris wrote.

Downsides

Most fruits and vegetables Canadians eat come from outdoor farms or imports because many crops aren’t suited to indoor environments. Potatoes, for instance, require deep, loose soil.

Controlled environment agriculture—like much of agriculture—requires a lot of capital to set up due to the many systems and technology involved.

Operating expenses are also rising—up six per cent annually on average over the last decade. Sales rose by 6.4 per cent over the same period, which kept margins a bit above break-even.

Greenhouse agriculture also faces a labour crunch. The number of workers under age 60 has shrunk an average of eight per cent annually for the past five years.

Greenhouses also find themselves competing for limited municipal infrastructure like energy, water and waste services. This makes building or expanding more challenging.

“Investment and the adoption of technology will be crucial to overcoming high operational costs, address labour and infrastructure constraints, and allow the sector to reach its full potential,” Norris said.

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Neither have we.

The utter thrill of getting into farming for the first time is incomparable. The freedom to make one’s own decisions and, rightly or wrongly, see those decisions through.

With time, of course, farmers gain perspective. Perhaps those older voices offering advice weren’t so out to lunch after all. And maybe some of the highly idealistic goals the rookie farmers set for themselves weren’t as far-fetched as others might have thought. There’s always a balance.

Country Guide was curious about what 10 years does to a person in the farming business. Did the farm and all its supposed glory live up to the hype? Surpass it? Fall short? Also, what’s different then versus now? Is what’s different better, worse or simply just different?

Two Quebec farmers share their thoughts on what it’s like to farm in 2025, and beyond, with 10 and 12 years’ experience under their belt.

Vergers Rockburn Orchards, Hinchinbrooke, Quebec

When Laurie Ann Prevost and Roger Duheme Jr. decided that a conventional 9-5 life wouldn’t cut it, they didn’t quite know where that would take them. It was 2012 in Huntingdon, Que., and Duheme was working in construction while Prevost was studying business administration.

“I thought maybe we can get a little farm and do something,” says Prevost.

While Duheme had some level of familiarity with farms having worked at a couple over the years, Prevost was a complete greenhorn but knew that an office job was not her calling as she trudged through a mandatory internship.

They found an apple orchard for sale by longtime farmers in nearby Hinchinbrooke. Prevost’s father financially backed their farm purchase: 125 ready-made acres (40 acres of which are apple orchards), a sizeable controlled-atmosphere storage, 3,000 maple syrup taps and plenty of room for their imagination to run wild.

From day one, it’s been a grind.

“Right away, we jumped right into it,” says Prevost. “The previous owners helped us out and quickly taught us a few little things, but it was very intense from the start.

“It’s a lot more work than I thought it would be. Everyone thinks it must be so nice and peaceful living on the farm. No, no, no. It’s a lot of work. It’s a lot more complicated than what I was expecting it to be.”

The first thing they learned was that they were doing a lot with a lot. The 40 acres of apples were all dwarf trees, and each tree requires an 8’ x 16’ plot. An apple-heavy region, many other producers in the area were moving away from the dwarves and replanting with tall and thin super-spindle trees that only require a 3’ x 12’ plot. Having 1,210 trees/ac. is much more efficient than the previous 340/ac.

“And the yield is higher,” says Prevost.

They grow nine varieties, including Ambrosia, McIntosh, Honeycrisp and the ultra popular Ginger Gold. In addition to the apples, they now plant and manage one acre of blueberries and have 3,000 maple syrup taps.

Duheme primarily looks after the orchard and Prevost manages the back end, which has come to mean a lot of paperwork and screen time. From day one, she was quickly introduced to the heavy administrative load that’s behind every farm, no matter the size or scope. They received Canada GAP (Good Agricultural Practices) program certification and also had to create a fertilizer management plan, which must be signed off by an agronomist. These were just the basics, but it was burdensome.

“Any type of business was a lot, but farming was even more, and I didn’t know there were all these additional environmental regulations,” says Prevost.

Even though her educational background was business administration, Prevost says the schoolwork did not prepare her for when she was in charge of a business and the pressure is on 24/7.

“What you study in school is still not enough to prepare you for real life,” she says.

One area in which she has become a relative expert is in procuring foreign workers. When they first began, they employed 34 locals to pick apples for a couple of months during harvest season. In 2018, out of those 34 pickers they ended up with just four, the majority lost to attrition for various reasons.

“That year, 25 per cent of our crop was on the ground because I didn’t have the people to pick the fruit,” she says. “People don’t understand that when an apple is ready to be harvested, it has to be picked or it’s going to drop to the ground within a week or two. It’s very time-sensitive and getting people was very difficult.”

For the following year’s harvest they employed 12 Mexican workers, none of whom quit, and only a few very keen locals, all of whom have since retired.

Their farm is more labour intensive than others, as well. They still rely on ladders whereas more sophisticated farms use platforms.

Now, they manage 20 acres of trees and will slowly turn over the entire orchard to tall spindle. In 2026, they will plant two acres of high-density orchard at a cost of about $40,000/ac. when posts, wire and anchors are included.

Their move to plant certain varieties is very deliberate. They once thought a good apple was a good apple, but that’s not quite the case. Varieties like McIntosh and Cortland are well known but costlier, more difficult to grow with the changing climate and don’t sell as fast. They have cut down 20 acres of unproductive Mcintosh and Cortland trees since starting.

“But planting orchards is very expensive. So, we didn’t plant as fast as what we thought we would, but it’s okay because a smaller orchard is easier to manage.”

It’s clear to Prevost that had they known then what they know now, the orchard would be converted incrementally each year.

“I would have started replanting the orchard sooner to have trees in production by now, because we didn’t start replanting until 2020. We would have better varieties now and more income to stay more competitive.”

She encourages would-be farmers to be resilient, especially if things go south, which is not an if-and-then, but an if-and-when scenario.

“Someone who works with a paycheque, you get your paycheque every week, it is what it is. But us? We can work all year, harvest our fruit, put it in storage and lose everything in storage and end with zero money.”

Beyond that, farmers and managers must get comfortable with the idea that they will either have to hire a person to do all the non-farming tasks or look after it themselves. Even though she knew she didn’t want to work in an office, Prevost admits her schooling has come in handy to manage all the paperwork she’s tasked with.

She does submit, though, that she essentially has a desk job, not a farming job.

“I spend more time sitting at a computer than I get to be outside working in my trees and doing the fun stuff,” she says.

These days it seems as though there’s always one more task to take care of, and her efforts are rarely enough to climb out from under the work.

As the farm progresses, Prevost’s goal is to continue to diversify, possibly secure more maple syrup tap leases and, overall, drive dollars up and hours down.

“My aim is not to be bigger, it’s to make more profit with less effort,” she says.

Les Jardins Glenelm (Glenelm Gardens), Elgin, Quebec

You don’t plant flowers in February, for obvious reasons. It’s also not advised to plant vegetables into heavy clay soil that hasn’t been worked in a century, as farmers Ian Ward and Sarah Rennie can attest.

Now with a decade of farming experience growing vegetables, they attribute their success to hard work, trial and error, and timely mentorship.

They first became curious about agriculture when they volunteered to be a drop spot for a local community supported agriculture (CSA) operation. Ward, who always had a green thumb growing up in Toronto, Ont., was more than open to the idea of producing vegetables himself. When he and Rennie moved into their 1.5-acre property in 2013, the dream was there, they just had to make it come to life.

“I took a season to figure out whether we had soil that could be farmed because that wasn’t a guarantee,” explains Ward.

He grew a couple of test beds, sold the vegetables to restaurants in the nearby town of Huntingdon and had a positive reception. “So, we just decided to keep going and expand and keep growing it.”

When he got serious about growing produce, though, the first issue to tackle was just about staring him in the face. Four-and-a-half foot tall weeds dominated the property along with small scrub brush intermingled among immature trees.

Ward describes the overgrowth as “tenacious” and soon came to realize the problem below the surface was even bigger than what was above. The region is built on heavy blue clay that is as unforgiving as it sounds.

“I made my first few beds with a pickaxe,” says Ward with a grin.

His Italian-made BCS rotary plow, which he describes as a “rototiller on steroids,” is a two-wheel walk-behind tractor used to loosen the soil. The couple became stuck multiple times and Rennie describes both of them being “thrown like a rodeo bull” at various times thinking they had hit a rock when it was just a particularly troublesome lump of clay. “I was hanging on for dear life as my feet definitely left the ground a few times,” says Ward.

A neighbour came in with his machinery and plowed it for them. He estimated the ground hadn’t been worked in 100 years.

The first two years are aptly described as “backbreaking labour.” Some beds fared better than others and Ward contended with the heavily waterlogged soil. Eventually he thought it may be best to tackle the moisture issue from the outside for long-term success. He trenched a line around the property with a backhoe and was glad he did but was shocked all the same.

“We made the right decision because there was water pouring out from the trench like a faucet on full blast,” he says. “All that water would have been seeping into our field. No wonder we weren’t able to drain it properly.

“There were a couple of years there when we realized very quickly that we were not going to be getting the yields that we were seeing in farming books or pulling out $1,000 per bed. It just wasn’t going to happen. We weren’t in that game yet, so we had to grow our market very slowly,” he says. “We worked on our soil, we worked on our own skills, built it up little by little, keeping an eye on expenses, keeping things relatively cheap, so that we didn’t get ahead of ourselves because we knew we couldn’t justify a big investment.”

Their soil continually forced them to use the BCS to keep the ground loose enough to allow for root establishment.

It wasn’t until year four they began to reap consistently good yields and produce a quality product.

“We spent three or four years figuring out how to get decent yields on soil that was too wet,” says Ward. “It was never going to give us the yields that we were looking for when the roots can only go down three or four inches before they hit water. That was an eye-opener for us.”

Over the course of their first four years, they built four unheated, passive solar greenhouses, each 100 feet long and ranging between 20 to 26 feet wide. The first was constructed on skis so that it could be moved relatively easy.

It was in 2019, with four tunnels up and running well, that Ward began to search for additional land to grow more space-consuming crops such as potatoes and squash. A few minutes up the road, local CSA pioneers Jamie Quinn and his wife Nora Johnston were looking to rent out one of their fields, a 2.5-acre plot with pristine soil. They knew the blue clay so well that their farm is named after their mastery of it: Ferme la Terre Bleue.

Inspecting Quinn’s field, Ward remembers plunging his hand into soil adjacent to carrots that was so fine it felt like sand. Ward was beyond excited at the prospect of having soil that was 30-plus years ahead of his in terms of stewardship.

“I hadn’t dreamed that our soil could be that light and fluffy,” he says.

Quinn had modified a plow into straight knives and was cutting the soil up 12 inches deep, which gave crops the necessary breathing room to grow and thrive.

And Quinn challenged him on ideas about row spacing. Ward was open-minded enough to hear him out and he’s glad he did.

“The main thing that I’ve learned from that farm is that I’ve moved from a focus on maximum density to maximum efficiency,” he shares. “In some cases, maximum efficiency does mean taking advantage of the highest density that I can get, but in other cases, it’ll be spacing things out quite a bit to make sure that I can weed them effectively. I never thought I’d grow more carrots on three rows than six.”

Today, the couple grow enough produce to support 120 families through a CSA and they also sell at local markets.

Their tools have changed to a degree, but the BCS is still the number one implement. They also have a 40-hp tractor at the 2.5-acre site, and they use a subsoiler attachment for the BCS. Ward says it’s less efficient, but it’s the right tool, especially considering he can’t get a tractor inside his tunnels.

The subsoiler can make 10- to 12-inch-deep furrows in the soil without pulverizing it, which allows the air to come up, and a good environment for micro-organisms to thrive.

“We’re still using compost but we’re also providing the micro-organisms with the conditions they need to improve the soil for us,” Ward says.

They also acquired a Power Ox, a 3.5-hp, two-wheeled weeding tractor which means they can work two or three rows at a time. It cost him less than $10,000 and is invaluable for what it allows him to do — for instance, he can weed three rows of carrots in a 60-inch bed simultaneously in only 10 minutes and eliminate 90-plus per cent of weeds.

All these innovations, along with mentorship from Quinn and Johnston, have helped their farm immensely. Still, times are tough in 2025, and Ward admits their sales are not where he wants them to be. People buy local for various reasons and at various times, but not all the time. “Local farms,” he says, “don’t need your support. They need your commitment.” He says prolonged uncertainty, which set in around 2021, has made it difficult to grow their market share.

Yet they grow.

This fall they intend to build their first heated greenhouse but even with grants, it will cost close to $100,000. It’s a big gamble, but Ward is confident and plans to bet on himself. He believes he can do better in a heated year-round greenhouse that will measure 100’ x 42’ x 18’.

And after all the hard work battling the clay over the years, Ward has actually come to embrace it. The clay produces a distinct taste that many have come to know and expect from their produce.

“While it is a royal pain in the butt to work with, it does produce higher-quality vegetables, more nutritious vegetables, and more phytonutrients,” he says. “You can actually taste the difference pretty clearly.”

Even though he has “never worked so hard to earn a dollar” in his life, Ward says the massively improved, well-drained soil produces quality crops year in, year out.

He encourages young farmers and would-be farmers to understand their soil before they get too far down the path.

“You can’t underestimate drainage. Vegetables will not grow in wet soil. That’s something that we learned the hard way,” he shares.

Ward also challenges farmers to be honest with themselves about their farm and where the pinch points are and lean into them. Although it sounds counterintuitive, he believes it will pay some of the biggest dividends for the average produce farmer.

“Think about what your limiting factor is, whether that’s time or space and try to maximize your efficiency on that indicator,” he says. “Don’t just assume that because one is working for the farmer down the road, that that’s what’s going to be best for you.

“It’s also dangerous to try to think that you can do everything. It’s really easy to get lost trying to do everything and doing nothing well. Control what you can and make one small, good decision after another. After a while, it usually adds up to a positive outcome.”

So, after 10 years, is he in it for the long haul?

“The biggest surprise for me is that I still really enjoy what I do despite knowing that I’d earn more doing just about anything else,” he says with a laugh.

The post Quebec farmers still learning after 10 years appeared first on Country Guide.

To Jeannette French and her husband Brian, co-owners of Lennox Farms in Melancthon, Ont., the answer is simple.

“No matter your farm size, a vision is something that drives you every day. It’s born from your values and is the backbone of what you believe.”

Six years ago, they made their farm vision official by putting it in writing and committed to live and manage their farm according to their vision: Healthy soil. Healthy food. Healthy communities.

Since Brian took over the farm management from his parents 15 years ago, the family has significantly diversified their operation. Their guiding principle has been their vision, connecting everything they do to health.

“We always had this health-conscious mindset, and we decided it was important for our customers and community to understand where we were coming from. Because everything we do comes down to healthy soil,” explains Jeannette. That’s why they posted their vision, mission and core beliefs to their website, lennoxfarm.ca.

As fifth-generation farmers, the French family has harnessed decades of experience in market gardening, growing 35 different crops and serving a diverse range of customers. The family manages 200 acres of vegetables, 300 acres of grains and cover crops, greenhouses and root barns.

One of the largest rhubarb growers in North America, Lennox Farm provides 90 per cent of in-season rhubarb to the Ontario market, and ships forced rhubarb grown in their root barns from February to May across Canada.

Their business focuses on fresh market sales of vegetables marketed through wholesale, retail and agri-tourism, reaching customers close to home, across Canada and the U.S. To operate the farm, the couple rely on 12 temporary foreign workers from Trinidad, 10 part-time seasonal employees, their three children and Brian’s parents.

Today, their vision is posted on a sign at their on-farm market, drives the themes of their customer newsletters and social media posts, and is incorporated into regular staff meetings and daily farm operations.

A guiding force

“A vision is about connection and intention. It’s about envisioning what the farm wants to grow into, both practically and spiritually. And it’s about feeling into the deeper ‘why’ of what you do and allowing that sense of purpose to guide decisions and actions,” explains Erin Deline, business and human resources consultant with ThriveMinds.

Deline says she’s excited to see more farmers develop visions for their farms as a way to formalize their values and guide their business, particularly among the younger generation who bring fresh perspectives. She’s noticed an uptake in new and multi-generation farms creating a vision that everyone can get behind and work towards.

“It’s encouraging to see that Canadian farmers are increasingly setting their sights on bigger goals and higher aspirations,” says Deline. “A vision can help this process because it is about creating something that feels right, inspires people and is rooted in the heart. A vision should create clarity and foster purpose for everyone involved.”

Deline works with business leaders to enhance management performance and drive sustainable success. She says developing a vision is easy and can be as informal as applying themes to management decisions and employee communications, like focusing on collaboration, resilience and integrity. These themes can also show up as core values that can easily be incorporated into a workplace culture and used to guide growth or success.

Farmers can develop a vision themselves or get help from an advisor.

Deline explains that visions are typically created through a collaborative process, where key stakeholders, including farm owners, managers and sometimes employees, come together to reflect on a farm’s values, mission and future goals. This is often done with an external facilitator, but no matter how a vision statement is accomplished, she recommends farmers focus on their values, what’s important to them and future aspirations.

She also notes a vision can change. “You want a vision that is broad enough to grow, and over time, you may need to re-evaluate and make changes.”

Establishing a vision can help farmers understand their long-term goals and plan for the future. And, as vision statements become more common on farms, they are also being used to attract and onboard employees. A business vision can identify necessary roles and skill sets required and, in turn, attract employees with the skills and values that align with the employer.

“When everyone understands how their role contributes to and fits with a farm’s vision, you foster a collective spirit and sense of fulfillment that can attract and retain valuable employees, not to mention drive success,” says Deline. She notes that a strong vision not only guides a company, but also inspires those involved, from owners and managers to employees and customers.

Vision guides decisions

A farm’s vision can have an impact on everything from how decisions are made to how to attract employees. And creating a vision can become a natural part of farm business planning.

When it came to putting their vision on paper, the French family looked internally to determine what was important to them. As a mid-sized farm, most responsibilities, such as creating a vision, business planning, research, human resources and marketing, fall to them because of their budget and time constraints. Brian says that while their farm size is just right for them, it is a limiting factor to growth. If they want to grow, it needs to be incremental and based on their availability and capital. “We can’t get too big because we are already maxing out our labour needs and have a hard time filling those roles. If we scale down, we would have to give up what we’ve worked for.”

Ursina Studhalter raises 280 ewes with her husband Andrew Bos in Shawville, Que. Their desire to grow and expand is repeatedly assessed, but every decision they make is guided by their vision to be efficient and love what they do.

“It’s a very informal approach, but every choice we make on the farm comes back to feeling happy about what we do. If I can’t sleep, I know something has to change,” she says.

Studhalter and Bos purchased their farm in 2017 and retrofitted the former horse farm to accommodate their flock. One of their first decisions was based on their desire to be efficient and minimize labour as much as possible. Consequently, they invested in the Katahdin breed that grows a hair coat like wool but doesn’t require the labour-intensive task of shearing. Health challenges with their flock (testing positive for maedi-visna), a car accident, the birth of their son, and land prices have also influenced decisions about whether to expand their flock and acreage.

Despite changes and challenges, they are consistent in their plans and overall vision for their farm and family: to maximize enjoyment and minimize stress.

With a focus on flexible outcomes, Studhalter’s approach incorporates both personal and farm business aspirations. As a chartered professional accountant, Studhalter is diligent about tracking numbers and managing the farm’s finances, but she values their goals and work-life balance just as much. The couple has established a five-year plan that supports their vision through objectives, measurements and goals, and she divides their timeline based on seasons and lambing schedules.

Planning happens organically for Studhalter and her husband. They often talk about the day-to-day farm management while weighing lambs, but the big decisions are written down. The couple each keep a journal where they record farm activities and compare notes. Included in the journals are their goals and production targets. “We’re very detailed in our management, while at the same time, we’re guided by our consistent vision of enjoying what we do and our surroundings,” says Studhalter, who shares their farm journey on her Farming Frontiers Studio blog.

“There’s always a detour,” Studhalter notes, pointing to the maedi-visna diagnosis as an example. “We simply reassess our growth targets and vision for the future and make decisions that feel right for us, our animals and our family. We’re happy staying at the right size to maintain our enjoyment.”

Future focused

Deline reminds farmers that setting goals and unifying around a common vision provides clarity and direction, which are essential for success.

A business or financial plan typically focuses on specific measurable goals, budgets and timelines.

A vision goes beyond numbers.

Deline points out that a vision can address the more intangible, yet equally important “grey areas” that can get overlooked when crunching numbers.

And, because many farms aren’t just businesses, but also lifestyles for farmers and their families, a visioning exercise can also be an opportunity to combine personal interests with business objectives.

“Mixing personal goals with professional visions is about aligning core values and passions,” explains Deline. “And the outcomes can be amazing, because a person or business is more likely to accomplish their goals if they are aligned.”

The French family embodies this alignment of personal and business passion with their health-focused vision and have even incorporated their vision and core values into their annual farm review process. Jeannette says that every year they evaluate their financials, compare improvements made in soil organic matter and year-over-year numbers, and how they feel at the end of the year.

“A huge part of our success comes down to whether or not we feel we’ve made a difference in our community, and if we’ve helped improve the health (in) our community.” The French family donates an average value of $25,000 in fresh produce each year to their local community, showing yet again how they live through their vision of growing healthy food, improving soil health and fostering healthy communities.

“Whether formal or informal, a vision is the foundation that will keep your farm grounded, focused and inspired as it moves toward the future,” says Deline.

The post A guide for farm growth appeared first on Country Guide.

More and more, though, farmers are partnering with off-farm businesses that add value to the commodities they produce and sell them into non-traditional and niche markets.

“One of the primary ways I am seeing that happen is with farms that have historically only had a limited market to sell to, like a local co-op or selling a commodity to whoever has the best price,” says Clint Fischer, founder of Braintrust Ag in South Dakota, an online peer group of more than 300 farmers and ranchers across North America. “Farmers who need to diversify are partnering with more unique end- supply users who are adding value to the commodity and reselling it.”

Though Fischer says these sorts of arrangements have come up more often on the livestock end of things, he is seeing farmers sell their value-added products to smaller, name brand distributors and get paid a premium for growing or raising their crops or animals in a specific way to meet niche markets, i.e., organic, regenerative, etc.

“They could go to the local farmers market with their products, but that’s a lot of time and hassle, and so there are companies that are coming in and trying to solve that problem for farmers by bundling products from different producers together and selling them via the internet,” Fischer says. “Those sorts of partnerships are becoming more common as more markets open up.”

In the U.S. Midwest there is a lot of interest in cover crops, for example, so farmers are growing cover crops for seed that they are selling to specialized seed processors for sale to farmers in other parts of the country.

More risk in new markets

There’s a caveat, though. These sorts of arrangements do represent more risk for farmers, Fischer says, because they are not tried and true markets, so farmers need to make sure that whomever they sell their products to is solid and can pay.

“They need to get into the legal terms of what does the partnership look like, what are the terms for payment and who is guaranteeing it; who has the obligation, those sorts of things,” Fischer says. “In a newer market, there is always the risk of non-payment by a partner or middleman.”

Fischer always advises a written contract that sets out the terms and conditions but also what happens if someone doesn’t get paid. Also important to consider are requirements for traceability and tracking through a more complex value chain.

“All these things need to be thought about ahead of time,” Fischer says, but then adds, “Quite frankly, they rarely are.

“When farmers are selling bulk commodities to an elevator or grain buyer, they don’t need the detailed record-keeping they will need if they are selling into more of these niche markets… It adds a layer of complexity to producing that product, and farmers must assess if that is worth the premium price that they are going to make.”

Still a matter of trust

In the end, though, every partnership hinges on trust, whether it’s between two individuals, two farms or two separate businesses. While Fischer would never advise entering into a partnership or agreement of any kind without a written contract, he cautions that the contract is only as good as the trust each has in the other party and their desire to hold each other accountable.

“If you have a disagreement with the partner, are you willing to spend the time and money to bring forth a lawsuit and to hold them accountable to the contract, or enter into some other kind of dispute resolution mechanism like arbitration or mediation?” Fischer asks. “All of that takes money, time and stress. So, before you enter that partnership you have to decide: do I trust this person and am I willing, if I have to, to enforce the contract?”

So how do you establish trust? By doing your homework thoroughly. Fischer suggests you look at any new partnership or business arrangement through the lens of hiring an employee.

“When you are hiring someone, you are going to do a background check on them and check their references to make sure they are a good fit,” he says. When sizing up a potential partner, he adds, “Look at their track record, what’s their history and what’s their reputation in the industry? Are there people who have done business with them that you can get references from? Do they keep their promises, and do they have the financial backing to make good on their agreements?”

And bear in mind, Fischer adds, that even a business with a stellar reputation can run into insolvency issues when markets change, so there is always risk. That’s why no business arrangement should be done on a handshake; both parties need to negotiate what deal they can mutually agree to and then write it down. And though it may seem obvious, no one should sign a contract that someone puts in front of them without making sure they know and understand what is in it, even if that requires hiring
a lawyer to review it, Fischer adds.

“If someone throws a contract at you to sign and you just sign it, that can potentially do more harm than a handshake agreement, because it could be one-sided and you just don’t know,” he says.

Farmer experiences with partnerships

Sometimes, though, handshakes can work. Rosemary Wotske, owner of Poplar Bluff Organics in Wheatland County, Alta., has a longtime partnership with another local farmer, Cam Beard, that has been mutually beneficial to both.

Wotske originally asked if Beard would help deliver her specialty potatoes to her food service and retail customers, but he had an interest in direct marketing too, although he was more at home with a wrench fixing equipment than at marketing.

“He started growing carrots, beets and parsnips and we got this synergy going because I can’t weld, and he loved mechanical stuff, so if I needed some kind of a machine to do this or that he would weld something together that worked,” she says. “I was happy doing the marketing and he was happy not to have to come out of the fields, so the business really grew then.”

Wotkse admits that although they have never had any formal arrangement, the time is coming when they realize they will have to put a more business-like arrangement in place for succession purposes as the business has become more complex, with value-added products such as cold-pressed carrot juice and potato vodka, and plans are in the works to build an on-farm distillery.

Says Wotske: “We have been keeping it arm’s–length but now that the two of us are approaching retirement age, we’re going to need something formal in place because the business is big enough now that no one person can do it all, and we will have to set up a corporation to pick up all the different businesses.” 

Partnering with family?

As every farm family likely knows, the trickiest partnerships can be with family and friends. They can be a tangled and emotionally draining process, so farmers are well advised to start with the end in mind.

“Begin with the exit strategy,” says Clint Fischer, founder of Braintrust Ag. “At the start, everyone might be excited and have good intentions, feelings, emotions and ideas. But what happens when there is a breakup in that partnership, which always happens. Because someone will pass away, get disinterested, or get divorced at some point.”

A partnership is never going to last forever, he says.

“Looking at it from the exit strategy first brings reality into the process by addressing these what-if’s right off bat.”

The best thing anyone can do to preserve family relationships through a business partnership is to document everything they agree to in writing and sign it so that, down the road, they can hold each other accountable to what they agreed to.

Fischer also advises agreeing to solve disputes through a trusted third party, such as a board of advisors that everyone agrees on and trusts, or through a formal mediation process. But do put those details in writing at the start.

How do I know if I am good partnership material?

Of course, trust goes both ways, so anyone entering into a partnership, hard as it is, needs to try and be honest about their own personality and attributes. That starts with being aware of your reputation, says Clint Fischer, founder of Braintrust Ag.

“Do what you say you’re going to do. If your reputation has been dinged, work to rebuild that before entering a new partnership that includes people who aren’t in your inner circle and truly ‘know’ you,” he says.

Partners must be willing to compromise, so if that’s something you find impossible to do, then partnerships aren’t for you, he adds.

But that’s not all. A business partnership is like a marriage, there’s give and take but the primary driver is clear, consistent communication.

“What’s in the legal documents is designed to be a framework, but the day-to-day operations demand collaboration between the partners,” Fischer says.

“It’s impossible to document every potential scenario that will happen to the business and the partnership, so the docs are there to detail the big events. The smaller, more frequent events, still demand trust.”

Before entering into this ‘marriage’ farmers should ask themselves “If I were in the shoes of my potential partner, would I partner with me?”

Says Fischer: “If you are honest with that assessment, you can reveal much about yourself and uncover areas of concern for your potential partnership.”

The post ‘Partner up’ to help diversify your farm appeared first on Country Guide.