The two award winners come from different parts of the country but both have multiple sources of incomes on their farms.
Cody Straza & Allison Squires from Saskatchewan and the brothers Guillaume & Etienne Lessard from Quebec received their awards at a gala ceremony in Saskatoon on Friday evening. They were among seven farm operations from all regions of the country participating in the program that recognizes Canadian farmers under the age of 40.
Straza and Squires own an organic farm at Wood Mountain, SK—about 235 kilometres southwest of Regina. They purchased seven quarters of land and started Upland Organics in 2010. A seed cleaning plant was introduced five years later and cattle were added in 2019. Straza/Squires practice regenerative agriculture which minimizes soil disturbance, keeps the soil covered and integrate livestock as much as possible to improve the soil, decrease costs and increase revenue. The couple participates in various provincial and national agricultural organizations and Cody serves on the local firefighting department. Straza and Squires have three sons, Declan (8), Gavi (6) and Caden (5).
The Lessard brothers started their farming career at the age of 16 when they purchased a dairy cow and ran a one hundred tap maple bush operation. With the help of their grandfather, the pair took over the family farm at St. Honore-de-Shenley (one hour south of Quebec City) in 2001.
The farm has three distinct sources of revenue: a dairy operation with 200 milking cows; 3,500 organic pigs and 32,000 maple syrup taps. Guillaume manages the accounts and the fields while Etienne manages the livestock. The maple syrup is considered as the brothers’ pre-retirement project.
It has not been smooth sailing for the Lessards’. They lost the whole dairy operation to fire in 2018, only to rebuild it within a year. Their next venture may be a bio-methanization project which will provide energy from the farms, residues, moving them closer to their goal of being self-sufficient.
The other five regional honourees were Gurpreet Singh Lidder (British Columbia), Ben Campbell (Alberta), Kristy-Layne and Richard Carr (Manitoba), David and Jennifer VanDeVelde (Ontario) and Morgan and Karissa Smallman (Prince Edward Island/Atlantic Region)
CJWW Agriculture Director Neil Billinger spoke to both winners following the awards ceremony.
Cody Straza and Allison Squires (Wood Mountain, SK)
Guillaume Lessard (St Honore-de-Shenly, Quebec)
(Front row left-to-right–Guillaume Lessard, Etienne Lessard, Allison Squires, Cody Straza—photo taken by Elaine Pruim)
