Healthy Farmers Growing Healthy Farms
Our full day of farmer-led programming focused on tapping into the vast expertise and resources of the Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec organic farming community, and on building farmer-to-farmer connections. Workshops were led by sector-leaders and covered a number of topics relevant to strengthening economic viability and building resilience on the farm.
2025 Program Details
Keynote: Healthy Farmers Growing Healthy Farms with Steve Kenyon
Workshop Block 1: Choice of 3 workshops
Workshop 1A: Grass Fed/Pasture Based Genetics
Brian Maloney, Ferme Brylee and Erik Leach, Alluviallea Farms
For livestock producers focusing on grass-based production, working with the right animals is a big part of the equation. In this session, two producers shared how they make genetic choices for their operations – what makes an animal well suited for grass-fed beef production, or grass-based dairy? A discussion on some of the challenges and opportunities faced by producers in this region with respect to genetics in our grassfed productions.
Workshop 1B: New Farmers: Scoping the Farm Dream
Noel Dhingra, Grickle Grass Farm, Kat Spilka, Farm worker at Roots and Shoots, and Mattson Griffiths, Parachute Farms
Three first-generation farmers shared their experience pursuing farming as a profession: overcoming barriers such as land access, maintaining a living wage and how to find your niche in local food systems.
Workshop 1C: When farming isn’t good for you anymore: Prioritizing farmer well-being
Kristen Howe, Agriculture Wellness Ontario, Leela Ramachandran, Kemptville Campus, and Audrey Arcand, Ecoute Agricole
Farming is considered one of the most stressful occupations, not only physically but mentally. Challenges with production, changing climates, increased costs and isolation: these stresses are just the tip of the iceberg. Panelists explored trends around farmer mental health in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.
Farmer-to-Farmer Learning Session
This was an opportunity to connect directly with other farmers and swap stories, lessons learned, resources and contacts in three 20-minute sessions. Topics covered:
- Cover Crops
- Grazing & Livestock
- Market Gardening
- New Farmers / Land Access
- Direct-to-consumer Marketing: Farmers Markets, CSAs, Co-op, other
- Cooperative models of farming
- Funding Ecological Practices on your Farm
- Small Grains
- Soil Health
- Seed Production and Saving
Workshop Block 2: Choice of 2 workshops
Workshop 2A: Grazing Techniques Introduction with Steve Kenyon
Steve Kenyon
An introduction to grazing techniques that emphasize polycultures and soil biology as the key drivers of responsible land stewardship, resulting in healthy animals and healthy pockets.
Workshop 2B: Finding What Works: Right-Sizing your Farm Team As Your Farm Operations Evolve
Patrick Brunet, Dream Small Farm and Isabelle Rode, Vintage Soil Farm
A panel discussion where these established farms shared how they have adapted their farm teams to fit their changing operations over time. The panel explored the transition from fieldwork to managerial work, staff retention, and temporary worker programs.
Workshop Block 3: Choice of 3 workshops
Workshop 3A: Diversifying Farm Practices for Soil Health
Justin Reeves, Meadowlark Rise Farm and Norbert Weiler, Farmer
Two farmers shared their experience with perennial and animal agriculture, water management and the different paths they have taken to develop productive and resilient ecosystems on their farms.
Workshop 3B: Cost of Production on Three Farms: Livestock, Market Garden and Row Crop
Charlotte Scott, Ferme Lève-Tôt, André Houle, Ferme Houle Farm, and Kyle White, Milkhouse Farm and Dairy
Farmers shared details on how they determined their cost of production to develop healthy finances on their farms. Each farm presented an overview of their operations, a sample analysis of their products, and insight on how they determine costs of production.
Workshop 3C: Farm Succession Outside the Family
Mike MacGillvray, Kirkview Farms and Heather Syposz, Agricola Cooperative Farm
What can established farmers do to support the next generation of farmers? This was a talk on how to think beyond your family tree when planning for succession.
Closing Remarks & Social
After Hours Farmer Networking
Speakers
Steve Kenyon
For over 25 years, Steve Kenyon has been custom grazing on leased land near Edmonton, Alberta under the name of Greener Pastures Ranching Ltd. By using extended grazing techniques, he is able to pasture cattle year-round. This is done by using a combination of regenerative and dormant season grazing as well as swath grazing, crop residue and bale grazing.
Greener Pastures Ranching is a regenerative farm with environmental goals focused on creating a living soil, healing the water cycle and rebuilding ecosystems. Our mission statement is “Economic and Environmental Sustainability for Generations.”
It is important to us to provide an enjoyable, profitable and sustainable business for future generations.
Erik Leach
Alluviallea Farms
Erik and Chantelle run Alluviallea Farms, located in Ontario Canada. The values of the farm include environmental stewardship as a the vehicle to maintain the operation to the 8th generation. Applying practices from traditional, organic, conventional and regenerative to produce dairy products that meet today’s market.
Brian Maloney
Ferme Brylee
Brian is a career farmer that has been farming for 36 years. He is passionate about producing and enjoying highly nutritious and quality food. He is continuing the tradition of caring for the land and the animals as the generations before him. Being the “idea guy” always allows for new ways to expand the business.
Noel Dhingra
Grickle Grass Farm
Noel is a first-generation farmer who sees food and the act of growing it as an intersection between healthy environments and resilient communities. He first took action in this area with Community Food Centres Canada, where he developed and delivered programming which highlighted food as both a social justice issue and an influence on personal and community health. Now, he seeks to increase access to regenerative agricultural practices and the dialogue around them so that more people can understand and participate in their local food systems.
He co-founded Cadence Ecological Farm as part of the Just Food Start Up Farm Program. Cadence established itself as a mentor farm and delivered a paid youth internship program hiring marginalized young Canadians.
Noel currently sits on the board of the Hudson Food Collective and runs Grickle Grass Farm, where he and his partner grow food organically and do their best to steward a small slice of Eastern Ontario.
Noel has returned to Just Food in the role of Farm Education Coordinator, where he works to support and empower new farmers in eastern Ottawa.
Kat Spilka
Farm worker at Roots and Shoots
Born and raised in Montreal, Katherine has over ten years of experience in organic agriculture across Canada. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography, Environmental Studies, and Sustainability from Concordia University, which helps her understand her farming career within broader social and environmental contexts. Now in her third year at Roots and Shoots Farm, Katherine manages the farm store, events, and social media, in addition to working in the fields. She is passionate about building community and redefining sustainable farming to prioritize the well-being of farm workers.
Mattson Griffiths
Parachute Farms
Mattson Griffiths is a first-generation organic vegetable farmer holding a diploma in Farm Management and Technology as well as an undergraduate degree in Therapeutic Recreation.
He’s been working in the agricultural industry since 2013 when he first apprenticed on an organic farm in New Brunswick. He is entering year three of operating Parachute Farm, with his wife and business partner Maggie Winchester. Parachute Farm is a half-acre, no-till, market garden, on family-owned land in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. As a tenant farmer whose career in agriculture has been defined by the current farmland access and climate crises, Mattson is passionate about alternative food system models and collaboration within community. His life and growing practices are rooted in the values of agroecology, food sovereignty, climate justice and social equality. For Mattson, farming is an act of hope and resistance; One bean at a time, Comrades!
Kristen Howe
Agriculture Wellness Ontario
Kristen is the acting Program Manager for the In the Know program. Kristen enjoys working with plants and people, and has spent most of her career developing, running, and improving programs related to agriculture and access to food. Kristen has worked on farms, and with not-for profit organizations and government on local and national scales. She holds a Masters of Environmental Studies degree where she focused on food policy, and also has training in conflict resolution and facilitation.
Leela Ramachandran
Kemptville Campus
Audrey ArcandEcoute Agricole
Patrick Brunet
Dream Small Farm
Anna and Patrick moved from Ottawa to Alexandria in 2019, to start a small-scale organic vegetable farm. Since their first growing season in 2020, they have expanded their production to provide certified organic vegetables to their community through their onsite farmstand, 2 farmers’ markets, a 120 member CSA program and wholesale orders to local restaurants and stores. They are passionate about the quality of their food. They have implemented a cover crop rotation program in order to optimize their soil health and they are committed to ongoing improvements to their practices in order to farm as sustainably as possible.
Isabelle Rode
Vintage Soil Farm
Isabelle is the owner and operator of Vintage Soil Farm located in Frankville, ON, right in between Kingston and Ottawa. After completing an Environmental Studies degree at the University of Waterloo Isabelle began her journey into the world of organic farming. After working and managing at farms in ON, BC and QUE for 5 years, Isabelle started Vintage Soil Farm in 2021 on rented land in Kemptville. Since then Isabelle has slowly grown her farm to include 3 full-time staff and transitioned the farm to permanent land in the fall of 2023. In addition to tractor and human power, Vintage Soil Farm incorporates the use of a draft team in the field.
Paul Slomp
Grazing Days
Paul has loved working with cattle and soils since his early days on his family’s farm first in the Netherlands, and then in Rimbey, Alberta. His love mathematics and science led him to study civil engineering. The diverse puzzles found on ecological farms brought him to work with diverse smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and later in the local food sovereignty movement back in Canada. When he isn’t with the herd moving fences or engineering a new winch system for feeding whey to the pigs, you can find Paul planning new play structures with two very excited young farm kids.
Justin Reeves
Meadowlark Rise Farm
Justin began his journey in organic farming in 2005, sparked by a growing passion for cooking, cultivating food, and an increasing awareness of the importance of ecological agriculture. Early experiences with local food co-operatives and markets in Quebec showed him that young people could play a vital role in shaping the local food movement. He started with a CSA on borrowed land and his parents’ backyard, eventually discovering a deep interest in food-producing trees and the potential of perennial crops.
In his early years, he developed a keen interest in seed saving and vegetable breeding, knowledge he now applies to tree crops. In 2010, Justin and his family established Meadowlark Rise Farm on a 60-acre property in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. A family-run operation, the farm is situated in hardiness zones 5a/4b and has been certified organic since 2011. It integrates tree crops with sustainable water and land management systems and features a diverse range of fruits, including Asian pears, raspberries, sour cherries, and mulberries. The farm also hosts a variety of nut trees, including heartnut, hazelnut, chestnut, pine nut, hickory, and oak.
With plans to serve as a demonstration site for a scalable restorative model of food production, Meadowlark Rise Farm also acts as refugia for tree genetics and breeding work. Inspired by leaders in regenerative agriculture, Justin applies principles like keyline design, using swales, berms, and ponds to manage water flow and improve soil health. With a vision of creating sustainable abundance, he has transformed Meadowlark Rise Farm into a thriving example of how ecological practices can coexist with productive farming.
Norbert Weiler
Black Creek Farm
Born on an dairy Farm near Luxembourg, farming organic livestock and Vegetables since 1985 in Canada. Norbert sold at the organic farmers market since 1996 and made home deliveries up to the present time. He has been giving free classes on organic farming and gardening for 29 years, and also has a degree in Food technology from Berlin.
Charlotte Scott
Ferme Leve-Tot
Charlotte Scott is the co-owner of Ferme Lève-tôt in Low, QC. Founded in 2010, the farm grows certified organic vegetables for a 160-share CSA and a thriving farmers’ market. In 2015 they bought their first team of horses and began transitioning to draft animal power. They use the horses for much of the primary tillage, cultivation and cover crop management, with a mix of antique and modern equipment.
Andre Houle
Ferme Houle Farm
Ferme Houle Farm is a multi-generational, family-owned and operated farm. Located in Curran, Ontario, we have now been proudly operating for nearly a century. From its humble beginnings as a mixed dairy and potato farm, the last few decades have seen the farm shift its focus to cash crop operations and growing common grains such as corn, soy, buckwheat, wheat, and rye. We started using regenerative agricultural practices in 2018 and obtained organic certification for the first time in 2021. We now produce a multitude of products for both human and livestock consumption.
Kyle White
Milkhouse Farm and Dairy
Kyle and his partner Caitlin opened Milkhouse Farm and Dairy in the fall of 2010 with 10 ewes and a naive belief that they could make money selling cheese. Today their farm is home to around 250 sheep. They both work full time – raising and milking dairy sheep, processing their milk into cheese and selling their cheese, lamb and wool products. Most of their sales are still direct through farmer’s markets. Their farm is located just outside of Smiths Falls, Ontario and they are currently in the process of building a new creamery and home inside of an old dairy barn on the property.
Mike MacGillvray
Kirkview Farms
We are a multigenerational family farm based in beautiful North Glengarry, ON. The original patent for the land that we farm was granted in 1796. Our ancestors acquired four 100 acre lots. We farm 196 acres, (4 acres now form the Kirkhill United Church property), of the original 400 acres, and the other 200 is still farmed by MacGillivrays as well. Historically the farm was farmed in what we now term “regenerative organic”, but for about 60 years had been farmed “conventionally”, which means petrochemically based. We do not believe in the “conventional” system, and have converted the farm “back …to the future”. We are doing this by using the 6 regenerative farming principles combined with permaculture based designs to create an agroecosystem type model. We hope to not only improve the soil, but our community and the environment as well.
Heather Syposz, Agricola Cooperative Farm
Eco Farm Day 2025 was delivered in partnership with COG-OSO & Just Food at Kemptville Campus.
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