Vavrek family named County of Grande Prairie’s 2022 Farm Family

Jan 20, 2022

The family has been farming in the Sexsmith area for about 75 years

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

A farm family from the Sexsmith, Alta., area has been named the County of Grande Prairie’s 2022 Farm Family.

The Vavrek family, who raise about 3,200 acres of grain and oilseeds, and cattle at Vavy Valley Farms, received the honour Jan. 12.

“My family and I are very excited and thrilled to receive such a great award,” Michael Vavrek Jr., told Farms.com.

Vavrek Jr. and his wife Melody took over the farm from his family in 1993. Today, they farm with their sons, Daylan and Brett.

The award dates back to 1969. It recognizes significant contributions to the local, regional and province-wide ag communities.

Vavrek Family
The Vavrek family (front, l-r) are Michael Vavrek with granddaughter Nataly Vavrek and wife Melody, and (back, l-r) Chandra Oliver, sons Daylan and Brett Vavrek, and daughter-in-law Aly Vavrek. The family welcomed a second granddaughter, Lucy, in 2020.

The Vavreks have been involved in the community for many years.

Since the mid-1990s the family has operated the Sexsmith Curling Club and hosts annual bonspiels to benefit the Organ Transplant Charity.

In addition, the family helped create the Sexsmith Farmers Market in 2017, which utilizes the curling rink in the summer months.

Grande Prairie is full of great farm families. To be recognized among them is special, Vavrek Jr. said.

“It means so much for many farm families in our area to be acknowledged for this great title of trying to make out county a better place to live and farm,” he said. “We thank the County for this great honour.”

A fellow member of the Sexsmith ag community nominated the Vavreks for the award.

Walter Paszkowski, a past chair of the Canola Council of Canada, Alberta Agriculture Hall of Famer, member of the Alberta Order of Excellence and former provincial minister of agriculture, put forward the nomination papers.

The way the family farms is an example of using best tools available, he said.

“Their farming operation functions as the top level of agricultural skilled management and work ethics,” he wrote in in the nomination paper. “Their equipment is a product of the latest technology. Their farming practices are products of not only the latest research but also of their industriousness, which includes proper organization and preparedness.”

The family will be officially acknowledged during the Peace County Classic Agri-Show on March 11.

Anyone interested in attending can call 780-532-9727 for tickets.

Video: The Investment Opportunities of Industrial Hemp

The fledgling U.S. hemp industry is decades behind countries like Canada, France and China, but according to impact investor and this week’s podcast guest, Pierre Berard, it could flourish into a $2.2 billion industry by 2030 and create thousands of jobs.

To reach its potential, what the hemp industry needs most right now, Berard said, is capital investment.

Last month, Berard published a report titled “Seeing the U.S. Industrial Hemp Opportunity — A Pioneering Venture for Investors and Corporations Driven by Environmental, Social and Financial Concerns” in which he lays out the case for investment.

It’s as if Berard, with this report, is waving a giant flag, trying to attract the eyes of investors, saying, “Look over here. Look at all this opportunity.”

Berard likens the burgeoning American hemp industry to a developing country.

“There is no capital. People don’t want to finance. This is too risky. And I was like, OK, this sounds like something for me,” he said.

As an impact investor who manages funds specializing in agro-processing companies, Berard now has his sights set on the U.S. hemp industry, which he believes has great economic value as well as social and environmental benefits.

He spent many years developing investment in the agriculture infrastructure of developing countries in Latin America and Africa, and said the hemp industry feels similar.

“It is very nascent and it is a very fragmented sector. You have pioneers and trailblazers inventing or reinventing the field after 80 years of prohibition,” he said. “So I feel very familiar with this context.”

On this week’s hemp podcast, Berard talks about the report and the opportunities available to investors in the feed, fiber and food sectors of the hemp industry.

Building an industry around an agricultural commodity takes time, he said. According to the report, “The soybean industry took about 50 years to become firmly established, from the first USDA imports in 1898 to the U.S. being the top worldwide producer in the 1950s.”

Berard has a plan to accelerate the growth of the hemp industry and sees a four-pillar approach to attract investment.

First, he said, the foundation of the industry is the relationship between farmers and processors at the local level.

Second, he said the industry needs what he calls a “federating body” that will represent it, foster markets and innovations, and reduce risk for its members and investors.

The third pillar is “collaboration with corporations that aim to secure or diversify their supply chains with sustainable products and enhance their ESG credentials. This will be key to funding the industry and creating markets,” he said.

The fourth pillar is investment. Lots of it. Over $1.6 billion over seven years. This money will come from government, corporations, individual investors, and philanthropic donors.

The 75-page report goes into detail about the hemp industry, its environmental and social impact, and the opportunities available to investors.

Read the report here: Seeing the U.S. Industrial Hemp Opportunity

Also on this episode, we check in with hemp and bison farmer Herb Grove from Brush Mountain Bison in Centre County, PA, where he grew 50 acres of hemp grain. We’ll hear about harvest and dry down and crushing the seed for oil and cake.