Ontario farmer mentoring the next generation of producers

Oct 13, 2016

Mike Lanigan using his land to cultivate interest in agriculture

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

A farmer in Uxbridge, Ontario is using his farm to introduce others to agriculture.

Through the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training (CRAFT), Mike Lanigan’s 100-acre organic farm has become a learning ground for others interested in ag.

“I came here not knowing much about agriculture or where my food comes from, but I was always interested in organic farming,” Edith Barabash, a former CRAFT intern and now employee at the Village Market in Thornhill, told Global News.

In the case of Michelle Dennis, she lives and works on the farm while receiving training from Lanigan and his two sons, as well as earning a $100 weekly allowance.

“…We want to learn about sustainable living,” she told Global News. “It’s a way to counter the high cost of living in Toronto.”

To be eligible as a CRAFT farm where people can come to learn, the farm needs to follow certain guidelines.

“You have to be an organic farm,” Lanigan told Global. “But most importantly you have to be making a living farming. So you can’t have a wife that’s a dentist paying the bills, you have to be a bona fide farmer.”

Barabash told Global News that when her friends hear about her working the land, they think it’s very interesting because many people aren’t connected to their food or understand the passion required to grow it.

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