Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers Program To Name 2021 National Honourees

Dec 01, 2021

Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program promotes excellence in Agriculture.

Each year, one farming couple is selected from each of the program’s seven Regional Recognition Events to represent their respective region at the National Recognition Event.

This year's National Event is being held this week in Saskatoon, with the final awards and recognition ceremony scheduled for Friday night.

COYF Program Manager Carla Kaeding is a previous participant and says the program is great and really allows you to take a close look at your operation.

"We focus on producers that are the up and coming, movers and shakers in the ag industry. So it's anybody that's 18 to 39 that will be competing. derive two thirds of their income from their farm and are the managers or the decision makers of the operation"

This year's Regional honourees include:

- British Columbia's - Raymond and Tracey Bredenhof - R & T Poultry and Bredenhof Hops in Abbotsford, BC. A 40,000 broiler per cycle operation & the largest distributor of Canadian grown hops.
- Alberta's - Roelof and Mary van Benthem - dairy producers from Red Deer County
- Saskatchewan's - Michael & Jessica Lovich - raised on dairy farms in Alberta, the couple moved their family to Balgonie to develope their own dairy operation.
- Manitoba's - Andrea and Katie Steppler from Miami - Andree oversees the 1250 head cattle division of Steppler Farms Ltd - a multigenerational farm.
- Ontario's - Jenny Butcher and Wes Kuntz of Little Brown Cow Dairy - they began processing 100% of their milk after buying quota & opened the "Local Food Emporium".
- Quebec's - Geneviève Grossenbacher & James Thompson of Notre Petite Ferme - a diversified organic vegetable and dairy farm
- Atlantic Canada - Philip & Katie Keddy - the 110 ac strawberry nursery plant & 60 a sweet potato farm in NS is run with Philip’s parents.

Under the program, the seven honourees are recognized for their achievements and judged using the following criteria:

-Progress made during their farming career
-Maximum use of soil, water and energy conservation practices
-Crop and livestock production history
-Financial and management practices
-Contributions to the well-being of the community, province and nation

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.