Alberta, Ontario Young Farmers Bring Home Awards At Winnipeg Gala

Alberta and Ontario were this year's winners of the Canada's Outstanding Young Farmers awards. A banquet was held in Winnipeg Friday night.

Jinel Ference operates Double F Farms in Kirriemuir, Alberta with her husband Craig.

"It's pretty overwhelming," she said. "We're very excited, we're honoured, we're blessed; we were within a group of fabulous nominees from various sectors in agriculture and we're very honoured that we were chosen."

Craig explained what they do on their mixed operation, cow-calf grain feedlot.

"We're integrating crops like corn, pulses, canola into rotations; trying to be ahead of the curve with the corn production, trying innovative things."

The other winners were Jordan and Alex McKay, who operate Willowtree Farms in Port Perry, Ontario.

The farm, northeast of Toronto, is a mixed operation with fruits and vegetables, beef, lamb, and maple syrup.

"Our big thing is our diversity and our retail," said Jordan. "We retail most of our produce, most of our meat through our farm store and through farmer's markets, through a CSA program. We do a lot of value adding on the farm as well. We have an on-farm butcher shop."

Jen and Brooks White of Pierson, represented Manitoba at the event