Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers names Ontario & Quebec as its 2025 Winners

Ryan and Romy Schill of Circle R Livestock Ltd & Revolution Wool Company located at Wallenstein, ON and Pierre Luc Barré & Virginie Bourque of La Ferme Yves Barré Inc located at St. Damase QC were chosen as National Winners from six regional farms at Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer (OYF) Program’s national event held in Toronto, ON Nov 27-30, 2025.

After completing a certificate at Lakeland College, Ryan took over his grandfather’s mixed farm that raised pigs, beef, and 1200 laying hens at Wallenstein, ON. Romy joined him in 2008 after attending the University of Guelph. They juggled farming and off-farm jobs while expanding their outdated farm. They decided to sell the pigs and beef to focus on the sheep. They expanded the herd of Circle R Livestock Ltd from 25 to 800 ewes by 2018. They lamb all year round to spread their risk. By focusing on reduced costs, introducing better genetics and marketing their lambs to local butchers they have added value to their sheep business.

Even though they believe diversification minimizes risk, they made a decision to sell the chicken layer business. They found the chickens were a steady income which helped with expansion but were not flexible for their family. Their new wool business, Revolution Wool Company, allowed them to take what was considered a waste product and add value to their sheep business. Their next steps for expanding the wool business will be to focus on marketing their yarn, batting, felt & wool pillows both in- store and on- line to North American markets.

After Pierre-Luc was given the task of inspecting onions and hot peppers, he became interested in the 3rd generation farm he was raised on at Saint Damase, QC. After attending Technologie Agroalimentaire du Quebec for horticulture, he joined the La Ferme Yves Barré Inc in 2010. When the hot pepper market declined, a $100,000 investment in potato equipment was made to plant 30 acres. They are now planting 300 acres of their 1140 cultivated acres, to produce 18 million pounds of pre-peel potatoes. The future goal is to plant 500 acres – the barrier being access to good land. Virginie joined the farm full time in 2017 and takes care of books, marketing and communications.

Today La Ferme Yves Barré Inc try to spread the risk by diversifying the products. Pierre-Luc’s grandfather started with tomatoes, sugar beets, sweet corn. His father introduced grain corn, peppers and onions and they now produce corn, beans, soy and potatoes.

Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers President Amy Cronin had this to say about the National Event.  “The 2025 Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer event was a great success once again celebrating inspiring honourees from across the country who represent agriculture with passion and excellence.
Pierre-Luc Barre and Virginie Bourque from Quebec and Ryan and Romy Schill from Ontario emulate what our program stands for, excellence, continuous learning, progression, innovation and sustainability. They give generously of their time and energy to make their communities thrive and are excellent advocates for agriculture.
We are grateful to our alumni who are the foundation of this sought-after program and to our sponsors without whom we could not do what we do.”

Every year this event brings recognition to outstanding farmers in Canada under 40 years of age who have exemplified excellence in their profession while fostering better urban-rural relations. The winners were chosen from six regional finalists, including the following honourees from the other five regions:

BC – Thomas & Catherine Cuthbert- Southcoast Agro Farms- Nanaimo

AB – Sarah Weigum- Alect Seeds- Three Hills

SK – Brady & Lindsay Funk- Braylin Farms- Wymark

ON – Ryan & Romy Schill- Circle R Livestock & Revolution Wool Company- Wallenstein

QC – Pierre Luc Barré & Virginie Bourque of La Ferme Yves Barré Inc- St Damase

AT – Katie Campbell & William Spurr- Spurr Brothers Farms-Melvern Square, NS

The stories the finalists shared throughout the week exemplified their passion and love for agriculture.

Celebrating 45 years, Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers’ program is an annual competition to recognize farmers that exemplify excellence in their profession and promote the tremendous contribution of agriculture. Open to participants under 40 years of age, making the majority of income from agriculture, participants are selected from seven regions across Canada, with two national winners chosen each year. The program partner is Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The program is sponsored nationally by CIBC, John Deere, Bayer, Sollio Agriculture, CN and Meridian Manufacturing; our media sponsors, Glacier FarmMedia and Nucleus Consulting, Video sponsor- Bamboo Shoots and supported nationally by BDO.