The Holland Marsh’s centennial marks stewardship for the future

On a hot and hazy summer’s day, the Singh family is out in their leek field pulling volunteer pigweed. It’s a menial task, but one that’s familiar to the market gardeners in the Holland Marsh. For second-generation farmer Shane Singh, his story starts with his parents arriving from Guyana with star-bright hopes of a better life. 

On a bitter winter’s day in 1979, the family’s down payment – and faith – was placed in a small, five-acre plot. Since then, the farm has grown to 40 acres on Canal Road that supports Shane, Jennifer, their two children, Lauren and Nathan, as well as Shane’s parents. In many ways, the Singh’s are not unlike the hard-working Dutch immigrants who first reclaimed the vast wetlands of the Holland Marsh in 1925.

The rich muck soil of Shane Singh’s market garden grows leeks, lettuces, and radish, along with herbs such as dill, cilantro and parsley, sold to independent grocers through the Ontario Food Terminal and to local customers through the Bradford Farmers’ Market.   

“For the South American community, we grow bitter melon, flat-leaf spinach and hot peppers,” says Singh. “Other produce includes radicchio, dandelion greens and Swiss chard.”

Shane Singh and his family are emblematic of the many ways in which the Holland Marsh has evolved over the last century. They are the next generation of farmers growing new crops. Looking to the future, Jody Mott, general manager, Holland Marsh Growers’ Association points out that the next decade will be critical for Ontario’s 7,000-acre salad bowl. The area is designated as a specialty crop area within the Greenbelt, and although protected by Greenbelt legislation, responsibilities for care of soil and water weigh heavily on each of the Marsh’s 126 farms. 

Confronted by extreme weather, Holland Marsh growers have experienced seemingly continuous cycles of draining heavy rainfall or irrigating parched fields.