Family farm or corporation? I'm not ashamed to be both
CBC
This Opinion piece is by Kristjan Hebert, who operates a 32,000-acre grain and oilseed farm near Moosomin, Sask. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
I'm proud to run a large, prosperous farming operation.
We farm 32,000 acres around Fairlight, Sask. We employ 15 people full-time and 15 people seasonally.
We also run a non-profit foundation that, so far this year, has donated to local community organizations including youth sports, education and health-care initiatives.
We and other large farms regularly hear from critics on social media platforms, quick to judge and criticize the growing nature of today's operations.
The public perceives very large farms like ours as corporate, faceless and threatening small communities. I would argue the opposite is true.
Growing up in Fairlight, Sask., I had a love-hate relationship with our farm.
It provided a good life and great memories for our family, and I'm thankful for that. But it also felt like a monster some days. It always took priority, determined if we could or couldn't go to the lake on summer days, and kept my dad working long hours. I remember wanting him to keep coach my hockey team — which he did until I was nine — but even in the winter, there was equipment to fix, seed and fertilizer to be purchased, and accounting to be done.
At the time the farm was 320 acres. So how did it grow to what it is today?
After university, I became a CPA and returned to our family farm. My parents, my wife and I decided together that we would run the farm like a business — not a hobby, not a lifestyle.
There's a great adage I think about: "If you run a farm like a lifestyle, it is a really bad business. If you run a farm like a business, it can provide a really great lifestyle."
We are both a family farm and a corporation. These are not mutually exclusive.
Many people romanticize the small farm, run only by immediate family members, but it is getting more challenging for small farms to stay economically viable. Without the proper staffing, they can turn into beasts.
The rates of depression and suicide in agriculture are a serious problem. The "rugged individualism" of many farmers who fail to ask for help is contributing to the mental health crisis.