Ian and I have been fortunate to have an experience of a lifetime. We have always had this little dream in the back of our minds but were not sure if we would ever actually have the opportunity to participate but this winter we were given the chance to be a part of Ontario's Outstanding Young Farmer Award. It began with a nomination from our area OFA (Ontario Federation of Agriculture) organization. We were then invited to complete a very intense application process (submitted the day before we left for our Florida vacation) which resulted in being chosen as one of six farming couples who were given the opportunity to go to Guelph in late March. We told our families and friends and there was no doubt they were all proud and most wanted the chance to be at the banquet in Guelph to celebrate with us.
Our Cheering Squad: Words cannot describe how loved we felt that night. Our family and friends, who have been with us from the start, were there to celebrate with us.
So what was this all about?
The OYF (Outstanding Young Farmer) Program celebrates the best that agriculture has to offer in our country. Couples/business partners/Individuals, no older than 40 years, are nominated and then progress through an application process, interview and presentation. Once we proceeded through the application process, which is a very indepth description of our farming operation, our goals, our community involvement and basically what makes us special to the farming industry, we had to put together a presentation of our business and farming life together. This was initially presented to a group of judges (prominent people in the agriculture industry) and then presented at the evening banquet.
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| Special Note: Aunt Janie was instrumental in making our presentation successful. We could not have done it without her! |
We met some amazing people - other inspirational farmers - winery/vineyard owners, meat producers, dairy farmers and cash croppers. We were all different yet similar in our belief that agriculture is an awesome industry and we wouldn't want to be doing anything else with our life. Not only are we all passionate about agriculture but our values in family life are similar as well.
As with any competition, there is a winner and our new friends, the Thatchers, hold the honour of Ontario's Outstanding Young Farmers. They began their own farm business from the grassroots and it is now a thriving business. Everyone has a special story -that's why they we were there - and sharing our experiences was the best part.
We feel so fortunate to have been part of the OOYF program.
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