Jason Kehler had a fitting nickname while growing up near Carman, Man. As a boy and teenager, Jason constantly talked about farming, so friends and family started calling him Farmer.
The nickname may have faded but Jason’s love of farming hasn’t dissipated. In late February, Jason and his wife, Laura, were honoured as Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016.
The Outstanding Young Farmer program operates in seven provinces, recognizing producers for excellence in agriculture. The Kehlers will represent Manitoba in the national Outstanding Young Farmers event, which will be held November in Niagara Falls, Ont.
Read Also
New wild pig website launches in Canada
A new website has joined the fight against invasive wild pigs in Canada, aiming to offer tools, information and resources to educate the public and offer them a way to report wild pig sightings.
Jason and Laura run a 5,600 acre farm, growing potatoes, corn, canola, oats, edible beans and soybeans.
Jason grew up on the family farm near Carman, but Laura was born and raised 2,000 kilometres from Manitoba on a mixed farm in Ohio.
She earned a masters degree in meat science from Oklahoma State University, then worked for Tyson Foods in research and development and Nestle in product development.
Like many modern couples, Jason and Laura met online.
“We met on a website called Farmers Only,” Laura said with a laugh. “We tell everybody who asks, because they (say) how and the heck did you meet?”
After moving to Manitoba in 2008, Laura took a job as a senior scientist with the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie. She gave up her position after her children were born, who are now two and four.
“It was just way too much. To be working off the farm, working for the farm and having a couple of kids.”
In addition to their two children, the Kehlers have been busy the last few years. Since 2013, they doubled their potato acres and increased total farm acres by nearly 50 percent.
They expanded potato production because Simplot and McCain’s, which operate potato processing plants in Manitoba, were looking for additional acres.
“The processors came to us with contracting options … and we jumped on it,” Laura said. “(But) when you double your process potato acres, it doesn’t end in the field. You’ve got to clean them and store them and ship them, so you have to modify your business.”
Becoming Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016 is of course an honour, but Laura is particularly happy for Jason.
“I’m very proud of my husband…. He’s farmed for his entire life. It was really wonderful for him and for his dad (Harv) to be there at the (awards) banquet.”
Ben and Lisa Heide of Boissevain, along with Marcus and Paige Dueck, of Kleefeld, were also nominated as Manitoba’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016.
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
