Being able to raise their children on the farm is important to Kenton and Pam Possberg.
To ensure that, they have to have a successful business and that’s why they’ve put a management plan in place to make Possberg Grain Farms Inc. as efficient and profitable as possible.
The couple farm in the Humboldt area, near Burr, and were named Saskatchewan’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2006 during the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina last week.
Kenton said they didn’t consider themselves winners over the two other nominees – Jason and April Dearborn of Eatonia and Ryan and Guenette Bautz of Middle Lake. He said all the nominees were capable of winning.
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But he did say it is likely the business structure of the Possberg farm that sets it apart. Employees are considered valuable assets, with benefits and RRSP packages. There are written job descriptions and protocols for them to follow so any of them can take charge if need be.
“Whether I am there, or whether our field operations manager is there, or even some of the other guys … they know where to go to get the information that they need to use to get the job done,” Kenton said.
This makes the operation efficient. It employs two people full time in the winter, another three or four in spring, and up to nine during harvest.
Kenton began farming with his father in 1998 after he completed an agriculture degree. Pam is a city girl from Saskatoon who has a degree in commerce.
In 2003, they began farming on their own after Kenton’s father died.
Kenton said although his family had been farming since only 1983, the lifestyle and industry was in his blood.
“It’s been my lifelong desire,” he said. “I remember going out to the farm with my dad when I was three, four years old. That’s one of my first memories.”
The Possbergs seed nearly 13,000 acres to peas, wheat, barley, sunflowers, lentils, flax, oats, canola and canaryseed.
Kenton said marketing is 90 percent of the business.
“Everybody can produce,” he said. “Some years I’m quite successful (at marketing the crop), some years I’m not, but you need to look at it as one of the most important aspects of operating a grain farm and manage your risks. You need to utilize the programs that are in place, the different pricing options and hedging.”
Pam does the books for the business. She said being named an outstanding young farmer was overwhelming.
“Moving out to the farm was a big step,” she said. “I love it. It’s fast paced.”
She is also kept busy with the couple’s two young sons, Spencer, 2, and Taylor, who was born in April.
The Possbergs say there is a future for young families in agriculture, although something has to change in the financial picture.
“There is no doubt there is an income crisis out there,” Kenton said. “It’s just a matter of trying to squeeze the costs and get as much income as you can to maximize your returns.”
But he said the uncontrollable factors such as weather present the biggest challenges.
The Dearborns operate Brecknock Farm, an 8,000 acre cereal, pulse and oilseed operation that they mostly rent from a family trust. This year marks the centennial of the family farm where they are raising their sons Blake, 5, and Spencer, 4.
The Bautzes have a mixed farm that includes 950 acres of grain, 650 acres of hay and pasture, 100 commercial cattle, 165 purebred and commercial Boer goats and 40 purebred Lamancha dairy goats. They operate the province’s only licensed Category 2 milk processing plant.
They have four children: Paige, 11; Spencer, 9; Jasmin, 6; and Tucker, 5.
The Possbergs will represent the province at the national Outstanding Young Farmer competition in Saskatoon Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.
