Five years back, Franck and Kari Groeneweg say they could never have predicted their present life in Saskatchewan.
“If someone had given me a picture of this here, I would have said it was somebody else’s farm. It’s just not possible,” said Franck.
The Groenewegs, both 32, farm about 5,000 acres and custom farm another 5,000 near Edgeley, Sask.
Like so many journeys, the path included wondering and hardships. However, failure has not been an option.
Franck grew up in France, 120 kilometres south of Paris. Kari is from Alberta.
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In 1994, at 17, Franck left his father’s 500-acre farm and travelled to the United States to see big farm equipment.
Kari attended Dordt College in northwest Iowa and received a four-year education degree. Franck found himself at home in northwest Iowa. He fell in love with Kari and the rural American lifestyle, and in 2000 they married.
“I went for the equipment and stayed for the people,” Franck said.
“I found a community that took farming seriously. You could see that farming was the backbone of the community and farmers were respected for that.
“I enjoyed that, plus we are Christians. People were living their faith for the most part. All that together made a sense of community that I really enjoyed. But I still needed to farm.”
Franck had big ambitions but little capital for the farm he envisioned in Iowa.
“We were discouraged because we were bidding on land, trying to get some rented. Trying to get some bought was just about impossible,” he said.
“We put offers on about 15 farms that didn’t work out,” added Kari.
They looked at purchasing land in Alberta and found it wasn’t economically feasible. Soon after, they set their sights on Saskatchewan and in 2003, they purchased their farm.
Disaster struck soon after with their first crop.
“In 2004 we had frost in August. That was our start to Saskatchewan farming,” said Kari.
Franck is more philosophical about it.
“That was a good old way of farming, I guess,” he said.
“When you start you kind of have to get a bang on your head. It seems it’s quite common. I don’t know if it’s inexperience or you have to pay your dues. I don’t know what it is but it’s what happened. It was a tough time but it was a good time.
“It was a time that we realized what mattered most: spiritually and as far as our suppliers and banks, who was going to stick it out,” he continued.
“It took a lot of talking, a lot of convincing but by God’s grace it happened. It was an amazing experience. It could have been the other way too. We could have just let it go and I guess it would have forced us to do something else.”
Franck said the tough times forced the couple to assess their situation, identify their strengths and make tough decisions about their future in farming.
Initially, he thought it might take 20 years to recover from the economic losses suffered in 2004. But within two years, finances had stabilized and the operation was back on track.
This year’s lingering harvest has put the Groenewegs on guard again.
They have not forgotten 2004 and their close brush with bankruptcy.
“We were in October here, a couple of weeks ago, and nothing (was) happening and we’re starting to wonder like, oh man no, we’re not just digging into this here again,” he said.
“This farming thing is definitely an up and down thing. It could turn around one way or another again.”
At home, Kari is putting her education degree to use by homeschooling their three children, Luke, 5, Julia, 3, and Emma, 1.
“One thing we met when we came to Saskatchewan was a lot of homeschoolers. It really fits the farm lifestyle and it helps the kids to see us at work,” she said.
“I think if any of my children want to get into farming it better be a true wish, a passion, because it doesn’t work without it,” added Franck.
“Everybody wants to farm in 2008.”
The Groenewegs were recently nominated for the Outstanding Young Farmer award.
In June, they were among three nominees that were shortlisted and interviewed.
“That was a great, great experience.”
“It was a time where we felt look, the people who stuck it out with us, supported us, I think they got rewarded. This was kind of a time that showed we can do it.”
All about teamwork
Franck describes himself as an idea person, a big picture type of guy. He also values Kari’s input into their farming operation.
“The analogy that I make is I’m the gas, she’s the brake,” he said.
“If she brakes, I need to figure out why. She might have seen something that I didn’t consider. So I’ll look around, see what it is, identify and slow down.”
Franck said he sees two scenarios that could occur five years down the road: either he’ll be farming 10,000 or 20,000 acres, or the couple will be slowing down to be more involved politically.
He sits on the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, the board of the Indian Head Agriculture Research Foundation, and is an active member in their church.
He admitted that he struggles with the advice from other parents.
“Be careful, these kids grow quick. Before you know, they’ll be gone. I realize that and know from seeing other people,” he said.
“Just to balance the family life with the community life and enjoy the farming and our great lifestyle, I think we have to find a place of balance,” said Kari.
