All four western provinces have now named their candidates for Canada’s outstanding young farmer of 2003.
The national winner will be chosen in December at a competition in Vancouver.
On Aug. 2, British Columbia chose Ron and Jessie Brar of Surrey. They had been finalists in the provincial competition for the past two years. They began a herb growing operation in 1996 when the family farm was near bankruptcy due to the collapse of B.C.’s traditional vegetable market.
They doubled the farm size to 70 acres and employ 75 people to grow, package and sell their Evergreen Herbs line of herbs, salad greens, baby vegetables and edible flowers across North America and into Asia.
Other provincial winners are Steven Snider who runs Little Red Hen Mills in New Norway, Alta., special crop growers and buyers Lionel and Melody Ector of Elbow, Sask., and grain and cattle farmers Lyndon and Laurelly Beswitherick from Austin, Man.
