Elmer Laird, considered by many to be the father of organic farming on the Prairies, has died. He was 86.
Born on a Swift Current, Sask., farm in 1924, Laird began farming organically in 1969 and over the years used his farm near Davidson, Sask., as a testing ground for different crops and methods of production, all oriented toward organics.
Laird’s initial decision to go organic was a matter of economics, not philosophy. Grain was piling up on his farm in 1969 as a result of world market conditions and Laird, recently married to wife Gladys, was getting desperate.
Read Also
Gene editing digs deeper space in Canadian plant breeding
More Canadian research into crop variety development is incorporating gene editing, and one researcher notes that Canada’s regulatory approach to gene editing will help drive innovation
His solution was to reduce his costs by eliminating pesticides and other chemicals from his farming operation.
By the time grain markets returned to normal a few years later, Laird had sold his sprayer and vowed he would never again use chemicals.
In 1973, he and Gladys created the Back to the Farm Research Foundation to study organic farming methods. In 1983, they set up the first certified organic farmers co-operative in Girvin, Sask., milling flour and marketing organic grains and oilseeds in North America and abroad.
On retirement in 2001, Laird leased his land to the foundation, which turned it into an organic research and demonstration farm. Laird managed the facility and continued to speak against the use of chemicals in farming.
He also extolled the role of women in helping to break the “chemical addiction,” saying women’s concern over family health and welfare has played a role in the expansion of organic production.
Laird was inducted into the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2008, the first organic producer to be honoured.
Environmental commentator Paul Hanley told CBC that Laird is one of the people who brought the organic farming movement into existence and raised alarms about the use of chemicals.
Laird was also a founding member of the National Farmers Union and remained a member all his life.
He was predeceased by wife, Gladys, in 1999.
The couple had no children.
