Canadian Organic Growers (COG) and our partners across the Prairies co-hosted field days in Saskatchewan and Manitoba this year as part of our Regenerative Organic Oats program (ROO). ROO is our award winning, farmer-forward program designed to support Prairie-based growers who are interested in transitioning to regenerative organic farm management. The program is funded by our supply chain partners Nature’s Path, Riverside Natural Foods (producers of the snack brand MadeGood), and Bay State Milling.
Nestled in between visits to participating ROO farms, these field days brought together program staff, supply-chain partners, participants, and other regenerative organic-curious farmers, all keen to see regenerative organic management in action. These exciting days were full of hands-on demonstrations, displays, and discussions on all things regenerative organic farming.
Pleasant Valley Ranch Corp. – North Battleford, SK
The Jess family operate Pleasant Valley Ranch Corp., an organic farm outside of North Battleford, Saskatchewan. The family is farming for the future; as long as the rivers flow and the sun shines, where the land speaks and nature teaches. They believe in long term organic farming for sustainability, ecology and health.
On July 8th, COG and SaskOrganics co-hosted a sold out Field Day along with the Jess family, featuring tours of fields full of an awesome diversity of crops and equipment demonstrations. Attendees were also abuzz about visiting their pollinator strips.
The field day invited everyone to step into the world of regenerative organic agriculture and see what can happen when you work with the ecological processes rather than against them.
From clover plowdowns, to unique intercrops, to restoring alkali land, Jason Jess and his crew showed us their passion for regenerative organic farming – and exactly what it means to cycle nutrients, activate the water cycle effectively, incorporate biodiversity, and keep energy flowing to ensure a healthy, happy farm ecosystem.
Every ROO Field Day leaves me with a deep appreciation for the farmers who make this work possible. This year, walking the fields at Pleasant Valley Ranch in Saskatchewan, I was struck by some of the healthiest regenerative organic oat and flax crops I’ve seen in quite some time, a testament to years of care, stewardship, and persistence.
Just as inspiring is the generosity of the ROO community, which openly shares knowledge, experience, and lessons learned to help one another succeed. Community of practice events like our ROO Field Days are how movements grow. They create unique opportunities to learn from real-world experience, foster pre-competitive collaboration across farming landscapes & supply chains, and build the relationships that turn individual efforts into tremendous collective momentum. The beautiful synergy that emerges when people come together around a shared purpose is one of the most powerful drivers of progress — absolutely essential to building a food future that nourishes the land, supports farming communities, and sustains generations to come.”
– Carrie-Anne Palmeri, Organic Program Manager, Nature’s Path Organic Foods
Schill Family Farm – Balcarres, SK
Schill Family Farm, run by Rob and Lisa Schill, is nestled in the gently rolling valley landscape between the small town of Balcarres and Fort Qu’appelle, Saskatchewan. The Schill’s raise a variety of livestock including sheep, chickens and pigs and grow diverse field crops, including organic oats, flax, cover crops, and multispecies livestock feed.
On July 29th, COG and SaskOrganics hosted a field day with the Schill family on their one-of-a-kind farm, featuring mobile pig and chicken tractor demonstrations, tours of unique grazing corridors, an introduction to the farm’s insect sensors, and a compost tea demonstration.
Producers and soil health enthusiasts from across the Prairies joined us to walk through the fields of oats and flax, eager to witness Rob’s wonderful storytelling of triumphs and challenges. A particular highlight was the mobile chicken and pig tractors. This type of innovation – utilizing the power of livestock for effective nutrient cycling – is just one of the great examples of how Rob and Lisa continue to adapt regenerative organic practices to their land and their context.
Rob and Lisa have ingenious ways of stewarding the land, and they are not afraid to take risks, adapt management practices to their own context, and always, always, try new things despite the many challenges that come with farming… This powerhouse couple has demonstrated time and again how important it is to find the joy in farming and continue feeding your love for the land.”
– Julia Kulczynska, Extension and Outreach Manager, COG
Top of the Hill Farm – Treherne, MB
The DeRuyck family has been farming in southern Manitoba for generations, and over the years, the DeRuycks have adapted to changing markets by focusing on organic grain production. Today, the DeRuyck family continues to grow and process organic products while operating their own grain cleaning and milling facilities. Their farm is built on generations of hard work, innovation, and a commitment to organic farming practices.
On August 6th COG and Manitoba Organics hosted an exciting field day with the DeRuyck family, including tours of the on-farm flour mill operation, vibrant fields, and seed plant and oil press.
Producers from far and wide joined us, along with many local bakers and supply chain representatives. Dan shared his fields of sunflowers, oats, spelt and rye – along with the depth of his knowledge about soil and crop health. Fran showed attendees the impressive set-up of the flour shed, demonstrating the transformation of harvested grain into processed flour. We also had the opportunity to tour the seed cleaning facility and discover what is involved in the process of turning sunflower seeds into oil – and got a taste of their rich, smooth sunflower seed oil during lunch.
Dan and Fran demonstrate just how many hats farmers wear in their daily lives: grower, miller, retailer, marketer, and distributor. The DeRuycks never cease to amaze us with their passion for farming and for feeding their community with regenerative organic food.
The Riverside Team had the opportunity to visit Dan and Fran DeRuyck’s Top of the Hill Farm on August 6th. The on-farm innovation was nothing short of inspiring. Their farm was the first vertically integrated operation we’ve visited – more than 600 acres of crop grown, harvested, cleaned, processed, and distributed locally across Manitoba. We saw a sunflower seed press producing organic sunflower oil, the on-farm cleaning and grading systems Dan built to process his grains, and the flour shed where Fran turns those clean grains into a range of organic ingredients ready to be baked and eaten. We’ve truly never seen anything like it! What moved us the most was that Dan and Fran didn’t shy away from sharing their trial and error, consistently offering up their mistakes, regrets, learnings, and opportunities with true grace and humility.
The most meaningful part of ROO’s annual field days is the community – everyone along the organic value chain coming together around a shared goal, each person knowing their role matters and that it counts that they show up. You can feel the program’s “community of practice” ethos come to life as conversations unfold all around you, a community that has been growing organically (pun intended) since ROO began in 2021. As a founding partner based in Toronto, Ontario, it’s easy to feel a little disconnected from the soil at times. We join ROO’s virtual learning series over the winter and listen in, but by the time the growing season arrives, producers are already putting those learnings into practice and the whole cohort is buzzing with questions and mutual support.
The field day is our chance to see the program in action and reconnect with the people and land that make it all happen – the producers, our program managers at COG, our partners at Nature’s Path and MGM/Bay State Milling, provincial collaborators like Manitoba Organics and SaskOrganics, and a wonderful mix of neighbours, farmers who’ve travelled hours to learn, curious industry partners, non-profits, certifiers, and academics. And whether or not you farm, you leave inspired to understand how organic systems work, convinced that the principles of regenerative organic make our food systems more resilient, and maybe even inspired to try growing food for yourself and make a few of your own mistakes, because that’s where growth happens, literally and figuratively. We can’t do this work alone, and the field days are the perfect opportunity to pause, learn, and celebrate.”
– Shenali Madhanaroopan, Environmental Programs Manager, Riverside Natural Foods
Our team is grateful to SaskOrganics and Manitoba Organics for their incredible collaboration, and to all three host farms and families for allowing us to see their inspirational management practices in action. COG counts ourselves lucky to have met all of the wonderful people who came out to each field day this season – the regenerative organic community of practice is awe-inspiring.
Field Days at Pleasant Valley Ranch Corp. and Schill Family Farm were funded in part by EcoCert and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Agricultural Climate Solutions (ACS) – On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF).
We are also grateful to event sponsors:
- Regenerative Organic Oats Field Day at Pleasant Valley Ranch:
- Lunch Sponsor: Bay State Milling
- Gold Sponsors: Discovery Co-op, NAPA, Hickseed Ltd.
- Silver Sponsors: Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds
- Bronze Sponsors: F.W. Cobs Company, Shafer Commodities Inc., Growers International Organic Sales Inc., and Sunrise Foods International
- Regenerative Organic Oats Field Day at Schill Family Farm:
- Lunch Sponsor: Grain Millers, TCO Cert Chapter 4
- Bronze Sponsor: Growers International Organic Sales Inc.
- Regenerative Organic Oats Field Day at Top of the Hill Farm:
- Sponsors: FaRM Resilience Mentorship (A Program of FCS), Manitoba Habitat Conservancy, Organic Producers Association of Manitoba (OPAM), Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership
About ROO
Regenerative Organic Oats (ROO) is a farmer-forward program designed to support Prairie-based growers who are interested in transitioning to regenerative organic farm management. The program is funded by Nature’s Path, Riverside Natural Foods (producers of the snack brand MadeGood), and MGM Seed and Grain/Bay State Milling in a supply chain collaboration that supports and bolsters the growth of the Canadian regenerative organic oats supply by focusing on soil health in the agricultural landscape. Learn more here.