YA Business Mentorship Network – A Rocha

Posted by Melanie Buffel on February 09, 2023

Young Agrarians is celebrating the ninth year of the Business Mentorship Network (BMN) program in BC and the expansion of the program across the Prairies! The BMN offers business mentorships  to a diverse array of new and young farmers. Through one-on-one mentorship, peer networks and online workshops young farmers develop the skills necessary to operate ecologically sustainable and financially viable farm businesses.

YA business mentorships have helped over a 100+ farmers to generate more revenues, grow more food and put more land into production. Immediate results have led to on average of 64% more farm revenue, a 72% increase in food produced, and a 48% increase in land under production. We are thrilled to bring the stories of  these farmers to you for inspiration!

Are you interested to know more? Considering applying? Do you know a new farmer that may benefit from this kind of peer to peer mentorship and business development support? Please reach out. We are recruiting both Mentors and Mentees in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. 

We would love to connect and share more information to see if the program could support you.  Check out the program page on our website and please be in touch!

The deadline to apply has been extended to March 1st, 2023.

Mentee Application

Mentor Application


My name is Carly Richardson and I manage the A Rocha Farm in South Surrey, BC on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish people: including Semiahmoo, Kwantlen, Stó:lō and W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations

Who was your Mentor? 

Andrew Adams, Hope Farm Organics

What were your goals for this season and what did you do to try to achieve them?

To increase efficiency on the farm in our systems, to increase profitability, to achieve more work-life balance, to keep better records and data, and to become a better teacher for our interns and a good manager for staff.

Alongside my mentor I created clear systems that would enable our team to work more efficiently and with more clear direction that were accessible to everyone. I also set more reasonable expectations of my time and boundaries to take breaks. Through increasing efficiencies we were able to make our farm more profitable and I was also able to increase my confidence in decision making, directing and teaching because I felt I had the systems and organization ahead of the season to set me up well for it.

Did you meet your goals / did it work out? 

Yes I met a lot of my goals. I felt our farm was far more efficient this season than last and I found more time to teach and direct folks well. I will certainly be continuing to work on my ability to keep good records and to make time for rest and balance. But while I may not have entirely achieved those goals I improved upon them and I found inspiration and support from my mentor around how to make farming a long term sustainable career personally which I know will have lasting impact as I go forward.

What resources did you find most valuable to support your business during the season?

I found that leaning into the farmer network to troubleshoot problems together and get advice was one of the most valuable resources I had this season. I also found creating SOP’s and a map of roles within the staff on the farm really helped our team to work together smoothly and efficiently and empowered our staff to make decisions themselves and learn by taking on leadership. I also loved the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy resource for crop planning and highly recommend creating our crop plan within their system has really helped me to feel organized and also to have a really good big picture grip on what needs to happen.

What were your best sales channels/avenues?

The CSA continued to be one of the best avenues for us as it has always been our main sales channel. But this season we also added a farmers market which ended up being a great way for us to get out in the community, we saw a high demand and appreciation for our produce which was really exciting and encouraging, and it was a great learning tool for our interns to experience.

Why do your customers buy from you (what is your unique value proposition in your market)?

Our customers buy from us for many reasons. I think many folks choose to buy from us because they believe in what we are about – our focus on caring for the earth and farming in a way that is regenerative. And I would say almost all of our customers are looking for local food from people they trust that tastes fresh and full of flavor.

What was the most important thing you gained from the mentorship? 

It’s really hard to narrow to just one thing. I found the mentorship really did give me a lot of information which was pretty critical to my growth as a farmer this season and broadening my knowledge base. But the perspective and solidarity, knowing I had someone on my team who was encouraging me in the skills I had, adding to them and could share from their experience and wisdom was really important. And I am finishing the mentorship feeling inspired and built up in my confidence.

What specific business skills did the mentorship help you develop?

The mentorship helped me to develop higher efficiency and planning skills which have enabled me to make better business decisions about things such as, how much to charge for a product, or what crops to not grow, or how to streamline crop care to make a particular crop earn its field space. It also helped me to build a lot of managerial skills in working with/leading a team which have made this season feel infinitely more doable. 

What were the big hard lessons this season you would want to share with other farmers?

I think one of the hardest lessons this season was not in the field but more big picture/philosophical.

This year felt like a bit of an unraveling of the idyllic vision that drew me towards being a farmer six years ago… I entered this career dreaming about one day having a farm on my own land with animals, veggies, and flowers -growing everything I could imagine wanting to eat. A farm with a beautiful barn where I would host big farm to table meals all the time with all my friends. And somehow I would have loads of free time to can and preserve every extra veggie we grew… and maybe one day that dream will come true… maybe… But this season some of that idealistic vision was shattered.

I started looking around at my farming peers and realized most of us were nowhere near that vision. Most of us were working LONG hours into the dark (many working for someone else being paid below a living wage), giving up all sorts of social connection, getting sick and beating up our bodies because we don’t have time (or money) to take care of them, not being paid fairly for the product we were offering, and fighting against a challenging and unpredictable climate and impossible land prices. It started to feel not only unrealistic to achieve that dream, but unjust that it was so out of reach for most people.

I have found it hard to embrace this reality and have been stewing over it all quite a bit this season.

At the end of the mentorship I got to walk around the farm with my mentor and grab dinner. And we started to talk about all this. And it was so cathartic. He shared about his own experience, and the evolution of his dreams and farm business, and the ways he has found balance, and a way to both achieve his goals as a farmer AND make a living AND make time for the many other things in his life that matter. I felt empowered that I could to grieve and be angry with the challenging reality of our broken system, while simultaneously inspired to get creative and reimagine a new dream. A better, more realistic dream, that lives in the broken realities of our current system without being defeated by it or compromising the pursuit of a ‘good life’ and meaningful work.

What were the victories, small or large that you had this season?

This season had many small victories like – growing a crop of parsnips that actually came up, and keeping up with tomato tunnel maintenance every week, and starting giong to farmers markets for the first time and selling really well! And I think personally one of the larger ones was building a strong team. I don’t think I was entirely equipped to plan and manage and lead a farm crew before this mentorship. But through the mentorship and really working hard to lead well, I felt like we cultivated a really close knit, strong, and confident team. And I couldn’t have guessed how much of a difference that would make on my stress levels, but it was HUGE!

What plans do you have for  future farm growth?

I would like the farm to grow in two ways.

  1. To deepen our customer experience through farm tours, u-pick and workshops we are hoping to get more people on the farm and connected with how their food is grown and why that matters.
  2. To deepen our education of young farmers. We are building a new curriculum for our interns and I hope to be able to keep growing in our ways of providing folks with both hands-on experience and knowledge.

Where can we find you online? 

Website: https://arocha.ca/where-we-work/brooksdale/brooksdale-csa/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/arocha.market

This program is made possible with the generous funding support of Vancity, Endswell Foundation and Columbia Basin Trust.

Inspired? Check us out and APPLY NOW!

The deadline to apply to the Prairies Business Mentorship Program has been extended to March 1st, 2023!