Name? Rob & Holly Holland
Where do you farm? Cawston, BC in the South Okanagan
What do you farm? Ground crops; 50 different varieties of veggies, some melons and tree fruits (if the bears don’t get them first).
What type of business structure is your farm? General partnership
What is your land tenure? We own our farm and land, which we purchased in 2017.
What inspired you to get into farming? We have always wanted to live in the country and work for ourselves. Once we had our daughters, it made us realize further that the city wasn’t where we wanted to raise a family. Being a Chef, I wanted to keep a connection to food but felt that the restaurant industry wasn’t as fulfilling as it once was. So instead of
cooking food, I was going to grow it; we wanted to develop a connection between food and community. Our inspiration grew once we met all of the amazing people in our community of the South Okanagan.
Why did you apply for business mentorship? After our “learning year” in 2017 I needed more direction, organization and knowledge. If we were going to run the farm profitably we needed to learn a lot more about farm business. After a hard and eye-opening trial season, I was frustrated and wondering if we had made the right decision; then I saw the notice about the mentorship program on the YA website.
What is the greatest business challenge you face as a young farmer? Ensuring sales being new to farming and growing in an area flush with similar very successful farms.
What is your primary business goal for the season? Meeting our financial projections.
What business tools could you not live without? Excel, lists and sharpies.
If you had a farming robot what would it be? It always has the one thing I forgot in the shop (wrench, fitting, trailer pin etc…)
How can we find out more about you, your farm, and its products? WEB – www.handsandheartsacres.com | FB – @handsandheartsacres | INSTA – @handsandheartsacres
Funding for the Young Agrarians Business Mentorship Network in 2018 has been provided by Vancity, the Investment Agriculture Foundation of British Columbia, and the Governments of Canada and British Columbia through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. Thank you to our funders.