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Mar 1, 2025: ARMSTRONG, BC – Pastured Poultry Production and Policy Primer at Fresh Valley Farms
January 31, 2025
You’re invited to a Pastured Poultry Production and Policy Primer at Fresh Valley Farms in Armstrong, B.C. co-hosted by Young Agrarians and the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association (SSMPA). Join us if you want to learn about raising poultry, connect with other poultry farmers or share your experiences and ideas for provincial and national farm policy. We will gather at Fresh Valley Farms, a fourth-generation certified organic farm run by Annelise Grube-Cavers and Steve Meggait, who raise beef, chicken, turkey and heritage pork on pasture.
The day will start with an introduction circle, followed by a primer on the SSMPA from Executive Director Julia Smith. We will also get a peek into Fresh Valley Farms’ origin story, where they will share some of the fundamentals of pastured poultry production.
Next, we will dive into a presentation from Christian Alexandre of Alexandre Family Farm as he shares the story of his family’s organic pastured laying hen operation—from its beginnings as a small FFA project to a thriving regenerative farm that supplies high-quality organic eggs to retail stores across the West Coast. Christian will provide an inside look at their mobile coop system, which allows hens to graze on lush, organic pasture year-round, demonstrating a scalable and sustainable approach to poultry production. Christian will also speak candidly about one of the toughest challenges his farm has faced: culling their entire flock due to Avian Influenza. He’ll discuss the lessons learned, the impact on their business, and best practices for mitigating disease risk in pastured poultry systems. Beyond their own farm, Alexandre Family Farm serves as an example of what could be possible in British Columbia if the supply management system evolved to create a path to growth for pastured poultry. Their ability to scale a pasture-based poultry model while maintaining strong retail partnerships highlights the opportunities that could exist for BC farmers if regulatory frameworks adapted to support innovative, sustainable poultry production.
After a morning of hearing stories, we will share a delicious meal together featuring Fresh Valley Farms products. After lunch, we will circle together to enjoy a policy session, where we will kick things off with an exploration of the regulations, risks, barriers, and opportunities facing the sector, including sharing information about YA and the SSMPA’s ongoing policy work. Next, we will gather with a panel of industry experts to hear their stories, perspectives, and knowledge pertaining to key policy areas for pastured poultry producers in the province. Finally, we will gather together into discussion groups, where we are excited to hear farmer experiences, questions, ideas and dreams for the future policy landscape of poultry in B.C. and across Canada. The day will wrap up with informal time to socialize with other farmers and to learn a bit more about Fresh Valley Farms, the SSMPA, and Young Agrarians programs and support services.
Incorporating the knowledge generated from this event, YA hopes to address the most pressing barriers faced by farmers in the network who are the future of our food systems. Working with the federal and provincial governments to focus on new entrants, YA aims to create more momentum for programs and services for new, young and underrepresented farmers, including advocating for Canada’s first National New Farmer Strategy that would include land access and targeted capital access. SSMPA will be gathering feedback from existing and aspiring poultry producers for a path to growth for pasture-raised poultry within Canada’s supply management system which will be considered and incorporated into policy recommendations being brought to the provincial government and regulatory bodies. We want to hear what resources you have accessed to build your farming dreams, what barriers you encountered and what supports you need to do the work of growing food for our communities. We can’t wait to dive in!
DATE: Saturday, March 1, 2025 • 10am-5pm
LOCATION: Fresh Valley Farms. Secwepemc & Syilx Territory. 1476 Mountain View Road, Armstrong, BC V0E 1B8
DIRECTIONS/PARKING: Fresh Valley Farms is located off the Vernon-Sicamous Highway in Spallumcheen. Please follow parking directions upon arrival. Carpooling is encouraged to save parking space for everyone! Please do not bring pets to the event. Kids are welcome, and there will be some childcare available at the event. More information below.
REGISTER: So that we can plan for the lunch and workshop, please register on Eventbrite.
SCHEDULE (times are approximate):
10:00 – 11:00 Intro Circle and Welcome
11:00 – 1:00 Educational Session
1:00 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 – 5:00 Policy Session
LUNCH: The registration fee of $10 includes a delicious farm-fresh lunch partially sponsored by Fresh Valley Farms.
CARPOOL INFO: If you are looking for or can offer a ride to or from the event, you can organize carpooling through the Facebook event.
ACCESSIBILITY: If you have any accessibility needs, please get in touch with us at kat@youngagrarians.org
CONFIDENTIALITY: Materials generated from these policy sessions and farmers consultations will include anonymous policy recommendations on provincial and federal levels. We will not identify anybody individually unless we have explicitly asked for your consent to include your story to illustrate a policy recommendation.
SHARE: Planning on joining us? Invite your friends and share the Facebook event.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- This event is open to everyone!
- Children are welcome, and some childcare will be available at the event
- Please do not bring pets
- Please stay home if you have cold or flu symptoms
- Please wash your shoes or choose sterile shoes before visiting the farm, especially if you work on or have visited a farm recently. If you raise poultry or have recently visited a farm that does, please wear washed, non-farm clothing and wash your car tires before attending. We appreciate your support in reducing the potential spread of avian influenza!
- Please do not bring alcohol to this event
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Christian Alexandre
Christian Alexandre is from Crescent City, California. He grew up on a large organic grazing dairy farm that has been certified organic since 2001. In 2005, after a family trip to Virginia and Pennsylvania, Christian and his siblings began raising chickens in mobile coops. Their business quickly expanded into a thriving market, supplying eggs to natural food stores along the West Coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. Today, with twelve of eighteen coops filled with hens, they manage approximately 25,000 hens on pasture at Alexandre Family Farm.
Christian currently serves as the president of the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association (APPPA) and has been a strong advocate for mobile coops in the pasture-raised sector for over a decade.
Building on the success of the Alexandre Kids Egg brand, the Alexandre family launched their A2/A2 organic milk line in 2017, which is now sold across the United States.
Christian is passionate about pastured poultry, organic farming, family, and tractors. He and his wife, Callie, live on the Alexandre Kids’ Egg ranch with their three children: Canaan (5), Callahan (3), and Clara (1).
Julia Smith
Julia has been farming for 14 years and lives entirely off-grid near Merritt, BC where she owns and operates Blue Sky Ranch. She is a founding member and past president of the Small-Scale Meat Producers Association, where she now serves as Executive Director, working to strengthen and expand opportunities for small-scale meat producers across British Columbia. Julia also serves on the boards of Farmers for Climate Solutions and the BC Farm Writers Association. She is a former Vice-President of the National Farmers Union and remains active on its livestock committee. As a grazing mentor with the Farm Resilience Mentorship (FaRM) Program, she is passionate about supporting farmers and ranchers in adopting beneficial management practices such as rotational grazing. Julia’s commitment to policy and regulatory work stems from her drive to enhance the stability and growth of the small-scale meat sector and its vital role in regional food security.
Steve Meggait
Steve is a 4th generation farmer in Armstrong, BC where together with his partner Annelise, he owns Fresh Valley Farms, a family run farming and direct marketing business that produces pasture raised beef, pork and chicken. Steve manages over 300 acres of crop lands and mountainside pasture where he produces pork, beef, eggs and broiler chickens in an outdoor pasture system. He has a Provincially Inspected chicken abattoir and a Farmgate Plus licence to process pork. He is passionate about working to increase meat processing capacity in his community and supporting other communities to do the same through Small-Scale Meat Producers’ projects. Steve is an SSMPA founding member and Vice-President and a grazing mentor with the Canadian Forage and Grasslands Association and Farmers for Climate Solutions Mentorship Programs.
MEET THE PANELISTS
Annelise Grube-Cavers
Annelise Grube-Cavers is a third generation farmer who owns and operates Fresh Valley Farms in Armstrong, BC. She works with Steve, her partner in life, and in business, to provide pasture-raised, certified organic meats, and eggs directly to eaters throughout the Okanagan Valley. After completing an MSc in Geography, Planning, and Environment, she returned to her roots in agriculture in the interior of BC. Annelise currently serves as a board member on the North Okanagan Organic Association and currently represents the Organic Sector on the BC Agriculture Council. She loves talking about agriculture, agricultural policy, and she loves food: growing it, harvesting it, preparing it, and eating it.
Jill Azanza
Jill is a young farmer preparing to take over K & M Farms, her family’s pasture-raised chicken and turkey farm in the Fraser Valley. Having grown up on farms her entire life, Jillian is deeply passionate about agriculture and direct-to-consumer marketing. K & M Farms operates under quota but sells directly through their farm store, farmers’ markets, and specialty butchers, fostering strong connections between farmers and consumers. Jillian is committed to transparency in farming, engaging customers in meaningful discussions about how their food is raised. Jill will share insights on direct marketing, consumer engagement, challenges and barriers to growth within BC’s supply management system and the future of small-scale poultry farming in BC.
Louis Saitowitz
Louis is a seasoned chef, farmer and entrepreneur with hands-on experience in pastured poultry production. He previously owned and operated Okanagan Foothills Poultry raising, processing, packaging, and delivering free-range poultry directly to consumers and restaurants. His family’s farm Mackay Poultry also provided poultry processing services to other producers, giving him insight into the challenges and opportunities within small-scale poultry farming. Louis will share his experiences in on-farm poultry production, processing, and direct marketing, contributing valuable perspectives to the afternoon panel discussion on policy and production in British Columbia.
Abra Brynne
Abra has been deeply involved in farming and food systems her entire life, beginning with a childhood on a farm in BC’s Okanagan Valley, where her family of 13 belonged to a local tree fruit marketing cooperative and raised their own beef. She works as a policy advisor in the meat, fisheries, cannabis, and organic sectors with a focus on value chains and the regulatory regimes that impede or support them. Since 2020 she has served as FarmFolk CityFolk’s Policy Advisor on climate change and food systems. She is also currently pursuing a PhD focusing on settler roles in advancing Indigenous food sovereignty in Canada.
Andrea Gunner, P.Ag.
Andrea Gunner is an agricultural economist and an organic farmer. As an agricultural economist, she has worked in farm business management at both primary and value-added processing levels for farm and food processing clients, producer cooperatives, farmers markets, First Nations, industry associations and for government at municipal, regional, provincial & federal levels. Her special areas of interest are in “eclectic agriculture’ – specialty and non-traditional crops and foods. She and her husband run a certified organic pastured poultry operation raising roasting chickens and turkeys on a small acreage in the North Okanagan, building soil depth on glacial till through intensive rotational grazing over 30 years, mentoring satellite farms and directly supplying 1,000 households in the Thompson Okanagan. They have worked with neighbours and satellite farms to build and operate two provincially licensed poultry processing facilities, and a multispecies cut & wrap facility. Andrea is the current Board Chair for FarmFolk/CityFolk, BC’s longest standing agricultural advocacy non-profit and a past President of the British Columbia Institute of Agrologists, the governing body for 2,000 agriculture and natural resource science professionals.
Emily Robertson
Emily studied population genetics and computer modelling of ecosystems at UCSD and then came to BC for a Masters degree at the Institute of Animal Resource Ecology at UBC. She did research projects for the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Department of Fisheries & Oceans. When motherhood tied her to home she became a consultant, advising other Biologists in experimental design and analyzing large multivariate data sets. When she retired, her interest in Conservation Genetics led her to use this new breeding technique to restore genetic health to heritage chicken breeds. And that led to becoming a chicken farmer… of sorts. Because her background is not in farming, but in the study of wild animals in natural environments, she brings a different voice to poultry husbandry.
ABOUT THE SMALL-SCALE MEAT PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION
The Small-Scale Meat Producers Association (SSMPA) represents British Columbia farmers and ranchers who are raising meat outside of the conventional, industrial system. The SSMPA provides resources and education, networking opportunities, advocacy and representation, marketing support, mentorship and peer support, funding and grant information, research and development and so much more.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the SSMPA, you can learn more on their website. To keep up with upcoming events and offerings, connect with the SSMPA on Facebook and Instagram.
ABOUT FRESH VALLEY FARMS
Fresh Valley Farms is a Certified Organic farm (NOOA Cert #04-346) run by Steve Meggait and Annelise Grube-Cavers, who raise certified organic beef, chicken, turkey and heritage pork on pasture. The farm uses regenerative systems with an emphasis on animal welfare. Steve and Annelise are committed to being responsible stewards of the land, fostering biodiversity and extensive habitats throughout the farm in conjunction with raising pasture-raised livestock.
All of the animals at Fresh Valley Farms have ample access to pasture, and areas to forage, explore, and exercise their natural behaviours whether that be rooting, scratching, or moving together as a herd. Steve and Annelise frequently rotate animals through the pasture to prevent over-grazing and ensure that pigs and cattle have access to a range of space, including shady wooded areas in summer and shelter against rain or snow in the cooler months.
Steve also volunteers on several agricultural committees and is a founding director of the Small Scale Meat Producers’ Association, and Annelise enjoys doing food-systems research and is currently serving as the Organic sector representative on the BC Agriculture Council.
To learn more about Fresh Valley Farms, you can visit their website or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
DIVE DEEPER INTO YA’S POLICY WORK
YA has other exciting policy events coming up both online and in person!
B.C. Virtual Farmer Policy Circles: Join us online on February 6 and 11 to learn about YA’s programs and policy work, explore barriers and opportunities for new entrant farmer policy and participate in a collaborative discussion and feedback session.
Production, Policy and Community Symposium for Market Gardeners: Join us in Merville on February 22 for an educational session, policy discussion and community gathering for market gardeners in collaboration with the National Farmers Union.
4-Part Webinar Series Breaking Barriers: Building Future Farmers: Participate in our online sessions featuring stories, strategies, resources, funding, and programs to help navigate persistent barriers, foster connection, and inform new approaches to better support new and young farmers across the country.
Nov 13: Land Access: Strategies and Stories (recording coming soon!)
Jan 15: Wrap Around Supports: A Farmer Listening Session (recording coming soon!)
“Breaking Barriers: Growing Future Farmers” National Policy Jam: On March 15 and 16, we will gather in eastern Ontario for a coast to coast convening of new and young farmers, farmer organizations, farm policy leaders and allies looking to learn, connect and mobilize around better supports for new and young farmers, including access to land, capital, knowledge, and wrap-around supports. The Policy Jam will be a fun and creative space to build connections, share knowledge, and grow solidarity across the new farmer ecosystem.
Stay in Touch
- Join our Young Agrarians Okanagan-Thompson Facebook Group to stay up to date with all events in the region
- Sign up for our e-newsletter to get events and opportunities for your region delivered straight to your inbox
- We welcome cancellations at any time – you can do so through Eventbrite, through the link in your registration confirmation email, or by contacting kat@youngagrarians.org. Please let us know if you aren’t able to attend
If you are interested in hosting an event at your farm and bringing together the farming community in your area, please reach out to bclmp@youngagrarians.org with your idea!
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, and the Government of Canada through Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCAN).