Young Agrarians is celebrating the tenth year of the Business Mentorship Network (BMN) program in BC and the second year of the program in the Prairies! If you are a new farmer or the next generation to take on your family farm and need support to figure out the business aspects of your farm consider applying for the 2024/2025 cohort. The BMN offers business mentorships to a diverse array of new and young farmers/ranchers/producers. Through one-on-one mentorship, peer networks and online workshops new farmers develop the skills necessary to operate ecologically sustainable and financially viable farm businesses.
Apply for the 2024/2025 program here – applications processed in October .
Check out the Business Mentorship Network page for more information!
Over the next few weeks we will introduce you to each of the new farmers in the 2024 cohort to hear about the arc of their farming journey, what their hopes are for the season ahead and what inspired them to reach out for business mentorship. To access more of these stories head over to our blog here.
Young Agrarians acknowledges funding support provided by the Government of Canada through Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan). In Alberta, the Business Mentorship Network is funded in part by the Government of Alberta.
Meet a Mentee: Cluck and Clove Farm
Hello! We are Trent Romanow (he/him) and Katie Romanow (she/her). Our farm is Cluck and Clove, operated by Trent. Our mentor is Jonah Langelotz of Correction Line Acres.
Where do you farm?
We are located in Lac Ste Anne County, just outside of the Town of Onoway. We are on Treaty Six Territory, a traditional meeting grounds, gathering place and travelling route to the Cree, Salteuax Blackfoot, Metis, Dene and Nakota Sioux.
What inspired you to get into farming?
It’s always been important to us to garden and grow food for our family, and we dreamed of growing garlic on a larger scale, so when the opportunity arose to buy farm within the area we already called home, we decided to jump in feet first and start growing garlic and veggies to feed and serve our community.
How did you learn how to farm?
Learning to farm is new for us; it has been just over a year since we moved to our property, and it is an ongoing journey. Neither of us come from a farming background so we are currently using a lot of trial and error, and trying to soak in any knowledge from our mentor Jonah, books and other farmers we admire on social media.
What informational resources do you use on a regular basis or have you used in the past to operate your farm business?
We have learned a lot from Joel Salatin’s books, The Market Gardener by Jean-Martin Fortier, and Growing Great Garlic by Ron L. Engeland. We follow Farmer Jesse from No Till on social media as well as many others.
What type of business structure is your farm?
Our farm is a sole proprietorship.
How much land is under production on your farm and what do you produce?
We have 25 acres of farmable land, most producing hay at the moment, with about a 1/3 acre used for garlic and about 1/2 an acre set aside for vegetable production, and we plan to add 1/4 acre pumpkin patch this year.
What kind of land agreement do you have? Are there special relationships that enabled this?
We own our 40 acres of land.
Did you access any financing to buy land or start your farm business?
We were able to use savings from an off farm job and the sale of our old home to purchase the farm.
What types of ecological farm practices and/or responses to climate change realities do you engage in?
We grow our garlic and vegetables without the use of pesticides and or herbicides and believe in being stewards to the land.
What do you hope to work on this year in your mentorship?
Applying for the business mentorship seemed like something we could really benefit from since neither of us came from a business or farming background so we really were looking for knowledge on how to run our farm business successfully.
What is the greatest business challenge you face as a new farmer?
One of the challenges we have faced being new farmers is building the consistent habit of record keeping, and really setting our sights not only on planning for the current season, but looking ahead into the next year and next season as well.
What are your primary business goals for the season?
Our goals for this year is to hit a target revenue, to introduce new products to our farm such as broiler chickens, and work on being consistent in our marketing.
What business tools could you not live without?
Google workspace has been very valuable to us for planning and organizing our season and projections.
How can we find out more about you, your farm, and its products?
FB: Cluck & Clove Farm – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091590187145
Website: https://cluckandclovefarm.godaddysites.com