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! 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.
Application intake for BC and AB mentees is now CLOSED.
Limited spots available for MB and SK mentees – APPLY NOW!
Mentor applications (paid position) are accepted year-round.
Check out the Business Mentorship Network page for more information!
Want to learn more about our Mentees (or Mentors)? Below you’ll find a Q&A where you can learn more about one of the 2023 cohort and their experience of the year supported by the Business Mentorship Network. If you’d like to read about the experiences of other Mentees/Mentors, head to our blog here.
Meet a Mentee: Gathered and Grown Family Farm
Hello! My name is Suzanne Bergeron (she/her) from Gathered and Grown Family Farm. We are located on the north west side of Gull Lake, between the towns of Bentley and Rimbey. Our farm is located on Treaty 6 land.
My mentor is the incredible Tam Anderson from Prairie Gardens and Adventure Farm.
What were your goals for Gathered and Grown Family Farm for this season and what did you do to try to achieve them?
Our primary goals for the season were to launch our on-farm programs and to get our CSA subscriptions going. We did a lot of planning and learning about marketing. Although I love to write, I don’t necessarily love to sell. We worked with some incredibly knowledgeable people who helped me turn my story telling into advertising campaigns. We also participated in Alberta Open Farm Days to capitalize on their widespread advertising campaigns.
Did you meet your goals / did it work out? What went well this season relating to your goals? What didn’t go as you expected and what did you do instead?
I had a hard time setting concrete, measurable, goals at the beginning of the season. To help give myself something to measure my success against, we set dollar values for each goal for specific categories. For example, we had a sales goal for produce and goods as well as a sales goal for registrations and events. I had laid out how many CSAs, registrations, field trips, and so on we would have to sell to meet those goals. Throughout the season, we went back to the drawing table multiple times as we realized we wouldn’t hit our sales goals. We added a half share for our CSAs to appeal to more of our local demographic, we added a 4-week share at the end of the season to push sales just a little bit more, and I ran a far fall school program. When all was said and done we exceeded our produce and goods goal but we came in just under our programs and events goal. In the end, it all balanced out to get us over our total goal and has given us a lot to think about for next year as far as what was worth our time and what was not.
What resources did you find most valuable to support your business during the season?
We paid for a marketing plan before the season began, although I didn’t do a fantastic job of following through on all aspects, it was money well spent. With our plan, I specifically asked for Canva templates because creating them is most certainly not my strong point. I used them again and again all summer which eventually built my confidence enough to branch out on my own. I highly recommend Canva for anyone working on branding or generating promo materials.
What were your best sales channels/avenues?
Our best sales avenues were word-of-mouth. We attracted a few initial customers through our advertising campaign but saw the greatest growth after those customers started to share about our business and products.
Why do your customers buy from you? What was the best piece of feedback or praise you got from a customer?
We offer a niche in agritourism. We are more focused on education and experience than we are on entertainment. With this in mind, we have intentionally built our field trip programs to align with the Alberta program of studies (curriculum) and offer additional resources to support teachers in their classrooms so the field trip extends beyond a single day. Similarly, with our farm school programs, we have added value by integrating hot topics in parenting to help parents develop skills to support their families at home.
All of our products from our pasture-raised meat and eggs, to our garden, and field trips are a part of a story. We have found that our customers value our stories almost as much as they value the quality of our goods and services.
I think the piece of feedback that inspired me the most this season was families saying they can’t wait to come back next year. The thought that we are providing the space and resources for families to build core memories moves me to tears.
What was the most important thing you gained from the YA Business Mentorship Network Program experience?
My mentor has been an absolutely incredible wealth of knowledge for me. She has so many ideas and perspectives along with the just the right amount of accountability to ensure I follow through. I have also really valued the relationships I have built throughout the program and have enjoyed watching other farms succeed and have found comfort knowing we are not the only ones with challenges and limitations.
What specific business skills did the mentorship help you develop?
I think I gained the most business skills and knowledge from the webinar series based around finances. There is so much to learn and these short sessions gave me a footing for building on.
How did Young Agrarians Farm Business Mentorship impact your business overall?
We would have done a lot less this year without the BMN program. Our goals would have been far more modest and less firm. The mentorship network gave me the push needed to just commit to many necessary aspects of our business that seemed to large or overwhelming to tackle alone.
What were one or two big, hard lessons this season you would want to share with other farmers?
Just because you build it, does not mean people will come. We really learned the importance of constant, ongoing promotion. Another hard lesson we learned was that it is always a good idea to have a back-up plan for the back-up plan. Before the season started, we made supply arrangements with a few other new market gardeners. When our original beet crop failed, I wasn’t too worried as I had someone else lined up to supply us with beets. I didn’t rush to get another planting in the ground as I expected this other farm to follow through. Their life circumstances changed and we weren’t notified until it was too late. I was left scrambling to fill a need during the season that could have been avoided had I not put all of my eggs (or beets) in one basket.
What were one or two victories, small or large, that you had this season?
Our biggest victory was by far launching our field trip and farm school programs. A close second was selling out our fall CSA boxes.
What future plans and goals do you have for your farm and how will you achieve these?
We have big goals for our field trip programs this coming spring. We have plans to expand our activities to add value to visitors as well as expand our resources so students can experience the farm in their own classrooms. We are hoping to fill up our field trip bookings for the spring, so I am looking at ways to get our name into schools. You can watch for us at local teachers conventions and keep an eye on our website and socials for ready to use classroom resources.
What will you do differently next year?
I will hire someone to help out during our busiest seasons. My parents have carried the team in so many ways again this season and I am sure they are ready to have a little bit less commitment to the farm. I would also like to think we will do a little bit more planning and better record keeping (but I also plan to say that every year for the rest of our farming career).
Share a story of something interesting/ funny/weird that happened on Gathered and Grown Family Farm this season.
Once Mat, my dear husband, has an idea set in his mind there are very few things that can stop him. My plan was to set up our greenhouse later in the season when things had slowed down a little bit, so we were ready to grow next spring. He was determined that we would get it up and running for this season. He had me out there up to my ankles in mud trying to get up our first few trusses. Once we had the first few standing the rest went up fairly painlessly. When it came time to pull the poly over it we picked a day and prayed for no wind. We almost never had calm days so my expectations were low but his determination was high. He had a crew of friends come out early in the day, when it is typically calmest for us, but there was just too much of a breeze to do it safely. Our friends all went home but were ready to come running if they got the call. As we neared dinner time Mat decided it would be go time in 30 minutes. He rallied the troops and I sat by skeptically watching the trees sway in the breeze as Mat cued everything up. Almost to the minute he said the wind would die down it was calm enough to get started.
The only person less confident than me about the success of this endeavour was my Mom. Somehow she got stuck with the most important, yet potentially most difficult, task of driving the gator as it pulled the poly up and over the trusses. My friend and I brought our kids (7 in total) out to watch the events unfold. The poly was up and fastened on one end and they were just getting started on the other when the wind picked up. Now in my memory it was a huge gust, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it was enough wind that if you happened to be the unlucky guy holding down a 150 foot side solo you would most certainly be taking flight. In the moment before the wind picked up we had decided there wasn’t much else to watch and started to bring the kids back inside. As we walked towards the house I turned around just in time to see our poly become a kite. I left all 7 kids (4 of which were 2 and under) with my friend and took off running. As I rounded the corner I found that of the 6 guys working on the project there was only 1 to hold down 110 feet of poly. With some seriously quick work we were able to get the sides secured and the greenhouse functional.
As Mat and I walked back up to the greenhouse later that night once the kids were in bed I was overwhelmed with gratitude for our incredible friends and community. All of the people who came out that day have only been a part of our lives for less than 3 years and they were willing to literally take flight, even if only for a second, to help us reach our goals.
What are you most looking forward to this winter?
Rest. I think that one word carries all the meaning I need to answer this question. The beautiful thing about farming is that it operates on a cycle. Yes, there is always more to do, but the slowness of the winter months is very welcome after the intensity of the growing season.
Where can we find Gathered and Grown Family Farm?
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram @ Gathered and Grown Family Farm or check out our website https://www.gatheredandgrown.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gatheredandgrownfamilyfarm/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gatheredandgrown
