A trio of Alberta brothers are Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2024.
Lorin, Barry and Daniel Doerksen ranch with their father, Arno, and uncle, Tim, near Gem. They share the honour with Simon and Alison Blouin, who run Polyculture Plante 1987 Inc. in Sainte Pétronille, Quebec.
The Doerksens run Gemstone Cattle Company and were named the recipients during a national event held Nov. 27-Dec. 1 in Lethbridge.
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“I’d say the biggest highlight was meeting the other regional honourees from the Atlantic, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario,” said Lorin Doerksen. British Columbia also had regional honourees, but they were unable to attend.
“At the very beginning, we made presentations to each other. It was to the entire group of attendees and that led to lots of visiting and lots of questions about their operations,” he said.
Doerksen added that he and his brothers got a lot of good advice from other attendees about how they operate their businesses, how they manage human resources and the different farming practices they use.
“We’ve made connections. We’re already all excited about seeing each other at next year’s national event,” he said.
The presentation was attended by many alumni of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers program.
“There are lots of people there with interesting farming stories so we got to network and connect with people from all over Canada.”
Honourees had to participate in two judging sessions, each of about 30 minutes each, at which judges asked questions about finances and succession planning.
Each family was asked how they run their operation, how they work together and about practices on their farm. Before the banquet, each honouree had to make a 15-minute presentation.
Doerksen said he thought the judges liked that the brothers are able to run a complex family business and that they work together to do it. The Doerksens have a purebred red Angus and Hereford seed stock operation, as well as a commercial cow-calf operation.
“We have a small feedlot and a grass finishing program. We’re finishing cattle just on grass.”
They direct market their beef through their marketing company, Gemstone Grass-fed Beef, and they have a butcher shop in Calgary in a year-round farmers market. They also have a kitchen kiosk at the farmers market where they sell smash burgers and other products.
“We’ve got a really good group of people that work for us at the Calgary Farmers market, at our butcher shop,” he said. They also market beef online.
The Doerksens each specialize in an area of the business. Daniel looks after the purebred and cow-calf operations. Lorin is focused on the grass finishing side of things and poly cropping. Barry is involved in marketing, logistics and human resources.
“What we highlighted at the conference was that we were growing and starting to move towards poly crops for silage and grazing, and we’re just finding that that provides a balanced diet for a grass finishing operation and helps us get the gains we need, while also reducing inputs,” said Lorin.
“Over time, we’re improving soil health and nutrient cycling and allowing an adequate recovery period for pastures.”
Improving soil health allows the Doerksens to develop a nutrient-dense beef. Lorin has also been involved in development of the market company, an area in which Barry also has expertise.
“Since Barry has joined the operation, he’s mostly focused on the marketing company, doing a lot of the logistics, human resources and financial analysis. So there’s lots of overlap, like we’re always sort of working together on different things, but we each have taken our focuses on specific areas,” Lorin said.
“Sometimes it’s the little decisions that are harder than the big decisions. One of the benefits of a family business is you have people you trust when it comes to making some of the bigger decisions.”
The Doerksens built an office on their farm, where they meet for weekly operational meetings. Every month or two, the brothers meet with their father, uncle and spouses for strategy business meetings.
“They’re all involved in the operation in different ways. Not all of them are operationally involved, but we make decisions as a family, which includes the spouses,” Lorin said.
The Doerksens gained the title of Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmers at the start of August 2024. Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers program is an annual event that is now 44 years old.
It recognizes farmers who demonstrate excellence in their profession and promote agriculture. The program is open to participants between 18 and 39 who are making most of their income from agriculture.
