Larry Woolliams has seen significant change in his lifetime.
He spent his childhood on the family farm in the city of Calgary. No, that’s not a typo. Woolliams’ family homesteaded in 1890 as dairy farmers on what is now a suburban swath of northwest Calgary.
Over the years, the family sold chunks of land to builders. Today, he and his family continue to farm immediately north of the city in Rocky View County.
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Depending which way he looks, he has as good a view of the Cow Town as anyone. By the time he retires, he might look at the city no matter which direction he faces.
Woolliams, his wife Kortney and their two kids, daughter Paige and son Trace, were honoured with Rocky View County’s Master Farm Family award in early August. The award is annually handed out to the family deemed to best demonstrate excellence in community service and at their farm, along with management techniques and sustainability practices.
When he received the call, he was floored.
“That was just the coolest thing,” says Woolliams, 45. “What an honour to be recognized within a whole county.”
The accolade is not entirely new to him, however. When he was 14, his parents, Roy and Diana, received the same award. Even at a young age, it motivated the young boy to follow in their footsteps.
“I always wanted to win it, that was one of my goals after they won it. I didn’t honestly think I’d ever be able to do it. This award is a tribute to them and the generation of Woolliams who came before us.”
After the family was formally honoured, his son Trace said he intends to win the same prize one day in the future.
Embrace change
Years ago, Woolliams was primarily in the cattle business. When BSE hit, the 24-year-old suddenly came to a crossroads.
“As a young farmer, that was devastating. I took a step back and I knew my heart wasn’t into the livestock side. I was into the grain, so that was my opportunity to pivot.”
In short order, he and his parents, who managed separate farms, exited the cattle business with a series of sell-offs.
Today, he farms 9,000 acres and he’ll be the first to say that farming is substantially different than yesteryear, which works well for him as a person who embraces change.
Woolliams’ focus these days is dealing with challenges, most of which involve the business of farming, not the work itself. While most farmers compete with other farmers on land that comes up for sale, Woolliams has also bid against real estate developers eager to turn farmland into housing.
For the last few years, he has been commonly found without dirt under his nails, sitting in his office looking at monitors. The only exceptions are seeding and harvest times. Otherwise, he’s glued to his chair, running the farm and offshoot businesses.
A “farm team” used to be a reference to the field team. At Woolliams Farms, the farm team includes farmhands and extends to his banker, accountant, lawyer, grain marketing advisor/futures account advisor and more.
“If you don’t have those types of people, you’re going to get lost real fast,” he says. “The farm’s a business. The days are gone of this being just a family farm and that’s the way it is. You’re running a multi-million-dollar business.
“We’re very high tech. I can look on my phone and see what’s happening. Everything’s getting recorded in live time and those are decision-making tools. That is a major way for me to keep my finger on the pulse and also helps me determine efficiencies on equipment or what I can do if I’m buying a new piece of equipment.”
Technology helps him market commodities throughout the year and know the break even points on a daily basis.
Woolliams prides himself on being at technology’s bleeding edge, which started with his dad Roy, one of Alberta’s first farmers to use yield maps and variable rate fertilizer. Those innovations intrigued Woolliams at a young age and he never let go of that passion.
Today, he uses both of those tools, but also utilizes drones for scouting, soil sampling and prescription field maps to be as efficient and precise as possible with field operations.
In 2019, Woolliams created Crop Boss, an app for inventory management, field activity and cost-ratio analysis and ensured the integration into farm management software. In 2020, he sold his app to tech company Provision, which he described as a “very honouring” professional experience.
Giving back
As part of the Woolliams family winning the award, their extra-curriculars were put under the microscope. No surprise, the family is active in the community.
From the time he was a boy, Woolliams was involved in 4-H, and the presenter of the award, Rocky View County councillor Greg Boehlke, noted he watched Woolliams grow up with that group.
His kids are also involved in 4-H, specifically the Airdrie 4-H Beef and Sheep Club.
“It’s such a fantastic program and when we got into that with our kids, we saw leaps and bounds in what it did for our kids in their confidence, to go and stand up in front of a crowd and talk,” he says. “It showed them how hard work pays off, so they’re learning life skills.”
Woolliams is a member of the Canadian Seed Growers Association. He and Kortney are both involved in the Goldenrod Community Club, an association with a hall west of Airdrie dedicated to community events and ensuring people can come together.
The family hosts an annual charity golf classic in conjunction with the Airdrie Health Foundation and the University of Alberta, an event born from the loss of his then 19-year-old nephew. Woolliams understands mental health effects and shares that in 2019, when he failed to produce a crop, he struggled. He has come to understand the importance of health and community in new ways.
“The pressure(s) nowadays I think are a lot more,” he says of farming and life.
Part of the family’s long-term goal is to get a hospital built in Airdrie to replace its urgent care centre.
“If we can do these little things like a golf tournament, hopefully we can gain more people,” he says of working toward a goal. “Then we all start pushing as a team.”
As far as the future is concerned, Woolliams is optimistic and despite the frenetic speed of change, he sees it as positive.
“The future is extremely bright in the ag industry. We’re just starting to blossom. The sky is the limit.”
The motto of Woolliams Farms is ‘Helping Feed the World.’ That is just what he and his family intend to keep doing.
