The regional event was held in late July at AgSmart and hosted by Olds College. Weigum will represent Alberta at Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers competition in November 2025 in Toronto.

Weigum specializes in pedigreed seed production and retail sales. She co-owns the business with her parents, who started the farm and seed business in the 1980s.

Weigum returned to the farm in 2011 after studying English literature at university, working in communications in British Columbia and Ottawa, and cooking for a tree planting camp.

She used those diverse experiences and skills to improve marketing, expand her customer base and connect with professionals across the grain and seed industry.

Alect Seeds produces wheat, barley and peas but also niche crops such as fab beans, flax and fall rye.

Through field days, writing for farm publications, involvement in grower groups and many conversations on the phone and in the community, Weigum has supported farmers who want to grow crops outside the box.

She is president of Alberta/British Columbia Seed Growers and is also a board member for her local seed plant co-operative.

READ MORE: Check out last year’s regional OYF nominees from across Canada HERE.

“The Alberta Outstanding Young Farmers have once again put on an incredible event, attracting alumni, sponsors, friends and family. This year‘s winner, Sarah Weigum, demonstrates the values that our program stands for: excellence, sustainability and passion,” Amy Cronin, president of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmer Program, said in a press release.

“Sarah operates a seed business and exemplifies the spirit of collaboration, creating a model that can be used by other farmers as well. She is an advocate for agriculture and takes pride in being a journalist who put some of the most technical information into articles that the industry can easily understand and adopt.”

Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers is an annual competition aimed at rewarding farmers who demonstrate excellence in their profession and promote agriculture’s contribution.

It is open to participants aged 18 to 39 years old, whose major source of income comes from agricultural sources. Participants are selected from seven regions in Canada, and two national winners are chosen each year.

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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.

“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.

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Greg and Sarah Stamp of Enchant, Alberta and Brad and Travis Hopcott of Pitt Meadows, B.C. were chosen from seven regional farmers at the event, held in Laval, Quebec November 22 to 26.

“Every year the regional finalists challenge the judges like never before,” said Danny Penner, COYF president, in a news release.

“The future of agriculture is in good hands as long as young farmers like the ones that gathered at the COYF national program in Laval are involved. They all showcased incredible operations. 

“Greg and Sarah Stamp of Stamp Seeds and Travis and Brad Hopcott of Hopcott Farms will be exceptional ambassadors for Canadian agriculture.”

Celebrating 43 years, the COYF program is an annual competition to recognize farmers 18 to 39 years of age who show excellence in their profession. Glacier FarmMedia — the publisher of this website — is a media partner of the program. 

What began as a partnership with Greg Stamp’s parents in 2006 has become three separate operations run by Greg and his brothers Nathan and Matthew. The operations include Stamp Seeds (retail pedigreed seed), Stamp Farms (production of pedigreed seed for retail and contracts) and Flourish Farms (cropland). 

Pedigreed seed is produced on 7,000 acres, of which 5,000 acres is under irrigation and 2,000 acres are farmed on dryland. Growing contract seed for others allowed Greg to expand the retail seed business and build a customer base. 

The Stamp brothers use management zones and benchmark soil sampling to better manage fertility. On-farm field days, newsletters and social media are used to build awareness of the varieties produced. 

“Sarah has been instrumental in developing management and succession plans to allow all the families to farm together,” reads a COYF news release.

What began as a dairy farm started by Brad and Travis Hopcott’s grandfather is now a 1,000-head beef feedlot with forage production, on-farm abattoir, 72-acre cranberry farm and a 17,000 square foot retail store and wedding venue. 

Brad is in charge of the beef side. Travis is in charge of cranberries and their sister Jennifer runs the retail and wedding venue. 

The Hopcotts recently renovated 20 per cent of their cranberry acres, introducing new varieties in order to double production. A water reservoir system allows 30 million gallons of water to be recycled in the cranberry bogs during the harvest season. 

A $5 million abbatoir was added in 2022 for full integration of the beef operation. Utilizing waste tissue composting units allows for the integration of animal waste back into the forage fields. 

“Having received support through the management transition, Brad and Travis hope to return the favour and mentor future B.C. farmers,” reads the release.

The winners were chosen from seven regional finalists, including the following from the other five regions: Rémi Taillon and Sophie Brodeur of Sainte-Dominque, Quebec; Stewart Skinner and Jessica Kelly of Listowel, Ontario; Jake and Sarah Leguee of Weyburn, Saskatchewan; Harley and Brooklyn Siemens of Rosenort, Manitoba and Marijke Oudshoorn and Willem van de Wetering of Morell, Prince Edward Island.

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Two $1,000 scholarships will be awarded to Canadian agriculture students.

One scholarship will go to an individual entering post-secondary education from high school, and one to an individual who has already completed at least one year of post-secondary study. Applicants must be pursuing a diploma or degree in agriculture. The scholarships were established 20 years ago by the late Martin Streef, a national OYF winner and an Ontario fresh fruit producer.

Applications, which can be found at www.oyfcanada.com, must be received by June 30.

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One OYF Memorial Scholarship is for a new high school graduate and the other for someone who has already completed at least one year of post-secondary study. Students must be in an agriculture diploma or degree program.

Each applicant must write a one-page essay on the question: “Why are you passionate about agriculture in Canada?” and must also be active on the farm.

For full details and an application form, go to oyfcanada.com. The application deadline is June 30.

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On Nov. 20 in Edmonton, Patrick and Cherylynn Bos were named co-winners of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers award. Then it was back to Rock Ridge Dairy near Ponoka to fire up the most technologically advanced goat milking parlour on the continent and train 700 skeptical does to use the parlour. And then the couple hosted a meeting of dairy goat producers from across Alberta and B.C. — part of their ongoing effort to grow the Western Canadian dairy goat industry.

Sharing the Outstanding Young Farmers national award (with Ontario hog producers Amy and Mike Cronin) was “humbling,” said Cherylynn.

“We were with some amazing people and I don’t think you can say one couple was more deserving than any other,” she said. “You could have put all the names in a hat, swished them around, and pulled two out and we all would have been fine with that because everyone was really outstanding.”

The couple began farming 18 years ago, purchased their first milking goats in 1999, and began milking for a Ponoka-based processing company while also working off the farm. In 2004 the plant closed, and it was touch-and-go whether they could pay the bills and continue farming.

“We were there for a long time in our first years,” said Patrick. “But we always tried to look at the situation without blinders on and say, ‘These are the good things and these are the bad things. What can we do to build on the good things and overcome the bad ones.’”

The couple eventually decided to build a goat milk- and cheese-processing facility on the farm, and their milk and cheese are now sold through major grocery chains across Western Canada under various labels as well under the Rock Ridge brand.

The new milking parlour was also a result of regularly assessing what’s working and what isn’t.

The couple, who have four children, want to expand production but milking 700 goats twice a day in their old parlour was already an exhausting nine-hour process. The original plan was to buy a system from Europe.

“This was something we’d be using for 25 years and when I looked at the systems out there, none of them had everything I wanted,” said Patrick.

They ended up working with a Ponoka company to modify a Dutch system using new software developed by an Israeli firm. The system was ready to go in early November, but commissioning was delayed for the five days of the Outstanding Young Farmers event.

The parlour, which can milk 900 goats an hour, was “running flawlessly,” Cherylynn said after the first week of operation.

“Now we just have to convince the goats to co-operate just a little bit more,” she said, adding every single goat had to be led into the parlour on Day 1 but were catching on by week’s end.

“Goats can be very sweet and co-operative just like dogs, but they can also have a lot of attitude.”

The farmers they met in both the regional and national Outstanding Young Farmers events also have an attitude, one that Patrick described as, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t do something. Let’s find a way to do it.’

“It makes you look at your whole business with different eyes, and makes you think more about your future, where you’re heading, and why you’re heading that way,” said Cherylynn. “Even though their farms are different, they approach things with great enthusiasm and innovative ideas that you can apply to your own business.”

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Butt is a fourth-generation farmer, and his family grows 3,000 acres of crops and raises about 700 head of commercial beef cattle. He will begin his bachelor’s studies in agriculture business at the University of Saskatchewan this fall.

“This is a huge honour,” says Butt. “I am thrilled to be one of the recipients of the OYF memorial scholarship, and I really appreciate the money that will help cover the cost of my studies.”

Butt will be formally presented with his scholarship at the OYF national event in Edmonton from Nov. 17-22. Information on the national event can be found at oyfcanada.com.

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The award recognizes outstanding service to an individual or couple dedicated to Canada’s OYF program.

The Stamps were regional OYF winners in 1998 and since then have been dedicated supporters of the program.

“Rick and Marian have been the backbone of the Alberta OYF program for more than 10 years, sharing their time, expertise and passion for agriculture to strengthen the entire OYF program,” says Luanne Lynn, the program’s vice-president (west).

Rick began farming in 1978 after buying two quarter sections of land with the help of a beginning farmer’s loan and the sale of his hot rod. Within a few years, he and Marian were married and achieved “select seed grower” status.

Marian spent much of her efforts at the regional level of OYF, including serving as hosting committee chair, on sponsorship committee, secretary, board adviser, and local co-ordinator when the national event was held in Alberta in 2008. She and Rick were co-chairs for the OYF Alberta/NWT region for two years, and Rick served eight years on the national board.

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