2017-2018 Awards
Angela is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture at the University of Guelph, Majoring in Animal Science, and is scheduled to graduate in the spring of 2019. After graduation, she hopes to start farming in partnership with her parents and work towards owning the family farm in the future. Around the farm, Angela is proud to say that the comfort and welfare of their cows comes first, and feels a great sense of accomplishment when she sees milk in the grocery store or the ‘Blue Cow’ logo on containers. To her, farming is the best job in the world.
Growing up on a farm has taught Angela many life lessons including patience, determination, communication and team work, which will be transferrable skills to her future leadership and/or work roles. She too (like Caleb) is realistic that primary farming might not be viable for her in the short term, and may need to seek employment in the agricultural industry. She says that she will always have one goal—and that is to improve the industry for everyone involved—the animals, producers, processors, consumers, and future generations of farmers.
She is a past winner of the Wellington Christian Farmers Scholarship, has worked at Heartland Animal Hospital, is a member of the Listowel Salvation Army band, and has worked on a variety of Dairy Farms.
Caleb is now in his 2nd year of the Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics (FARE) program at the University of Guelph. The focus of the program is on the economics surrounding the diverse world of modern agriculture, as well as the trends and technologies involved in the rapidly changing world of food production.
His family operates a tie tall dairy farm on the 9th line of Hillburgh where they milk 50 cows, as well as managing a 1200 hog finishing barn. While in school, Caleb’s farm duties consist of milking and feeding two days a week, while his younger siblings feed the calves. He has also held other jobs on an area horse farm, and doing general carpentry labour.
Agriculture is Caleb’s passion, and he is excited about the endless opportunities for employment in agriculture. When he completes University, he hopes to work in the area of finance or marketing—but his ultimate goal is to own and manage his own dairy farm. He is realistic—costs to start a farm today are astronomical and rising, so he plans to work off farm to save up the capital to one day get off the ground.
Highly involved in his local community, he has been involved in 4H and his church. He says what he loves most about rural life is the relationships that are built and are always there to help one another.