Being recognized by peers is special, Jake Leguee said
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A farm family from Weyburn, Sask. is nominated for an industry award.
The Leguee family, represented by Jake, his sister Sarah and their brother-in-law, Erik Nikolejsin, are up for the 2023 Saskatchewan Outstanding Young Farmer award.
The award recognizes farmers between the ages of 18 and 39.
Being nominated is special, Jake said.
“We were surprised,” he told Farms.com. “You never really think about things like that, so when you hear your name has been put forward, it feels good to know that people think you’re in the same league as some other pretty great farmers.”
The Leguees grow durum, wheat, canola, peas, lentils and flax across 14,500 acres of land, which includes multiple soil types.
Part of the Outstanding Young Farmer competition is for the nominees to highlight what sets their operation apart from others.
For Leguee Farms, it’s the management style, Jake says.
“We’re very careful about applying things we actually need,” he said. “We do very low-rate applications, we have for a long time, and we do a lot of top dressing.”
The Leguee family.
The reason for this management style, Jake says, is because much of the seeding season is an unknown.
Waiting for crops to emerge provides a better idea of what products need to be applied, he said.
“I have no idea what my yield potential is at the beginning of the season, so it’s quite a risk to go out and shoot for the moon,” he said. “When we get to the middle of June, while I still don’t know what my yield is going to be, I have a lot more information. I know the crop is established, and I can use weather stations and other data to make data-driven decisions based on probabilities.
“With this data, now I know whether or not to put on that extra shot of nitrogen or fungicide. There’s lots of years when we don’t put the extra shot on. But there’s also years that we do and it really pays off. We don’t always get it right but we’re doing better than we did before, and we’re always trying to make ourselves better.”
Another part of the Leguee Farms strategy is to be involved in the greater ag community.
Jake, for example, is a director with the Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission. And he and Sarah are involved with the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
Staying up to date with what’s going on in ag helps them be the ones who can advocate for the industry, he said.
“Ag policy is made by those who show up,” he said. “We have to stand up and talk about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. And if we can be part of those conversations, we can help make sure that policy coming down from government actually helps, not hinders, our farms.”
Standing up to talk about agriculture also includes engaging with consumers.
Jake runs a blog called A Year in the Life of a Farmer, and both he and Sarah are active on social media.
People want to know where their food comes from. And farmers have the tools to tell that story if they wish, Jake says.
“There’s a real gap of understanding about agriculture these days,” he said. “And while talking to a consumer isn’t going to get me more money for my product, it can benefit farmers. It helps us get the right policy environment because consumers are confident about the food they’re eating. Not everyone has an interest in putting themselves out there, but you’ll find that consumers are pretty interested in what we do and why we do it.”
The other family nominated for the Saskatchewan Outstanding Young Farmer award are the Wildfongs.
Russ and Beth, who farm 10,000 acres of canola, lentils and durum in Craik, own and operate Wildfong Enterprises.
In addition, the family started a new business called Wildfong Concaves.
The business uses raw Canadian steel and materials to manufacture ag parts for combines.
Russ earned his engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan, while Beth has a degree in commerce and runs a commercial development company.
Away from the farm, the Wildfongs are involved in community sports, the volunteer fire department and more initiatives.
Farms.com has contacted the Wildfongs to discuss their nomination.
The Saskatchewan winners will be announced during the regional event in June.
The winning family will move on to the national competition in Quebec later in 2023.
The Outstanding Young Farmers for B.C. and Manitoba have already been named.
The award for Manitoba went to Harley and Brooklynn Siemens, egg producers from Rosenort, Man.
And the Hopcott family from Pitt Meadows won the B.C. award.