Ontario man leaves financial sector to become a farmer

Aug 16, 2016

Brian Pearson’s farm focuses on hops

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Twenty-five years seemed long enough for Brian Pearson to work on Toronto’s Bay Street in the financial sector, so he traded in his dress shoes for work boots.

“At the age of 50, I looked at life and realized that life is too short, so what’s the next thing for me to do?” he told CBC.

Evidently, the next thing was to become a farmer.

He bought a parcel of land in Oro-Medonte, Ontario. After doing extensive research, the craft beer enthusiast decided hops, a crop that can take up to three years to fully mature, would be his crop of choice.

Pearson, who now operates six-acre Cahiague (pronounced Ka-Hog-Way) Farms, said he took a chance on hops. He planted some last year and had success with it.

Hops
Getty

With the growing popularity of craft beers, there’s been an increase in the number of hops acres across the country. OMAFRA said there’s about 339 hops acres, compared to 255 acres in 2014.

Despite his early success, Pearson, like most farmers, realize agriculture is a pricey industry to be a part of.

“Anything to do with farming is expensive,” he told CBC. “These trellis systems are 18 feet (5.5 metres) in the air, there’s the cost of labour to install that, there’s the cost of picking equipment (and) you need an oast house to dry out the hops.”

Pearson said he’s invested a large amount of money into his operation. Hesaid if the finances didn’t add up, he wouldn’t be growing hops.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.