Pittsburgh Penguins’ Eric Fehr has ties to agriculture

Apr 28, 2016

Manitoba native grew up near farmers

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

On Thursday night, Eric Fehr and the rest of his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates will begin their second round series against the Washington Capitals in the NHL playoffs as all the remaining teams fight to lift the Stanley Cup at season’s end.

Eric Fehr

But aside from practicing his craft on the ice, the native of Winkler, Manitoba who grew up in an agricultural community, owns 80 acres of land he uses for red potato production.

“I own potato land, not so much a farm,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I rent it out to a potato farmer back in Manitoba. I (got) into farming I guess the side-door way.”

Fehr grew up on a cattle farm and his property is situated across the street from his family’s land. He said he likes the notion of owning the land and “had to buy it.”

He bought the land about two years ago but found it wasn’t as easy.

“I tried to acquire some other land but it’s pretty tough to come by in our neck of the woods,” he said. “It’s pretty valuable stuff. Once I was finally able to get my hands on it, I was pretty excited.”

Fehr said owning the land is a business decision because “some of the best land is in southern Manitoba” and the longer land can be kept, the more it could increase in value.

Eric Fehr joins at least four other NHL players who grew up or spent time on a farm.

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.