Two Ontario farmers have won a national competition to
attend management training offered by Farm Management Canada.
They are Peter
Jennen of Thamesville and Scott Thom of Denfield and they have won Robert L.
Ross Memorial Scholarships, allowing them to attend the CTEAM program.
CTEAM
stands for Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management, and is managed
by Agri-food Management Excellence (AME).
During
the program, farmers learn detailed financial, marketing and human relations
management skills, using their own operation as a case study.
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The award was created as a memorial to Robert (Rob)
Ross who was instrumental in guiding the CTEAM program. He died of cancer in
March, 2014.
Peter Jennen, along with his wife and three
children, farm over 700 acres near Thamesville, Ont.
They operate a
diversified farm, cultivating a variety of crops (including processing
tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, corn and soybeans) while managing an on-farm
retail market.
The farm employs 15 people during the busy season.
The family has received an award for the
installation of high tunnels over their strawberry plants to extend the
growing season.
By taking CTEAM, Peter hopes to gain the skills and knowledge
to better deal with issues and opportunities in markets, products marketing
plans, risk management and relationships.
Thom farms with his wife and they have four young
children in Denfield.
Scott started as a city kid, with an interest in
farming from a very young age.
He began farming modestly, initially raising 300
pigs on straw in an old rented barn.
He built a new state-of-the-art barn in the fall of
2015.
Scott has purchased another farm and now has over
13,000 pigs on liquid feed.
Scott wants to attend CTEAM so that he can learn to
better understand his financial position and prepare to hire help on the
farm, and use that knowledge to build a plan and foundation for the future of
his operation.
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