The Turner family has farmed the same land in southern Alberta for four generations. But five years ago, the farm was dying. Prices for wheat and canola had fallen. The equipment was old. Debts were mounting. The bank was calling.
Advertorial
James Turner, now 67, was ready to give up. “I told my daughter, ‘Sell it. Sell everything. There’s no future here.’”
But his daughter, Emily, who had just finished university with a degree in environmental science, refused. “I grew up on this land,” Emily says. “I wasn’t going to watch it disappear.”
She convinced her father to give her one year to try something different. Instead of growing only wheat and canola, Emily proposed planting a mix of heritage grains, vegetables, and flowers. She wanted to sell directly to local restaurants, farmers’ markets, and families — cutting out the big grain elevators and volatile global prices.
James thought she was dreaming. But he had nothing to lose.
