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Amanda and Jeff Lee

The beautiful Creston Valley is where you will find Honey Bee Zen Apiaries, producers of Swan Valley Honey. Amanda Goodman Lee and Jeff Lee care for between 300 and 500 hives of honey bees. They farm on seven acres and have an established group of honey yards throughout the valley. They produce their own signature all-natural wildflower honey, which is found in stores throughout the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

Taves Family

Located in Abbotsford, BC, Taves Family Farms was established in 1969 by Loren Taves’ parents, John and Alice. In 1990, Loren and his wife, Corinne Taves, created the Applebarn—a destination designed for ‘fall family’ fun. Today, Taves Family Farms consists of 4.5 acres of greenhouses that grow artisan vegetables, 12 acres of apples (8 main varieties), 14 acres of berries, 7 acres of pumpkins, 3 acres of sweet corn and the rest contain buildings. They proudly grow peppers for Windset Farms.

Rick Kantz

Rick Kantz has been growing grain and oilseeds in the Peace Region for the last 25 years. He was born and raised on the farm and is proud to have a role in providing food for the population. With up to 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) of land under his care, there is a big responsibility to ensure that their natural resources are managed sustainably. Read our interview with Rick below.

Barry and Irmi Critcher

The Critcher family has been farming in the Peace River region near Taylor, BC since 1984. Together with their son Michael, daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Steve, Irmi and Barry have grown the family farm from when they started with 160 acres in 1984 up to 4,800 acres today. Critcher Farms grows grain and oilseed crops including wheat, barley, oats, canola, peas as well as grass seed and hay.

Julaine Treur

Dairy farming is a family affair for Julaine Treur. Together with her husband Johannes and their five children, she owns and operates Creekside Dairy in Agassiz, BC. Although the farm has only been in the family for 7 years, both Julaine and Johannes have deep farming roots. In addition to the Canada-wide ProAction initiative, Creekside Dairy is SPCA and Organic certified. Like other dairy farmers, they are committed to treating their cows with “respect, affection and compassion each and every day”.