A recent addition to Renfrew’s local agricultural scene, Homestead de Vries taps into the owners’ experience farming in the Netherlands for their day-to-day dairy operations.
Partners Klaas and Johanna de Vries share a deep connection to dairy farming; Johanna is a fourth-generation farmer, while Klaas spent time working a dairy farm as a young man.
Tight restrictions and regulations on farming in Holland would have the two looking elsewhere for an opportunity to set up shop, and the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s New Entrant program gave them access to a market that might have been financially out of reach otherwise.
The de Vries understand that the program has given them a “golden ticket” to produce a quota of milk for various manufacturers and plants in the area, and they recognize that there is local interest in farming that is having trouble finding a spot at the table.
Their advice is to keep pushing for opportunities, even if they take months or years to manifest, and to capitalize on them when they do show up.
Looking ahead, they hope to continue putting down roots in the area and hope to be able to offer direct sales of milk to residents once their time in the DFO’s new entrant program wraps up.