Growing Up on the Farm, a look into local agriculture, presented by Briwood Farm Market, also fueled by KUBOTA. Today we are profiling Van Raay Farms.
For Chris Van Raay, his wife Ashley and their three kids, the roots of their family farm located just west of Iona can be traced back to post-Second World War Holland.
Chris’ grandfather owned a small farm in that country when the decision was made to immigrate to Canada. Most of the family landed in the Chatham area, while his grandfather settled further east in Elgin on a 50-acre farm with a house and several buildings.
At the time of his death, his grandfather had purchased two other farms.
Fast-forwarding to the present Chris advises, “This farm is 90 acres in total. I got 60 acres of sweet corn growing this year. And then there’s about 20 acres of buildings. Dad bought this farm, and this was a feedlot operation growing up.”
He and his father survived a couple of outbreaks of BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and at one time had about 800 head, but with the declining health of his father that operation was shut down.
Chris was 16 when his father died and so what prompted him to tough it out on the farm?
“I mean, I did work off farm for a while. I worked for a farm supply company for a few years. And actually, I’ve turned that around and I have two of my own custom app machines that I third-party for local retailers.”
As for their three children, Chris points out, “They complain sometimes because they’re not close to friends, like being in the city or whatever, but I think as time goes on, they’re going to realize they like the freedom they have out here versus, you know, a 10 by 10 yard out back or out front of the house”
Ashley, on the other hand, is quite familiar with city life.
“I grew up in Niagara Falls, and they don’t realize it now, but they’re going to. It’s a lot more pleasant out here than in the city for sure.”
Their oldest daughter is autistic and so quieter farm life is the perfect environment for her.
The other two can’t wait to help with the daily chores, notes Ashley.
“Sarah is eight and Waylon is four. So yeah, Sarah says she’s going to be in the office with mommy and delivering food. That’s going to be her job. And Waylon is going to be in the tractors and the trucks.”
Ashley takes care of the business end of their farm operation.
“It’s the business aspect of it that you have to maintain, and paperwork. We got the spreading machines. We did trucking for a little bit, but it didn’t end up working out. We had a bad year about two years ago where one of the trucks got hit and then two weeks later Chris rolled his semi during the sweet corn night shift.
“So between those two incidents and just picking up our second machine and hiring two people, it’s been a tough couple of years. Let’s just say that we’re trying to get on the other side of things at this time.”
So, would they look at purchasing or leasing more land in the future?
“It’s my bucket list that in my lifetime I could maybe own another, like pick up a 50-acre or 70-acre farm in my lifetime,” Chris admits.
“But with the way things are going with land or whatever, I’m not in those circles, I guess. I don’t know, if that’s going to happen. I can expand the business side a lot more without needing more land.”
In spite of those setbacks, Ashley insists she loves it on the farm.
“I grew up in Niagara Falls, I was a hairdresser before I had kids and honestly I love being here. I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I love being in the field. I know Chris grew up here so he doesn’t know anything else but for me personally I wouldn’t choose anything else to be, honest.”
Even the high cost of operating a farm business is taken in stride, according to Chris.
“I cringe at the cost of spending $50 on a shirt, but I’ll spend half a million dollars on a combine.”
You can listen to part of our interview with Chris and Ashley below.
Written by Ian McCallum
