People

Gordon Reynolds always keeps his eyes open for a good opportunity. As agronomist for the Dale Thacker Specialty Crops (DTSC) farm near Bow Island, Alberta, Canada, he regularly investigates new crops to work into the farm’s mix. He’s also been mayor of Bow Island for the past five years with a focus on finding ways to help his community grow and thrive.

With just over 2,000 residents, Bow Island has strong business roots in agriculture and has long been home to sunflower and edible-bean processing plants. “Unlike many rural communities, ours has been growing and we have seen young people remain and return,” says Reynolds.

He and the town council have attracted other businesses, including ready-to-move home and office construction companies and one that produces thermoplastic-lined tubing for industrial uses. “We were also happy to see CHS come into the community through its purchase of Agrium agronomy outlets in Alberta,” he says. “Maintaining businesses and adding new ones have helped Bow Island keep some young residents and attract new ones.”

The mayor likes to point out that his part of Alberta has the most annual hours of sunlight in Canada. “All that sunshine, along with irrigation systems and entrepreneurial farmers, are what makes it such a productive area for growing so many crops, including wheat, edible beans, sugar beets, canola and pulse crops,” he says. “The long summer days and cool nights make this the ideal climate for essential oil crops such as spearmint and dill.”

DTSC is a major producer of those crops and has an on-farm processing facility. “The oils we produce are sold to ‘flavor house’ brokers, who sell them to manufacturers,” he says “Dill oil is used in pickle making, while mint goes into candies, gums and toothpaste.”

Other major crops grown on the farm include wheat, hybrid seed canola and yellow peas, and Reynolds has recently encouraged his employers to add faba beans (also known as fava beans in the U.S.) and hemp seed to the mix. “Pulse crops, such as fabas, do really well in our area, especially under irrigation, plus they fix nitrogen. We ship faba beans to Saskatchewan and, from there, most are exported to Turkey.”

Potential growth in the market for hemp seed makes that crop promising, he says. “We’ve got two seasons of growing hemp under our belt and it appears to do well, but comes with some agronomic challenges. There are limited weed-control options, and we’re trying to figure out the best way to deal with the tough stems and remaining plant residue.”

Reynolds says he enjoys tackling that kind of challenge and exploring new possibilities. “I worked in ag retail for most of my career and really liked the diversity, but I always wanted to farm. When I was offered my current position in 2007, it was almost too good to be true — my dream job, really,” he says. “And after eight years, I’m still having fun.”