Guest: Rodney Bradshaw, BECK Farms
Big Idea:
Grow better varieties in better soil to get better carrots.
Topic Today:
Rod was a classmate of mine at the University of Alberta and when he graduated he went back to his family farm. Always looking for new challenges and pursuing new ideas, he leased his father’s land and grew barley. That first barley-growing year, the market price was 96 cents while the cost of production was $1.50. Not interested in losing money, Rod looked for other ideas.
With friends and fellow farmers as partners, Rod Bradshaw decided to grow Saskatoons. But when his partners went to a government-sponsored meeting they discovered it takes 7 years to make money on Saskatoons. Carrots, on the other hand, had potential to make money right away. So they grew carrots and have continued ever since, expanding to 35 acres. BECK’s carrots are so good I bought and hauled them out to the coast for my mom for years. She never did find another carrot as good.
Today friends bring Rod’s carrots to me on the coast so I decided it was time to interview him and discover his secrets.
Unlike all my other podcasts, Rod is a conventional farmer and uses herbicides. This is a departure from my regular interviews but as you will hear there are very few options left for conventional farmers. BECK Farms are always looking at alternatives.
Curious about Rod’s tasty carrots? Listen in and enjoy!
Follow Rod on Twitter or Facebook:
Twitter: RodMGB
Facebook: @Beckfarms, @Innisfailgrowers
Links: Rod is the 1994 Nuffield Scholar. This annual Agriculture Scholarship is awarded annually to outstanding farmers in Canada. See https://www.nuffield.ca/ for this year’s scholars.
