[UPDATED: Apr. 6, 2023] For fourth-generation egg farmers Harley and Brooklyn Siemens, the news that they had been named Manitoba’s 2023 Outstanding Young Farmers was met with a mix of thrill and humility.
“We were very honoured,” Harley Siemens said. “We’re proud of our accomplishments and all the work that we’ve put into our farm.”
The Rosenort-area farmer operates Siemens Farms with his father, Kurt. Their operation is home to 95,000 layers and 15,000 pullets.
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The Outstanding Young Farmers program highlights excellence in agriculture’s up and coming generation.
Siemens graduated from the University of Manitoba with a diploma in livestock management in 2016, after which he returned to the farm to help operate the business and and work on the succession plan.
The plan envisioned a new company, called 4Gen Farms, which would operate as a parent firm. Father and son would be majority owners, with their wives also owning shares. It included a total revamp of the operation. Between 2017 and 2019, the barn was replaced with three state-of-the-art, free-run aviary barns that house 25,000 layers and 15,000 pullets.
Siemens says that he and his father work closely together but he is taking on more responsibilities for the farm as his father’s career winds down.
“He’s taking a step back and looking forward to retiring,” Siemens said. “I’ve taken over most of the farm’s financial decision making responsibility.”
In 2020, Siemens bought into Manova (2012) Ltd., another poultry farm with barns in Blumenort and Niverville. At the time, the farm housed 70,000 layers in conventional and enriched housing. Within three months, Siemens oversaw the renovation of the conventional layer barn and construction of a 22,500-layer, free-run aviary barn similar to the one he built in Rosenort a few years earlier. Siemens is now president of Manova (2012) Ltd.
It’s an impressive resume for a 27-year-old.
Outside the farm, Siemens added his voice to the larger industry in March when he was elected to the board of Manitoba Egg Farmers.
He also has history with public outreach, developing exhibits with commodity groups at the Farm and Food Discovery Centre at Glenlea. He has given more than 250 tours to schools, university classes, politicians, local sports icons, industry leaders and friends and family since 2019.
But none of this would be possible without the support of his wife, Brooklyn, he said.
“She’s the MVP. She allows me to do all of it. So she deserves a lot of credit.”
Coming from an extended family of farmers, if a few generations removed personally, Brooklyn Siemens has managed the home front since the couple started their family, when she put her career as a red-seal hairstylist on hold.
“By her doing that, it allows me to be able to go to the farms and to be here in Ottawa like I am right now,” Siemens said, speaking from the Egg Farmers of Canada annual general meeting, where he was representing Manitoba’s sector.
The couple has three children. Their eldest daughter, TaNielle, 5, attends kindergarten. Their daughter Sawyer turns four in July and their son Beckett is two.
“I do all these different things to support the industry because she’s our backbone at home,” Siemens said about Brooklyn.
Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers program is an annual competition open to participants between the ages of 18 and 39 who make the majority of their income on the farm. The competition recognizes farmers who exemplify excellence in their profession and promote the “tremendous contribution of agriculture,” according to the program’s website
As provincial winners, the Siemens will be up against their peers chosen from six other regions across Canada to compete for one of two national awards. The national winners will be chosen in November in Laval, Que.
– The article previously stated an incorrect role for Harley Siemens at Manitoba Egg Farmers.
