Ken Huber
Healthy Soil, Healthy Family
“Land never goes anywhere. If you look after the land, it will be there for many more generations to come.” That’s Ken Huber, and he has reason to be invested in sustaining his farmland. Ken and his wife, Dawn, farm the same quarter section that was homesteaded by his great-grandparents southeast of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
The Huber farm grows our organic French green lentils. The farm wasn’t always organic, though. When Ken started farming at age 16, the message to farmers was, “Get big or get out.” Bigger operations required bigger, more expensive machinery, and chemical pesticides. The family farmed conventionally for a long time, but at the expense of Ken’s health. By his 30s, Ken suffered from farmer’s lung. “My body retaliated to the pesticides we were putting on the land.” One time, Dawn told Ken she could still smell the chemicals in December, long after they’d finished spraying.
Ken learned about organics while helping on a neighbor’s farm, and the Huber family decided to implement those same growing practices on their own farm, too. “Health was more important,” Ken said. That was in the 1990s, and they’ve been organic ever since. He calls organic farming a beautiful challenge.
“You don’t wait for any programs. You do it on your own.”
In addition to personal health, Ken and Dawn were concerned about soil health and were terrified of what farmers were being asked to spray on their crops. “Money is just money, but land is sacred,” he says. By protecting the family homestead, Ken and Dawn Huber are protecting a way of life for their children and grandchildren. They’re supplying wholesome food for their family and yours.