Andre Houle of Ferme Houle Farm isn’t scared to try something new.

Andre and his family are third and fourth generation farmers on this land, and transitioned it to organic in 2021, after many years of more conventional farming. Within a few years of this transition, they went from a corn/soybean rotation and plowing every inch of soil, to growing wheat, rye, barley, peas, hairy vetch, red clover, buckwheat, oats, and fava beans along with corn and soybeans.  They intercrop many of these crops in an effort to feed the soil biology, and use cover crops to keep the soil covered as much as we can. They are using roller-crimping techniques, no-till, minimal tillage and plowing only when necessary.

This year, in an effort to continue to experiment and innovate, Andre and his team have embarked on some soil health trials on the farm. Join us at this field day for a field tour and discussion of the Ferme Houle Farm story, a look at their cover cropping methods and processes, a drone demonstration and an exploration and discussion of some of these on-farm trials:

1. Intercropping: Barley and Peas, Fall Rye and Hairy Vetch, Fall Rye, Hairy Vetch and Oats, Oats and Clover, Corn and Soybeans

2. Polycropping: Small sections of multiple crops to see what we can harvest together – Peas, Faba beans, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Flax, Phacaelia, Rye, Hairy vetch

3. No-till Soybeans: Baling fall rye for the cows and no-till seeding soybeans in the stubble

4. No-till Buckwheat: Harvesting Fall Rye and no-tilling Buckwheat

5. Wheat and Oat Breeding: Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) program—a collaboration between the University of Manitoba and the Bauta Initiative (a program of SeedChange) that supports farmers in developing wheat, oat, and potato varieties for organic and ecological farming.

This event is also offered in partnership with the Farmers for Climate Solutions’ Farm Resilience Mentorship Program (FaRM) and with support from the On-Farm Climate Action Fund. Additional resources can be found in the FaRM Learning Hub.