29 The Business of Ontario Agriculture Better Farming | December 2023 house industry.” As a young leader in agriculture and his community, Daniel is looking forward to what the future holds for the ag industry and Beverly Greenhouses. What is your favourite thing about being a farmer? My favourite thing would be the diversity of every day. I enjoy the job being quite multifaceted. In a morning, you can go from working with the plants to processing employee hours and responding to alarms and fixing broken equipment. It’s an exciting place to work – you never know what each day is going to look like and there’s something about that rhythm that’s exciting to me. How do you manage working with multiple generations on your farm? The way different generations work together at Beverly Greenhouses may be our greatest strength. My interest in joining the business started with an environment that encouraged participation from a young age. I can look back fondly to a very young age, riding around in the truck with my Opa. We gradually grew into more jobs. Eventually joining the team full-time felt like the natural progression, and something for which I had been well prepared with the opportunity to pick up new responsibilities as they were passed from one generation to the next. One of the reasons we work so well together is we all have different strengths, and we are able to find a good balance in how we utilize them. There are all different functional areas of the business that we are best suited to. That’s how it’s always been – my dad and uncle used to be the dynamic duo, playing off each other’s strengths – and with the next generation coming alongside, we get to use our unique contributions to build the strongest team possible. Do you have a transition plan? We do. This year is an exciting year because my cousin, my brother and I are entering the business as shareholders, and it speaks to how well we have been able to function together with multiple generations. We can directly benefit from the fruits of our labour, and we have the opportunity to see the results grow. That’s only because the older generation prioritized giving us the opportunity to buy-in early in our careers. This shows how family is so important in our vision for Beverly Greenhouses and passing it on for future generations. What has your biggest challenge been in farming? There are a lot of things you could look at – both long-term and daily stressors – but the two things that stick out to me most are labour and regulatory requirements. Starting with labour, it’s a pervasive problem throughout Canada and it’s no different in agriculture. Agriculture can be very labour intensive, and getting good, local help can be a struggle. We are privileged to have an exceptional team of local and migrant workers, but what we do is not sustainable without labour. It will also be interesting to see how the need for labour progresses, especially as the industry becomes more technologically advanced and the type of labour necessary for running a farm becomes increasingly technical. For regulatory requirements, it’s a variety of things. It’s the red tape that makes building and expanding an unnecessary headache. The hurdles we jump through to be approved to farm are often more concerned with paperwork and less about actual best farming practices. I think with increasing regulatory overhead it becomes harder for farms to just focus on producing safe and high-quality food, and you almost need an admin wing to stay ahead of everything. What’s next for the farm? I have a lot of zeal now to expand the farm business, but whether that means more acres of greenhouses or something else, I can’t say for sure. I would also love to see the farm continue to be passed down through future generaThe five Vander Houts running Beverly Greenhouses, clockwise from top left: Jan, Dale, Adam, Daniel, and David. Ange Vanderboom photo UP CLOSE
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