By Kenzie Love
The founders of Besties Cooperative Farm came together last year, drawn in by a simple mandate: as their website states, “We’re just a few friends who want to feed you!”
The Co-op’s three members — Michael Gavin, Curtis Reynolds, and Nicole Boere — had met in 2022 through the Young Agrarians, a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young ecological, organic and regenerative farmers in Canada. Bonding over this experience and staying in touch over the years, they eventually seized the opportunity to create a farm of their own.
“We were friends before, and then we had all been farming in some capacity or another,” says Gavin, “and just decided to do it together instead of on our own.”
Establishing themselves in De Winton, just south of Calgary, the trio found their goals and values aligned well with the worker co-op model, making it a logical choice.
“I think the co-operative model was a way for us to have jobs where we could have the flexibility and/or stability that we wanted in agricultural work, while still doing it together,” says Boere. “So basically creating our own job stability, and also the values of the cooperative model generally just being in line with the work that we’re interested in, and how it balances the community and social aspects of running a business, as well as the environmental aspects, and then also the economic aspects of running a business.”
Growing a variety of crops, which they sell through farmers’ markets, a community-supported agriculture program, and wholesale distribution, has been a rewarding experience for the Co-op’s members. The co-op model has deepened their connections not only with each other, but also with their customers, and to the land on which they operate, using an agroecological model that avoids tilling the soil or using herbicides or pesticides. Reynolds believes the co-op model is a significant draw for its customers.
“I think obviously people are responding to the vegetables and produce that we harvest, but I think they also respond to our nature as a co-operative and a farm that’s first generation, non-traditional in a lot of ways in terms of farming,” he says. “And our name really sells our story. And I think people respond to that and understand it.”
Boere cautions, however, that even working alongside close friends doesn’t guarantee agreement on everything. While Besties’ members have been able to successfully navigate areas where they weren’t all on the same page, she credits this in part to having gone through values exercises and creating a roles and responsibilities matrix, steps she would highly recommend to other worker co-ops.
“Don’t underestimate doing those projects,” she says. “And as funny as it can be doing those things with people that you know and see all the time, making sure really clearly and explicitly that you understand together, I think it’s pretty valuable.”
While the Besties are comfortable with their current size, they hope their Co-op will serve as an inspiration for others who share their vision of a robust, diverse, and resilient localized food system.
“We want to help other potential farmers or food producers or things like that,” says Gavin.
“Looking at ways that we can keep doing things like that and making our model as a co-operative accessible, make it work for us and also our customers at the same time.”