Dec. 23, 2011, Saanichton, B.C. — A Vancouver Island retail grower is among three finalists in the 2012 B.C. and Yukon Outstanding Young Farmer award program.
Brooke Smith is the third generation of Smith’s to operate Marigold Nurseries.
Started by her grandfather, Les Smith, in 1944, Marigold now operates wholesale nursery and retail garden centres in Victoria and Duncan. The nursery has over 100,000 square feet of greenhouses, growing 22,000 garden mums, 20,000 poinsettias and thousands of other annuals every year.
After most were destroyed in a major 1996 snowstorm, the greenhouses were almost all rebuilt before the next growing season.
The other finalists are Chad and Angela Goertzen of Sundance Farms (hogs), and Peter and Nicole Tuytel of Elmbridge Farms (cows).
To be eligible for the Outstanding Young Farmer award, farmers must be between 19 and 39 years and derive at least two-thirds of their income from farming. Nominees are judged on conservation practices, production history, financial and management practices, and community contributions.
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