Better Farming Official Show Guide - Canadian International Farm Show (Abridged Article)

Kenora Farms is being recognized as Producer of the Year, alongside Strom's Farm and Stanton Farms for demonstrating a high level of innovation and farm practices that maximize productivity and profitability.

Father and son team Paul and Andrew Henderson, of Spencerville, Ontario, are certainly no strangers to hard work. Kenora Farms, a dairy and cash crop operation in Spencerville, Ontario has grown to include 150 milking cows, 660 acres, feed processing capabilities, and milk transport services. 

Kenora Farms grew their vision for expansion in 2002 with the construction of a new free stall barn.  This was an opportune time for them to participate in the Environmental Farm Plan Program to develop a detailed action plan to assess and improve numerous environmental concerns including better manure storage, waste water drainage, and quality of drinking water for the animals.

In 2010, Hendersons constructed a new heifer barn, as well as installed their Energrow Pressing System. "We thought it would be a neat idea to start crushing soybeans and make feed for our cows," says Andrew, who represents the sixth generation of the family to operate their farm. The Energrow System allows the Hendersons to add value to their soybeans by extracting oil, while producing their own soybean meal.  The soybean meal is used directly on-farm and reduces external feed costs, while the extracted oil is sold into the local markets or burned as fuel in the team's trucks and tractors. "Besides mineral supplements, we now produce and process all of our own feed and we also like that we can use natural fuel products in our tanks," says Andrew. Kenora Farms also runs a successful milk truck business and both Hendersons are very active in their local area and the Ontario dairy industry.

The award will be presented on February 8th at 5:00pm at the third Annual Producer of the Year Awards Ceremony at the 2011 Canadian International Farm Show in the Conference Centre at the Interantional Centre.