By Angela Lovell
Tyler Newsham likes to push the envelope on his farm near Innisfail, Alberta, and isn’t satisfied with just the status quo.
“I love to try new things, so we do lots of trials with new varieties and different chemicals and fertilizers every year just to try to grow the best possible crop that we can,” he says. “We’re not happy with just status quo average; we’re shooting for the top every year and we like to change it up and try new things to see if we can get there.”
Newsham and his wife, Amy, are the fifth generation to farm Diamond Four Farms Ltd., a mixed 150-head commercial Simmental-cross cow/calf and grain operation, alongside Newsham’s dad, Kevin. Innovation and diversification have been a constant theme on the farm through the generations. Newsham’s grandfather, ran an equipment dealership in the 1980s, and until last year the farm was involved in a Timothy hay export business.
“Dad always said that it’s good to be diversified and have a little bit of everything, and not to just focus on one area completely,” says 30-year-old Newsham.
Open to new technology
That philosophy also extends to technology. Newsham conducts various trials each year, tracking all the data through their John Deere Operation Centre. This year, he brought in a friend to experiment with drone spraying of fungicide on the farm. It had some definite advantages.
“I could see how that makes a lot of sense: there are no tracks in the field, you get every square inch of the field done, and you are still able to see the crop on the controller as you would in the seat of the sprayer. You can create a map of everything, and I think it makes a lot of sense especially for smaller acres and smaller fields,” Newsham says.
But despite being open to new technology, he’s cautious about its deployment.
“I often wonder if technology is getting too far ahead of us right now and is maybe a little too complicated or involved,” he says. “It has to pay its way and be practical, and I feel it’s getting away from some of that right now. We don’t want to be dependent on it, but there are a lot of good things about it too.”
Three years ago, Newsham joined the advisory board for Agri-Trade, a show he hasn’t missed since his first birthday, and this year he is serving on the Ag Innovations board.
“It’s neat to see all the Ag innovations coming in, and it’s one of the biggest entries that they’ve had this year,” he says. “Being on the board is a great opportunity to expose yourself to new ideas, new people and different areas that you haven’t thought about before at the farm. I am also on the Innisfail Seed Cleaning Plant board, and it’s good to see younger members come onto these boards too.”
A focus on every acre
The farm transition journey is well underway, as Newsham and his dad are equal partners in the decision-making.
“Anything we do is pretty much a 50/50 split right now,” Newsham says. “I am more involved with the cows, and my wife, who grew up on a cattle operation, loves the cows too and helps out on that end.”
Although the farm has grown significantly over the past decade from 2,500 to 4,500 acres, their focus now is on honing their management to get the most production out of every acre.
“We are going for the highest yields we can and are not afraid to spend the extra dollars to make it happen,” Newsham says. “We work closely with our agronomist, looking at soil samples every year and build a plan off of that. We usually try two to three new varieties each year. One thing that has helped us really push the yield, and works every year, is plant growth regulators, and we have also had good luck with variable-rate fertilizer on some variable land. If it is a success or not is all determined by yield and if the input is profitable.”
He’s very aware, though, that Mother Nature always holds the cards. “We try to take care of all the other variables, and if one year is successful, we try to build on that and do better again the next year,” he says.
A passion for agriculture
Newsham is passionate about the future of Canadian agriculture but practical about the challenges young farmers like himself will face, and number one on the list: the unknowns in global politics and the economy, causing volatility that’s hard to navigate.
“It used to be that wheat went up five cents today or down two cents, and now wheat might be up 40 cents and down the next day, so the price swings are greater,” he says. “The way that input costs and the price of our commodities fluctuate every day is crazy, and it’s hard to know when to lock-in. Then you see government regulation coming down more and more. You just don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Being diversified is one way to be more resilient to these influences, Newsham suggests, but it’s also important to keep a close eye on your numbers.
“Not being too far in debt to where you can’t work your way out of it after a hard year or two, and not being over-leveraged is a big one right now,” he says. “With interest changes, a few percentage points could really change things for a lot of people. You want to be comfortable.”
Agriculture is a resilient industry, and there will always be opportunities for the next generation, which is good news for the Newshams and their 10-month-old son, Rhett, who perhaps could be a sixth-generation farmer one day. (Newsham’s brother, Tanner, who is currently in school also helps on the farm when he can.) In the meantime, they will continue with their policy of continuous improvement and are taking a cautious approach to growth.
“We have never wanted to go beyond our means or grow too big or too fast because it’s just my dad and myself and two full-time employees,” Newsham says. “I don’t want to be the guy not in the combine or the air drill or doing the day-to-day stuff; I want to be heavily involved in that and keep it at a family-run level operation. We want to do the best job we can on the acres that we have.”
