From the Ground Up - Kipling Ridge

Lessons in regenerative agriculture from James Morin of Kipling Ridge Farms in Northern Ontario

By Stacey Newman

Kipling Ridge Farms is located in Verner, a town located in Northeastern Ontario. Owned and operated by James and Josee Morin, the farm has been operating since 2015. Neither James nor Josee Morin comes from an agricultural background. They were both raised in small Northern Ontario communities. They lived “down South” for a while but returned to the North when their daughter was born. They became immersed in the “foodie movement,” were cooking and growing their food, which led to the decision to get out into the country to do more.

James Morin became involved with local food organizations. He recognized the challenges within the food system—from how food was being produced and its impact on everything from human health to environmental health to the health of the agricultural community. Also, there are food security concerns around how much food is perhaps unnecessarily being brought into regions from outside of that particular region. Says, Morin: “It really just snowballed from there. We ended up taking a step into getting our own breeding stock.”

The Morins raised a couple of pigs and chickens for themselves. They added to that to make some available for family and friends.

Says, Morin: “It really just snowballed from there. We ended up taking a step into getting our own breeding stock.”

Kipling Ridge Farms today is a much larger operation and supplier of local meats. Their operations revolve around using ecological practices and principles.

Morin gives us a snapshot of life at Kipling Ridge. Their cattle and hogs, the majority of which are born on the farm, spend their entire lives on the farm’s pastures and in the forest (including winter), with shelters available at all times. They only raise meat chickens during the summer and fall to ensure they have daily access to new, fresh grass and insects—allows all of their animals to express their natural behaviours.

Their farm has 160 acres, but it’s split with 40 or so in pasture lands. The pastures have some mixed Northern forest and some wetlands.

The farm employs a multispecies approach. The idea is the cows run through first and keep the pastures at the right height. Then come the hogs and the poultry. “We interchange how those two run through,” Morin explains. This depends on the climate and not so much on a day-to-day basis. If they’re having a wetter season than normal, they adjust to being careful about how much impact animals can have.

“Pigs that can be very disruptive on a wet pasture very quickly,” laughs Morin. “But they also complement each other.”

Take poultry: When you bring them behind other species they do a wonderful job breaking down the manure patties. But they don’t like tall grasses, so if the grasses are too tall, you run the other two through first and the cows and hogs do a great job of prepping it for the poultry.

The scalability of regenerative farming is constantly under fire. According to Morin, this has been a common “criticism” that began when organic food started taking off 20 or 30 years ago.

Morin states firmly that there are clear examples of why this is not the case. He points to a farm in Georgia called White Oak Pastures. They’re operating 5,000 acres, two processing plants and they employ 150 people. “It’s a model that can be easily duplicated and it’s something that we’re working towards ourselves,” says Morin.

What does it take to scale? A fundamental shift in the way livestock and crops are being raised, as well as better mainstream consumption practices. Morin believes how we use machinery, produce feed for animals, and house animals can be healthier and more productive; for the animals, environment, our local economies and food systems.

It’s about thinking outside the box of existing ag-tech models. Morin is no stranger to the demands of big business, his background is in finance. He feels that we’ve reduced everything to a simple economic equation. And that includes all of what are referred to as externalities—costs to the environment, ethical issues, human health issues. He says little of that is captured in economic equations.

“These are costs that we all bear as a society,” says Morin.

The regenerative movement involves a clear understanding of circular systems and shifts in that economic and capital

equation as well. Looking at things a little bit differently, seeking innovative financing models to support transitions.

“I’m a commercial banker by trade. I’ve managed agricultural accounts. The vast majority of farmers need to know that their cash flows are going to remain consistent. So that’s a very difficult thing to approach,” says Morin. He understands this as both banker and farmer, they went through it themselves for Kipling Ridge.

We may just be asking the wrong questions. We have to start from the idea of reverting to localized regional but not necessarily smaller farms. Take the prairies and the vast fields of corn canola, soybean, and perhaps wheat—what about a shift in planting rotations, how it’s harvested, and where livestock might play a role in being moved through those fields from a harvesting and fertilization standpoint? “You’ve got 10,000 head of cattle… Why not use that a little more strategically?” asks Morin.

About a successful scalability model like White Oak Pastures, Morin says: “Let’s take that particular model and put it everywhere.”