Welcome to the New NFU-O Regional Council Members!

National Farmers Union – Ontario Newsletter
The Rural Voice | May 2025

At the NFU-O’s 2025 AGM & Convention, Nourish: Farming for People, Profit, and the Planet, we held elections for open NFU-O Regional Council positions. Regional Council is responsible for setting the strategic direction and making high-level decisions on behalf of our membership. Let’s get to know our new Regional Council members!

Director at Large/ Vice President – Len Van Hoffen

Len Van Hoffen is the Vineyard Manager at Southbrook Organic Vineyards, a pioneering 57- acre biodynamic, organic, and regenerative organic vineyard in Niagara-on-the-Lake. A lifelong horticulturist, Len has extensive experience growing a variety of crops, including nursery stock, greenhouse plants, athletic turf, and wine grapes. A graduate of Niagara College with a background in Horticulture, Viticulture, and Winemaking, Len combines traditional expertise with innovative sustainable practices. Since joining Southbrook in 2019, he has been dedicated to enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health, and implementing low-impact farming techniques to produce premium wine grapes while preserving the vineyard ecosystem. His initiatives include introducing a wildflower habitat to support beneficial insects, advancing cover cropping strategies, and increasing carbon sequestration through regenerative farming. In his free time, Len can be found in his vegetable garden and camping with his wife Kelly.

Women’s Advisor – Amy Kitchen

Amy is a first-generation farmer who, alongside her partner Patrick, runs Sideroad Farm in Grey County. They grow certified organic vegetables, cut flowers, and raise pasture-raised pork and chicken and focus on direct marketing. Amy’s farming journey began in 2009 in British Columbia, where she developed a deep passion for ecological agriculture while starting a farm with a couple of friends. Amy is passionate about building a resilient local food system and ensuring that future generations have access to opportunities in agriculture in our communities.

Youth Advisor – Sage Barker

Sage Barker is a first-generation farmer and land tender currently growing a diverse range of annual vegetables, perennial food crops, and native trees just outside Hamilton. She has worked on organic farms in Ontario for the past six years and now runs a small nursery and seed collective committed to regeneration and biodiversity. Sage is passionate about land stewardship and ensuring food security for future generations.

National Board Member – Michael Watson

Michael Watson is a University of Guelph Agricultural College graduate and 6th generation farmer who has worked with his wife Sukyi for the last 20 years in the York and Niagara regions. Since 2005, Michael has established farming operations including tender and small fruit, field and greenhouse vegetables, floriculture, and herb production. Michael has a focus on financially viable sustainable agriculture, adopting a pesticide-free strategy in 2015, and introducing biological controls to greenhouse operations in 2022. Michael and Sukyi faced the expropriation of their farm house in 2022, triggering a relocation back to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where they currently reside. The focus now is redeveloping a neglected nursery into a new farm model, coinciding with the 200th year of Watson family farming in Ontario. As a new member of Regional Council, Michael is interested in supporting first-generation farmers who don’t have the same family farming history or mentorships to rely on. 

Director at Large/ Treasurer – Dave Kranenburg

Dave is a farmer, entrepreneur, and sustainable food systems advocate. On Kendal Hills Farm he looks after 70 acres of forest, orchard and pasture by cultivating specialty mushrooms and raising pastured poultry and pork. In 2020 he founded the Green Circle Food Hub, publicly known as Graze & Gather, as a distribution and sales channel for food from 100+ small producers to reach thousands of customers across the GTA. Previously he served as the Executive Director of Meal Exchange, a national food security charity, and as the Director of Programming for the Centre for Social Innovation, a nonprofit that provides coworking and programs for social purpose enterprises. Dave was part of the inaugural ‘Getting to Maybe’ Social Innovation residency at the Banff Centre and has received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee award for his work on food security in Canada.

Find photos and contact information for NFU-O Regional Council members on our website at https://nfuontario.ca