Katie Normet
Wellington County
I am a founder and owner of River's Edge Goat Dairy, a 96 acre regenerative farm since 1999. Our milking herd is on pasture as well as our secondary livestock (meat goats, pigs, chickens and turkeys) We milk 50 does, raise 50 goats for meat, 300 meat chickens, 25 turkeys and 8 pigs. (keep two sows) We have retired wet-lands, planted trees, practice no-till and rotational grazing. We are always looking for ways we can do more to grow our soil health and provide more and better food for our clients. We took conventionally tilled soil and switched to no-till. We have created spaces for wind breaks and wildlife. We have noticed our land is able to more absorb water (neighbours had the belief our land was to wet to farm), house more wildlife and protect the river flowing through our land. For future, we would like to discover indicators to measure our soil health, discover ways to add more plant diversity and increase the profitability per acre of our land. The first 25 years we invested in infrastructure to regenerate the land. The next 25 years I would like to focus on generating a profit from our efforts while improving the land even more.