(Image Credit: Nathaniel Leigh)

By Curtis Galbraith

County of Grande Prairie

Farm Family of the Year calls the recognition an honour and humbling

Mar 20, 2026 | 6:03 AM

A Goodfare family says being the County of Grande Prairie’s Farm Family of the Year is “quite an honour.”

The Kitt family runs The Homestead and First Nature Farms.

Jerry Kitt says he was attracted to farming as he wanted to be close to nature. He adds nature also played a role in his decision to go into organic farming.

 “The nature that I was interested in, I didn’t want to see it disappear in any form at all. I was not interested in any pesticides or herbicides or anything to kill.”

“I just wanted to increase the biodiversity of the life on our farm, and so that was organic, which is the natural way to go.”

Kitt says it is humbling to be given this recognition, as there are so many other families deserving of this award.

Jerry’s son, Donovan, says the family’s passion is food.

“Growing just amazing food. (We) both really enjoy spending time in the kitchen and just preparing just fantastically nourishing meals.

“We made the conscious effort just to grow, absolutely the most nutritious, nutrient-dense, delicious food that we can.”

Jerry thinks “it’s great” that he gets to farm with his son and Donovan’s family.

“I’m really proud of what they’re doing and really like the direction, and I think it’s good, not only for our family, but for everybody that’s involved, especially the people that buy food from our farm.

Donovan says his dad was a trailblazer not only in going organic, but in selling directly to people.

“I grew up seeing that and grew up going to farmers’ markets and meeting with restaurants and chefs and things like that.”

“When we decided to farm, it was an easy decision. We were going to direct market.”

The Kitts sell their food to 300 families in this area each week and produce 3500 servings of food per week for their customers in Alberta and B.C. They also support independent retail outlets in Goodfare, Beaverlodge, and Grande Prairie.

Jerry says the families will bring their kids to the farm and spend time looking at livestock, gathering eggs and picking carrots. They also have farm tours during the summer.

When asked if they are worried about the future of family farmers, Jerry says it is something that’s on his mind.

“I just think it’s such a wonderful opportunity for families to grow up, to produce good farm children. I think it’s so much more important to have a family on a farm than it is to just have an agribusiness on a farm.”

Jerry also thinks that rather than looking for “short-term cash benefits,” family farms take a long-range view and care about the next generation.

Donovan says he notices a lot of empty houses when driving into town.

“Small farms (are) the economic drivers of all these small communities, right? That’s what keeps the small towns alive.”

The Kitts say they are a “predator-friendly farm.” He says they have had a few losses, but have found ways to work around predators and have never had to shoot one. One of the things they do is having an electric fence around their compost pile.

Jerry says he also uses a technique he calls his electric chicken.

“I would hook up a chicken to my electric fence, and so any predator that comes by that says, ‘Ah, chicken! This is going to be so easy,’ Snap! Right away they learn that as soon as the touch that chicken, they get a shock.”

Jerry says the older animals will teach their young to stay away from chickens.

Donovan says they also do not shoot prey animals like deer, and do not have problems with deer and elk, as the predators are still around.

Jerry says he “felt good about it” ever since becoming an organic farmer and feeding people directly.

The Kitts were saluted at the 40th Peace Country Classic Agri-Show held March 12 to 14, 2026, at Evergreen Park.