The Government of Yukon is awarding the 2022 Yukon Agriculture Award to Lastraw Ranch and Klondike Valley Nursery. The two Klondike Valley farms are recognized for their leadership and contribution to Yukon agriculture.
Lastraw Ranch, owned and operated by Megan Waterman, is one of the largest meat and egg producers in the Klondike region. Megan is being celebrated for boosting local food security and culinary tourism in the area by developing and growing sustainable agriculture in the North, supporting other Yukon food producers and collaborating on a cold storage network that links producers between Whitehorse and Dawson City. Established in 2012, Lastraw is also the first farm in the Yukon with a transhumance lease, the practice of moving livestock to an off-farm site seasonally.
Klondike Valley Nursery, owned and operated by John Lenart and Kim Melton, is Canada’s northernmost research nursery. John and Kim are being celebrated for their extreme horticulture of growing fruit trees in cold climates and at high latitudes. In their 30 years of ongoing and innovative research with hardy fruiting trees, John and Kim have expanded fruit production in Canada’s North, diversified the local landscape and broadened local food production in the Klondike Valley.
The Government of Yukon’s 2022 Yukon Agriculture Award winners were announced at the annual North of 60 Agriculture banquet held this past weekend.
