From Horse Farm to Farm Fresh Produce

At 83 years old, most people might be in retirement, but not my dad, Syd Belzberg. After a 57-year career in the rental car agency, most of that as CEO of Budget BC, Belzberg finally quit, but his retirement would be short lived. One morning, he read an article in the newspaper that detailed the number of children in British Columbia that go to school each morning without breakfast. That got him thinking.

“A couple weeks after learning about the number of people living with food insecurity in Canada, I decided to convert my horse farm to an organic produce farm,” says Belzberg.

The horse farm, once known as Budget Stables, is a 65-acre property in Langley, B.C. that Belzberg purchased in 1980. Heavily involved in the horse racing industry at the time, Belzberg outfitted the property with barns, a race track, breeding facilities, and a dressage and jumping arena. “I also renovated a house on site so I could spend time away from the city,” he explains. At one point, Budget Stables housed 60 thoroughbreds and staffed eight people, including grooms, jockeys, and a horse trainer.

In 2004, Belzberg moved his horses to California and retired the farm, though decided not to sell it. “I felt it was so beautiful and that one day we would do something with it, whether that was doing something again with horses or turning it into a park for family and others to enjoy.”

That decision turned out to be a fateful one, because when he realized he could help bridge the gap between getting fresh produce to people living with food insecurity, he had the perfect place to do it: the farm.

While Belzberg had no prior experience in the agriculture industry, he felt confident he could pull it off. “I knew if I could operate three businesses for over fifty years I could run a successful produce farm with the right team, some of my own resources, and God giving me more time to fulfill,” he says.

Soon after the farm, renamed Stable Harvest Farm, began to come together, Belzberg was introduced to Coastal Roots, a nonprofit farm in Encinitas, California embedded with Jewish traditions and agricultural practices. “It immediately reminded me of my life growing up on a farm in Lethbridge, Alberta,” adds Belzberg.

With the help of Farm Manager Kristjan Johannson and with Coastal Roots as inspiration, Belzberg started to plan out the farm’s infrastructure. Now in its fourth year, Stable Harvest Farm includes a seven-acre market garden, a retrofitted barn where Thoroughbreds were once stabled, seven greenhouse tunnels, three commercial washing stations, two 6000-L water tanks, two coolers, seven freezers, a chicken coop with 22 hens and three roosters, and a racetrack whose inside was recently planted with 300,000 sunflower seeds and 12 pounds of clover.

“The goal is to have nitrogen fixation from the clover build organic matter from the biomass of the sunflowers and create a pollinator corridor from the pollen produced by both plants flowers,” says Johannson.

While Stable Harvest is not certified organic, the farm adheres to organic principles, meaning no synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers, minimal tilling, and prioritizing  crop rotation and crop covering. “There’s not a lot of incentive for us to certify at our scale,” says Johannson, “as we’re primarily an education-based farm producing food for charitable outlets.”

Education is currently the main focus of Stable Harvest Farm with more than 5,000 students visiting the grounds beginning this past May and ending October 31st. This is more than double the number of students who visited the farm in 2022, and Belzberg only sees the educational component growing.

“From the inception of the farm, I realized with our location being so central we could start to introduce kids to the farm and it was an instant success,” says Belzberg.

Workshops that cater to grades from one to 11 are on topics such as the origins of staple foods like potatoes, corn, and quinoa, or how to grow your own sunflowers at home. Additionally, the Jewish Biblical Garden, created by Syd’s friend, David Bogoch, aims to teach Jewish agricultural practices, many that also align with organic principles.

“It’s going back to the way things were done thousands and thousands of year ago,” says Belzberg.

Of the seven Biblical plants, Stable Harvest grows four, including figs, wheat, barley, and grapes (the remaining produce include dates, pomegranates, and olives, which require a Mediterranean environment.) One Jewish agriculture tenet that is put into practice at Stable Harvest is orlah, which forbids farmers from harvesting the fruit that is produced from a tree for three years; on the fourth year, the fruit is given to the poor; on the fifth year, the fruit can be eaten.

At an educational tour with students from King David High School last May, Bogoch donned a Stable Harvest vest and explained how these Jewish practices are put into practice at the farm. He pointed out where the figs were growing on the edges of the property and how the grapes will be planted to trail up an arbor.

“One last thing before I send you off,” he says, wrapping up the tour. “At the edges [of the garden], you’ll see things that shouldn’t be growing. Just pick one, then throw it on the ground for me, and you’ve done your mitzvah for the day.”

Along with the farm serving the community’s needs, it also aims to help migrating birds. Currently, 55 species of birds have been seen on the farm, including cinnamon teals that breed on the farm’s pond in springtime. There are also several species of mammals, including skunks, muskrats, coyotes and, says Johannson, “a family of beavers on the back creek which we have been monitoring with wildlife cameras.” The farm has recently installed several bird houses and hopes to support birds at the end of the season, when sunflowers will be left so birds can harvest their seeds.

While Stable Harvest has been successful within its first few years, Belzberg acknowledges that there have been hard times and, as he calls them, “acts of God,” like flooding or heat waves that have destroyed crops. Despite these difficulties, he takes faith in his past work of managing the ups and downs of several businesses.

“Operating and building a business, whether at Budget Rent A Car, Park N’ Fly, Mini Storage, or Stable Harvest Farm are really all the same—they are all about building a brand and staying true to the company mission statement,” he says. “They all require a team effort building a strong dedicated staff.” That staff includes a full-time team of eight people, though that number fluctuates depending on the season. This year, Stable Harvest has begun to recruit volunteers to help with harvesting and freezing produce, running the Saturday farm market, delivering food, and assisting in educational programs and farm tours.

Until recently, Belzberg admits that he lacked an appreciation for farming and the difficulties of growing pesticide-free food. Even the taste of farm fresh produce is growing on him.

“I was never fond of veggies but I must admit because of our wonderful farm-grown food, I’m now almost totally a believer,” he says.

Stable Harvest Farm has donated approximately 340,000 pounds of produce to organizations like Langley Meals on Wheels, Christ Church Cathedral, Richmond Food Bank, Sources Food Bank, Langley Hospice Society and Cloverdale Community Kitchen. Additionally, the farm has partnered with BC Agriculture and Talmud Torah to offer various educational workshops, including programs on harvesting, beekeeping, planting, and cycle of life.

This year, Stable Harvest Farm hosted FarmFolk CityFolk’s 28th Annual Metro Vancouver Feast of Fields on September 10th. Belzberg did not partake in the raw kale tacos, but did have an extra serving of the carrot ice cream, made with carrots picked right from Stable Harvest’s fields.

All photos by Yaletown Photography + Film