This Land is Not for Sale
What I learned from my brother’s conversation with Les Henry.
A major theme of Les Henry’s life is a love of the land.
If you come from the land in Saskatchewan but did not stay on the farm to make your livelihood there, there is still an inexorable tie to it. You are born into it and it is always with you.
Les explains:
“Dad said there will never be another mortgage on this farm, and I agreed with that, so I went off to do it other things.
I’ve never regretted that decision but I have always been tied to the land.”
When asked what Les is excited about for the future of agriculture, it comes back to the land:
“What I want to see is the land be maintained in a condition so that you’re going to pick it up better than it was, and that is happening in many cases.
Also that the family farm remain the focus of it, that we continue to feed the hungry world, and that young people will see the benefit of agriculture through the bad times, as well as the good.”
When asked what advice Les would give to the next generation:
“Well, a big part of it is a love of the land.
I think that’s what it’s all about.
It all comes from the land to start with.
That’s what it is… a love of the land.
To be out in open fresh air and see mother nature and watch the deer jump the Creek… it’s more than just growing a 70 bushel canola crop.
There’s a lot of other gifts that come from farming, and that’s what keeps me going.
If I didn’t have my piece of ground of half hour drive away, it would be big trouble.
I have a piece of ground there that’s not for sale for any price.
My downtown smarty said the financial world thinks that’s not true.
It’s true.
If Warren Buffett comes along with $150 million, what the hell am I going to do with $150 million dollars?
It’s just not for sale and city slickers just do not understand that.
Land is land, and that’s what holds us all together.
The land and the family are the two big things.”
You can catch the entirety of Les’s conversation with Terry and Holden Aberhart at growingthefuturepodcast.ca
