My name is Erika Fossen. I was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta and raised on a farm north-west. My paternal grandfather, George Balisky, homesteaded the farm I grew up on in 1912. Over the years I took pride in learning about agriculture and after completing a diploma at Peace River Bible Institute, I pursued a diploma in Agricultural Business, Finance major, from Olds College. My husband and I were married in 1999, and I moved to Rock Creek, British Columbia.
Our Family Ranch is situated 40 kms east of Osoyoos, on 2300 acres of picturesque sidehill. Three generations live on our family ranch. Doug and I have 3 daughters. We irrigate 350 acres of alfalfa, grass and corn. We have a commercial cattle herd of Hereford and Black Angus. Our ranch has been involved with the British Columbia Environmental Farm Plan Program, SARPAL and BCCA. We were honoured to have won the BC Ranch Sustainability Award and the National Environmental Stewardship Award for 2022.
My husband I have the privilege to be ranchers and make our income from ranching. It makes me happy to encourage others to do so as well. Producing and maintaining healthy grasslands is a strong passion of mine.
Closing Panel Discussion - Early Adopters & Managing Risk - December 1 at 3:20 pm