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Off the side of a busy road in Courtenay, BC, the Lentelus Farms stand catches the eye. And, tucked away at the back of the property, at the end of a very long gravel road, the farm itself is perfectly protected by a long row of trees. David Semmelink, who comes from a farming and conservation science background, has been running Lentelus Farms since 2014. Starting out, Semmelink accessed FarmFolk CityFolk’s Local Food Microloan Fund to continue building his farm business. They are a mixed livestock farm that focuses on growing their feed and pasturing all of their animals. They have recently branched into doing some vegetables and different grains for human consumption as well. Farming regeneratively is a passion for Semmelink, adopting many climate-friendly practices on the farm. These include: creating riparian buffers and grassland set-asides, cover cropping all of their fields every winter, producing most of the feed for the animals on the farm, keeping their animals on a 1km diet, and managing an on-farm breeding program. Semmelink explains, “We try to take a holistic approach to farming or full circle farming where we use our own inputs, creating our own compost and adding back to the soil, not bringing in materials from elsewhere.” Since adopting climate-friendly agricultural practices, Semmelink is noticing a resiliency to a changing climate on his farm. This year’s oat crop is thriving, and he says he has good soil to thank for that. “Building soil health builds resilience. Good soil feeds good plants which then feeds good quality pigs,” says Semmelink.