Farming.  It’s a big part of our past, our present, and our future…and not just ours but everybody

About  55 years ago, a stone’s throw from this current farm, a boy was born to hard-working Dutch immigrant dairy farmers.  As the boy grew up and worked alongside his family, he gained respect and appreciation for agriculture and the agriculture community.

That respect and appreciation for agriculture still run deep with Bill Vanderkooi who established Bakerview EcoFarm and that same respect and appreciation is alive and well on the farm today.

The current location of Bakerview Farm was previously farmed by the late Albert Witteveen (1938-2020).  Albert had lived on site and daily made visits to the farm and walked through the barns to ensure all was running smoothly.

What began as a dairy farm with a herd of milking dairy cows and a few barn cats is so much more today.  You can also find a flock of chickens, a herd of beef, a petting zoo of various farm animals including goats on a grass roof, a hive of bees, a patch of berries, a calf barn, an anaerobic digester and a hydrogreen system and we continue to try and improve upon current farming practices for a bright future. 

All we do here at Bakerview Farm is because we have an amazing team of people that make it possible.

Dairy

Bakerview Farm is also home to EcoFarm, an agritourism destination that invites people to experience a working farm and helps visitors make the connection to where food comes from.  EcoFarm hopes to inspire agricultural advocates.

The milk produced on the farm is then processed and packaged, and you can find EcoFarm Milk and Ice-cream at Seasons Direct Farm Market.

Beef

In the grassy green pastures, you may notice some hefty black cattle grazing.  These are the Hanks Grass Fed Beef cattle that are raised here on the Bakerview Farm. Hank’s Grass Fed Beef is the leader when it comes to bringing high-quality, locally-sourced beef to customers who want to serve only premium cuts of meat to their families. We’re part of Vitala Foods, an innovative, agricultural foods company.

Hens

Everybody loves a little freedom.  Bakerview farm are home of Free Bird free range hens. The Free Bird flock live in an enhanced, free-range barn with lots of space to run, fly(almost) and socialize. When you visit our farm, you can see Free Birds and experience an egg collection tour through EcoFarm.

Berries

Archway Urban Farm is a teaching garden designed for growing market crops. The space demonstrates growing fruit and vegetables using organic methods and provides learning opportunities and fresh food to the community.

Honey 

What’s all the buzz about?  Bakerview has onsite behive boxes located a safe distance from our farm guests.  Honey bees are an essential part of our farm ecosystem, they produce sweet honey but also keep our park, fields and patch fruitful and alive with color as they pollinate the plants.  

Research and Development

Bakerview EcoFarm is uniquely positioned to host research trials due to the quality of staff, facilities, data collection systems, and experience. In the past, the farm has conducted trials with layer hens, beef finishers, and currently is conducting trials with the lactating dairy herd and milk fed calves.