Featured Grower - Bernie Lyczewski

Meet Bernie Lyczewski!

Hi, my name is Bernie Lyczewski and I farm with my wife Sharlene.  We operate as Lyczewski Farms Ltd., and I have been farming for 47 years in Bow Island, AB.
  
What crops do you produce? 
We grow a number of crops: sugar beets, Great Northern beans, yellow peas, yellow mustard, spring wheat and lentils.  We occasionally grow corn for silage.
 
Why do you grow sugar beets? 
We are a smaller farm and sugar beets are a high return crop.  We try to maximize our acres that we have and sugar beets are a good fit.
 
Do you farm with family? 
I farm with my wife and my son who helps during seeding and harvest.  He worked as an ag tech for Rocky Mountain Equipment and now works for Neil Mackinnon Mechanical as a heavy-duty mechanic.  I have a nephew who farms in the Burdett area as well.
 
How many generations has your family been involved in agriculture? 
My grandfather emigrated here from the United States and homesteaded around 1908 in the Bow Island area.  My father farmed till he retired and I have taken over the farm we are on now in 1980.
 
What do you think is the coolest/most interesting thing about farming?  
For me the coolest thing about farming is that every day I have something different to do.  One day is seeding, another day is spraying and to see the end result at harvest of the choices I have made during the year is very interesting.  Then after harvest getting ready for the next year and trying to do things better than the year before.

What is some short term or long-term goals you have for your operation?
Long term goal is for our son to come back to the farm and take over.  We don’t have a specific time frame for that to happen, but that is the goal.  We have also expanded our irrigation acres converting dryland.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to curl in the winter and golf in the summer.  I also like to drive motorcycles and have a Honda Goldwing that I ride.
 
How else are you involved in the industry?
I am a firm believer in working in the industry that I am part of.  I have been a Director on the Sugar Beet Marketing Board and am still involved with the Local Beet Board.  I was involved with Alberta Environmental Farm Plans as a Review Committee Chairman.  I have also been a member of Alberta Environmental Sustainable Agriculture.  I think it is important to be involved in the industry you are working in.