Jeff Nonay is the owner and manager of Lakeside Dairy Ltd, a diversified family farm located near the town of Legal, Alberta. Jeff and his wife Coralee enjoy running the farm and raising their two children Lily and Luke surrounded by farming values. Lakeside Dairy milks 170-180 Holstein cows with a voluntary milking system. They grow crops to feed the herd and also use their 1,000 hectares of land to grow canola, seed potatoes and cash crops. The most recent adventure has utilized decades of experience feeding steers for the family freezer in developing a very successful direct to retail beef program. The farm employs six full-time employees to help keep everything running smoothly.

Finalist for Dairy Farmers of Canada’s 2012 Dairy Farm Sustainability Award, Lakeside Dairy is increasingly well-known for its advocacy and use of gypsum as a bedding and soil amendment in conjunction with a composting project. They host University of Alberta dairy-science students who visit their farm every year to discuss nutrition, animal health and strategies to reduce the footprint of dairy farming on the environment. Opening farm gates to the public has become a very important strategy in reaching out to consumers, hosting a High School Urban Ag Class twice a year as well as younger students from the local school.