Joseph Gardiner

About Me

I grew up in the greatest community on earth, Clearwater Manitoba.  I am very fortunate that my wife Melanie and I call Clearwater home to this day.  Together with my parents, my brother Sheldon and his partner Derek, we run our mixed grain and cattle farm located just off #3 highway in southern Manitoba.  Although as a younger guy I had visions of a career in baseball, statistics, and politics; the draw of the farm life ran too rich in my blood and I have been farming since 2006. 

When I’m not farming, or on the road with Covers, I have a number of other hobbies that keep me busy: Baseball, hockey, and curling. I also volunteer on several boards within our little community.  My most precious time however is spent on the farm with my wife and our ever-growing gang of farm pets.  Melanie and I like to spend the time playing crib, chess, and gardening – usually with at least a critter in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other.

Why Did I Choose Covers?

In 2016 I had a decision to make.  I was not enjoying the stress and heavy operating cost that comes with conventional farming, and the draw of a 9 to 5 job was becoming ever more attractive.  I had been introduced to soil health principles in university and had started attending soil health conferences and networking as best as I could.  I knew that if something didn’t change my time farming would be limited, so in 2016 we took a leap and improving our soil became the focus of the farm.

We started growing full-season cover crops in 2018, and with the help of my good friend (and now business partner) Travis Avery, we documented every step along the way.  By the end of the year, we had collected a massive amount of data that we knew could prove the benefits of plant diversity. After another year of data collection and seeing the positive effects that plant diversity had on my farm, we decided to take the leap and Covers & Co was born.

Being part of this movement and helping farms adopt soil health principles has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I’m so grateful for the team we have assembled and the farms that took a chance at our ‘crazy’ idea. I think we are just scratching the surface of the problems plant diversity can solve on farms – the future of agriculture looks diverse.