SPRINGSIDE — A busy seeding season got a little brighter for one east-central Saskatchewan farm family after North River Ranch near Springside was named a winner in the GX94 Supper in the Field contest.
Local producer Derrick Berrns was selected as the Week 2 winner of the annual contest, bringing a surprise evening of food and fellowship to the family during a demanding spring.
The surprise win brought a welcome pause to a busy and challenging season for the Berrns family. While Derrick’s wife Rochelle, submitted the entry, he admits they both shared some initial disbelief when the winning call came through ahead of schedule.
The prize package culminated in an evening of food and fellowship, allowing the family to gather with neighbours, friends, aunts and uncles before the peak of spring field work resumes.
Farming has been Derrick’s lifelong calling. After graduating from university with an agriculture diploma in 2000, he returned to the family land full time.
Today, he owns and operates North River Ranch alongside his parents, Brian and Judy, with the help of three full-time employees, including his son.
The multi-generational operation spans a diverse portfolio, cropping just shy of 7,000 acres annually and maintaining a herd of roughly 300 Angus-Simmental-based cows.
The ranch remains highly integrated in the local economy, delivering grain directly to Yorkton crush plants and Cargill, while marketing livestock through Heartland Livestock Services in Yorkton.
Like many producers across the province, North River Ranch is navigating a delayed and unpredictable spring.
Despite a recent winter weather event over the long weekend, the crew managed to seed about 1,000 acres of red lentils and spring wheat before the snow hit.
With plans to move the air drills back into the fields, the family is preparing for a heavy push to seed the remaining spring wheat, canola, oats and feed silage.
For Derrick, the Supper in the Field celebration provided a perfect boost of community spirit just as the race against the weather begins.
The GX94 Supper in the Field initiative is an annual spring tradition running throughout the local seeding window to support hardworking farm families.
Designed to offer relief during high-pressure seeding shifts, the radio station's program delivers fully catered hot meals and prize packages from local agribusiness sponsors directly to the winners’ fields or yards.
Farm families can enter the contest by calling or texting their name, phone number and location to 306-783-8622 on Tuesdays, with weekly winners announced Wednesday mornings during the SaskAgToday broadcast.
