ESTEVAN — Torquay-area producers Rodney and Trina Phillips (RT Phillips Holdings Inc.) have been presented with the 2026 Estevan Farm Family of the Year Award.
The honour was presented in front of hundreds of people at the 2026 Farm Family of the Year Award banquet March 27 at the Beefeater Plaza.
A news release from the Estevan Chamber of Commerce says the annual award celebrates the farming families of southeast Saskatchewan, whose dedication to the land, communities and generations that follow embody everything that makes agriculture in the region so remarkable.
“The Phillips family, rooted in over a century of farming history, represents exactly the kind of legacy this award was created to honour,” the press release states. “For over a century, the Phillips family has been working the land of southeast Saskatchewan.”
According to a bio from the chamber, the farm traces its roots to 1916 when Rodney’s great-grandfather John Phillips broke ground, and the farm has grown through four generations into the 9,300-acre grain operation Rodney and Trina Phillips run today. John Phillips passed the farming torch to his son Joe in 1937, and back then the farm was a full mixed operation with grain, cattle, chickens and pigs, with 11 children to help keep things moving.
The bio adds that when Rodney's father James took over in 1972, he and his brothers Vernon and Kevin kept that same spirit of pitching in for each other. The cattle eventually gave way to strictly grain farming in 1993, and James worked off-farm at the mine until 2008 before going full time on the land. Rodney followed a similar path, purchasing his first quarter in 2001 and going full time into agriculture in 2012.
The home base sits on the former Gordon Kvammen farm they took over in 2009, though the original ground south of Torquay is still in the rotation, in what the chamber says is a quiet nod to where it all began. James, now retired, still shows up for seeding and harvest and is always the first one called when something needs fixing.
The bio says Rodney and Trina have built a life around the farm with their three kids, Payton, 18, Vayda, 16, and Ethan, 14.
“Payton is already deep into it, helping on the farm and working at Southland Pulse, with plans to head to Australia this fall for harvest," the bio states. "Vayda juggles Grade 11 with babysitting and badminton, and Ethan, in Grade 8, will play just about any sport you put in front of him. The kids are involved however they're needed, running equipment, doing yard work, getting parts or just showing up when an extra set of hands makes the difference.”
The farm grows durum, canola, peas, lentils and mustard, and the bio says the year never really stops. Spring through fall is a full sprint, and winter is for planning, moving grain and getting equipment ready to do it all again.
Seeding is Rodney's favourite part, because he says "That's where it all starts”.
Beyond the farm, the bio says Rodney has been a fixture in the Torquay community for decades, 25 years with the community club including time as president. He also dedicated six years as a village councillor and four with the RM council, and had stints on both the rink board and the hospital board. He also dedicated more than 20 years to the volunteer fire department. He's spent most of his kids' childhoods coaching them in hockey.
Being named Farm Family of the Year is an honour the Phillips say they don't take lightly, but what means just as much to Rodney is the event itself, the way it brings farming families together and celebrates what this life is really about.
His advice for the next generation is straightforward: gather all the information you can, but trust yourself to make the call that's right for the farm. The peace and quiet of making a living here make it worthwhile, he said.
More to come.
