MOUNTAIN — There were enough Spruits (four of them, to be precise) living on the same road that its name changed to Spruit Road. One Spruit family stood out recently.
Joe and Kathy Spruit of Triple J Farms at Mountain won the 2015 Dundas County farmer of the year award.
Joe was born and raised on the farm, which his parents John and Jane bought 60 years ago after emigrating from Holland.
Originally a dairy farm, he sold the herd in 2012 and is now into cash crops, growing corn, soybeans, and wheat on 1,900 acres.
“Our interests had changed,” Spruit said. “We just kept getting more and more into cash crops.”
He also diversified. He also does custom harvesting and planting and operates a grain elevator.
Had they decided to stick with dairy Spruit imagines they’d be into robotic milkers by now. But he has no regrets about the switch.
“We took things slow and didn’t rush through,” he said.
