Siblings Work in Sync

Thursday, June 18, 2026

‘Outstanding Young Farmers’ grow grain business while keeping focus on family

By Mary Loggan

Near Osage, Sask., siblings Jordon Lynch and Chansi Bourke are charting a modern course for their family’s long-standing grain operation, Lynch Farm Partnership (LFP).

Named Saskatchewan’s Outstanding Young Farmers earlier this year, they credit the recognition to a strong family team, deliberate succession planning and a focus on agronomy and innovation.

Farming beginnings

LFP has deep roots in the community.

“We’re a fourth-generation operation, and we’ll be 119 years old this year on our original piece of land, so there’s quite a bit of history here,” Chansi says.

For many years, their father and grandfather farmed together, but, as Jordon notes, the structure differed from the formal partnership in place today.

“Dad always farmed with Grandpa, but it wasn’t set up as the kind of business partnership we have now,” he explains.

That shift began when Jordon returned.

“I came back to the farm in the spring of 2011, and the next year I became a partner with my parents. That’s when we formally created LFP.”

Before returning, Jordon completed an ag business diploma at the University of Saskatchewan and spent time on a farm work exchange in New Zealand, experiences that helped shape his management approach when he came home.

Today, LFP is a roughly 15,000-acre cereal, oilseed and lentil operation jointly run by Jordon and Dakota Lynch, Chansi and Patrick Bourke, and Keegan and Shelbi Lynch.

Chansi always gravitated toward the farm, but not in a straight line.

After high school, she left on a basketball scholarship to study hotel and restaurant management and later worked as a restaurant manager.

She enrolled in a degree program in renewable resource management at the University of Saskatchewan — starting there at the same time as Jordon — and later spent eight years as a grain buyer. That off-farm experience now underpins her role in LFP.

Chansi and her husband, Patrick, moved back to the farm in 2012. Patrick went straight into the operation and has since become a partner, bringing a strong people-focused and community-minded mindset to the business.

He now serves as an RM councillor and volunteers with the local fire department, and within the partnership, he is often the one visiting with neighbours, employees, and advisers, doing the legwork on new ideas and asking questions that help the farm keep evolving.

Their youngest brother, Keegan, originally pursued a trade. He became a journeyman plumber before deciding the shop was not where he wanted to spend his career.

“He had a good career going, but in the end, he wanted to be back here with us,” Chansi says.

Keegan returned to the farm in 2019 and became an official partner in 2023, bringing plumbing and mechanical skills into the yard and field.

Their parents, Les and Deanne, have now retired from the partnership but remain active mentors.

“Mom and Dad are still around, and Dad still helps, but they’ve stepped back from the ownership side,” Chansi says.

“Dad is still here for seeding and harvest, and in the winter, he’ll come down to the shop. He’s shifted into more of a mentor role, and we really lean on his experience.”

Innovations & working together

Innovation has long been part of the Lynch story. Jordon points to his father’s approach as the starting point.

“If you look back at Dad, he was always an early adopter,” he says.

“He was doing zero-till direct drilling in the ’90s, and he brought in variable-rate technology in the 2000s to fine-tune fertilizer and seeding.”

When Jordon first came home, his dad ran about 5,800 acres, and his grandfather another 1,200 acres.

“As more of us came back and got involved, the acres grew with us,” he says.

“Most recently, we added a few thousand acres, so we’ll be farming close to 15,000 acres this spring.”

The equipment line has grown in step with it.

“We started with one seeder and two John Deere combines,” Jordon says.

“Now we’re running three Seed Hawks and four Claas combines, which lets us stay on top of those acres.”

Canola, durum wheat, lentils, and flax anchor their rotation.

“We’ve got the usual mix for this area — but we’ve been shifting more acres to durum because it performs better for us,” he explains.

This year’s plan includes about 5,000 acres of canola, 6,100 acres of durum, 2,600 acres of large green lentils and 1,400 acres of flax.

On the agronomy side, the partners have built an analytical approach.

“We really try to make decisions at the field level,” Chansi says.

“Variable-rate lets us tailor seed and fertilizer, and we’re constantly looking at what’s working and what isn’t.”

They run replicated canola trials and annual variety plots to compare genetics and practices under their own conditions.

Nutrient management has also become more detailed.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the macronutrient side, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, and we’re at the point now where we can start playing with the finer points,” she says.

“We’re looking at micronutrients like boron and zinc, and it’s interesting to see where those small changes can still give us a bump.”

Equally important is how they work together as a family.

“It’s pretty unusual for siblings to still be partners after several years, especially at this scale,” Chansi says.

“We know we don’t fit the odds, but we’ve worked hard to set ourselves up that way.”

Over time, the partners have formalized their decision-making process.

“We’ve put a lot into succession planning and business development, and we lean on professionals for the pieces where we don’t have the expertise,” she explains.

“The flip side is that we’re very intentional about communication. We talk a lot, and we’re not afraid to adjust how we do things if it makes the partnership stronger.”

That communication extends beyond the board table.

Chansi now works as an agronomist for Top Notch Farm Supply in Fillmore and stays closely tied to day-to-day decisions even when she is on the road.

“I might not be at the office every single day, but I’m very involved in the management side,” she says.

“We have active group chats, and there’s always something going on.”

Community involvement is another thread running through the operation.

“Our parents set the example; they were on just about every board when we were kids,” Chansi says.

“You can’t expect a rural community to keep going if nobody steps up.”

Challenges

Like most Prairie farms, LFP has faced challenges ranging from tight labour and volatile weather to the realities of a growing, multi-family business.

Seeding and harvest compress a lot of pressure into a few short weeks. The partners rely on a mix of family and hired help, and they have learned that strong relationships are essential.

“When it’s busy, everyone’s tired and decisions have to be made quickly, so how you treat people really shows,” Chansi says.

“We try to make sure our crew feels respected and included, because that’s when they’ll be there for you year after year.”

Scaling up acres has brought its own learning curve.

Jordon notes that size alone does not solve problems. “It’s easy to think more acres or more iron will fix things, but if your planning and communication aren’t there, you just make bigger mistakes,” he says.

“We’ve had years where we tried something, and it didn’t work, and we had to sit down afterwards and be honest about why.”

Keeping multiple siblings and spouses aligned in a rapidly evolving business also takes deliberate effort.

“You don’t always agree, and you’re not supposed to,” Chansi says.

“But we’ve learned that we have to keep talking. If something isn’t sitting right, it’s better to bring it up at the table than let it simmer.”

Formal governance has helped.

“We’ve put guidelines in place, so emotions aren’t making every decision,” she explains.

“That includes how we bring people into the business and what expectations look like if someone from the next generation wants to come home.”

Weather and markets, of course, remain the uncontrollable factors in the background. The partners have had to adjust cropping plans, tweak inputs and rethink timelines in response to dry years and price swings.

“There’s always something you can’t control, and on the Prairies that’s often the weather,” Jordon says.

“We’ve learned to focus on the pieces we can manage, and to be flexible with the rest.”

Looking ahead

Looking ahead, the partners see their Saskatchewan Outstanding Young Farmers recognition as both an honour and a responsibility.

“It’s nice to have our names on it, but in our minds, it’s the whole farm that’s being recognized.

“A lot of our opportunities have come from neighbours approaching us,” Jordon says. “That trust means a lot, and it makes you want to keep doing things the right way.”

With that in mind, they say the next generation is already watching.

“Right now, amongst us, we have seven daughters,” Chansi says.

“Mom and Dad have a pile of granddaughters and not a single grandson, and I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon.”

She says that reality pushes them to think carefully about entry points.

“If any of them want to come back, we want them to feel there’s a place for them and that they know what that looks like.”

At the end of the day, Chansi says how they communicate — with their family, their staff and their advisers — is what gets them through.

“We have a really strong team, and we’re really thankful for that.” BF