Growing His Own Career Path: Christopher Bruce Becomes a Farmer

Christopher Bruce’s route to becoming a farmer in Western Newfoundland has been anything but direct. Bruce explains, “When I was 25, I dropped out of MUN for the second time, and decided to get serious into the customer service industry.  I spent two years at the Marriott, working my way up from the bell desk to the front desk, and then went into coffee shops.”

He worked his way to a management position at Jumping Bean in St. John’s, before moving to the Newfoundland Chocolate Company, and finally to the Social Enterprise Department at the YMCA.

“Helping other small business people at the YMCA helped me really see the nuts and bolts of how people make something out of nothing. I was really inspired by watching regular people transform their own world, and others,” says Bruce. His next step was to create a transformation himself - in the farming industry.

Christopher shares the step-by-step process of his career transition, “My dad grew up on a farm, so my uncle is letting me use some of the old family land. I put together a business plan for the family and brought it to them, and then the bank.”

Elena Fenrick, Career Paths Travelled: What was your knowledge of farming prior to this career shift? How have you educated yourself about the field? (haha, field meaning agriculture, or literally, your field)

Christopher Bruce: (hehe, plant jokes) My knowledge was pretty minimal all in all. I had helped a little bit with making hay, spent a fair amount of time around animals, but very little hands-on experience.  I went pretty broad and deep, I spent a loooot of time writing the business plan and learning.  Ecology kinda became the big thing.  So I learned a lot about plants, and then kinda related it back to hops. 

Elena Fenrick, Career Paths Travelled: Have you connected with other farmers around the province? What have you learned from them?

Christopher Bruce: Yeah, there are some great and helpful people out there. Ron Woodman is a young fellow doing some great and innovative stuff, he’s been the biggest help to me.  Gerard Squires has been another guy, he’s more experienced and wonderfully helpful.  

Elena Fenrick, Career Paths Travelled: Over the next few years, what do you hope to accomplish on the farm? What about 10 years from now?

Christopher Bruce: Well, things are slower than I expected. So we still have a lot of clearing and building to do.  This year will mostly be construction, and we won’t see a full harvest from the hops for another 3 years. A decade from now the whole system should be humming; eggs, honey, hops, herbs, flowers, chickens, sheep, wool. 

Christopher’s career change is admirable - it takes a lot of courage to take on a new “field” in a new location, and he is dedicated to taking the the time to learn and to do it right. This level of patience is a great lesson for anyone planning to start a farm.

Photo submitted by Christopher Bruce