Kenneth Mellish
A passion for dairy production and community has led Ken Mellish to provincial and national organizations and volunteer commitments across the globe. Born in 1945, Ken grew up on a Montague farm. It was a natural fit for him to study agriculture, first at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College where he earned his diploma in 1965, and then Macdonald College and McGill University, completing a BSc in 1967 and an MSc in 1969.
Together with his wife Teresa, they established New Perth Farms in 1981, a dairy farm that produced forages, grains, and breeding stock. They milked 40 head of Holstein and achieved a high level of production using home grown forages.
From 1983 to 1988, Ken served as Secretary/Treasurer and then Chair of the PEI Milk Marketing Board. This was a critical period for PEI’s dairy industry, and Ken’s leadership was instrumental in transitioning farmers to a new milk quota system. The board implemented a quota exchange that allocated quota to new and expanding producers and was the basis of a program that continues in the industry today.
A challenge faced by Ken and many Island farmers was drying and baling hay with minimal spoilage from rain. After broad investigation, Ken purchased a tube line bale wrapper from Scotland that used less plastic and significantly reduced losses. Ken formed New Perth Agritech to introduce and distribute this technology to the North American market. It was quickly adopted across Canada and into the US. Through his on-farm experiences, he was able to demonstrate the value of the bale wrappers in preserving better sileage for cattle in dairy and beef sectors.
In 1980, Farmers Helping Farmers was established by a passionate group of Island farmers, including Ken and Teresa. Formed to help East African communities increase food security and agricultural sustainability, the group has secured over $10 million in funding for hundreds of development projects and supported more than 100,000 Kenyan farm families. Ken began serving as Chair in 2002 and continues this significant volunteer work today. Drawing on his own passion for dairy production, Ken has been keen to help farmers improve the health and productivity of their dairy cows, which families rely on for animal source protein and income. Whether through improving growing conditions for alfalfa crops or developing the Kenyan Dairy Handbook specific to local management conditions, dramatic improvements have occurred in small holder milk production.
Ken has given generously of his time and talent to many organizations, including Dairy Bureau of Canada, PEI Veterinarian Licensing Board, PEI Marketing Council, and Dressage PEI. After Ken’s retirement in 2002, his dairy quota was sold, and the farm was redefined as a world-class horse breeding program. Quality sport horses are being imported from Europe to form a breeding operation, with horses in demand across the country and the US.
Nominated by Dale Dewar for his agricultural leadership at home and abroad, Kenneth Mellish is a deserving inductee into the Atlantic Agricultural Hall of Fame.