Where Hard Work Takes Root: Meet Debbie Yee of Green Valley Farms

Debbie’s story is part of a series spotlighting independent businesses across Canada and the entrepreneurs behind them. Featuring longstanding Scotiabank clients and CFIB members, the series showcases real small business journeys rooted in resilience, innovation, and community impact and, while highlighting the strong business relationships that help owners grow, adapt and continue making a meaningful difference in the communities they serve.

For more than 60 years, Debbie Yee has been running her family farm in Mount Albert, Ont. With just over a dozen employees, Green Valley Farms grows annual plants and fresh produce for customers across Ontario and the United States. CFIB sat down with Debbie to learn about her experience running a family farm and her commitment to sustainable farming practices. 

How did farming become part of your life?

When I came to Canada in 1956, my dad worked on a farm in Cooksville, which is now part of Mississauga. We arrived really late at night, and the next morning we were already out in the field bunching green onions. 

Two years later, my dad partnered with two other men, and we moved to Mount Albert. Because my parents couldn’t speak English, I was often the one who had to find contacts, speak with people and help figure out what we should grow. I was the oldest in the family, so I learned by doing. 

How did Green Valley Farms get its start?

My future husband, Huey, was a neighbour. He had travelled to Canada on the same ship as my father, and when he realized my dad was living in Mount Albert, he started coming over to visit. 

Huey had purchased the farm with his sister and brother-in-law in 1956. He bought their shares in 1966, and we were married in 1968. I’ve been on the farm ever since.

After I finished high school, Huey built one greenhouse, and that was how we started growing bedding plants. We gradually expanded from there and learned what customers wanted by speaking with seed suppliers and sales representatives.

What does Green Valley Farms produce today?

We grow asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, cilantro, kohlrabi, Swiss chard, dandelion greens and other vegetables.

In the spring, we also grow annual bedding plants that are delivered to Costco locations across the Greater Toronto Area through our long-standing relationship with Bonanza Gardens. 

How did that relationship begin?

In the early 1990s, my husband met Gene Bidinot at the Ontario Food Terminal. He began purchasing bedding plants from us and selling them from his store in Mimico. 

His business later expanded into Bonanza Gardens, and our relationship grew along with it. Today, Bonanza Gardens provides us with the orders, and we deliver the plants directly to Costco stores across the GTA. 

It shows how important long-term business relationships can be. One connection can grow into something that lasts for decades.

How has the farm expanded into other markets?

We sell produce through the Ontario Food Terminal, Chinese grocery stores and wholesale customers. 

One of our customers in Michigan found us after seeing our boxes in the market. During the season, we now ship vegetables there several times a week. Years ago, we also shipped produce as far as Florida.

A lot of those opportunities came through people seeing our products, getting to know our business and approaching us directly. 

Tell us about the team behind Green Valley Farms.

We normally have about 14 seasonal employees. We’ve participated in the Temporary Foreign Worker program since 1974 because it has become very difficult to find enough local workers for the season.

Before that, we hired university students, family friends and young people from the community to help during the summer. Over time, it became much harder to find local people interested in doing this kind of physical work. 

My son, Kerry, and I also divide the responsibilities. I look after the bedding plants, while Kerry manages the field crops. My brother sold his own farm several years ago and now comes over to help us as well. 

How would you describe your journey as a business owner?

It’s been challenging, and sometimes you have to change with the times.

Everybody says I’m easygoing, so I try to take the good with the bad. Farming is tough, but I still get satisfaction from seeing things grow and seeing them sell. 

What are some of the biggest challenges farmers face?

The weather is always a challenge. We’ve experienced flooding, hail and broken glass in the greenhouses. A late frost can damage asparagus and force us to wait for new spears before we can harvest again.

This year has been especially difficult because we had a cold spring and people are being more careful with their money. Our vegetable and flower sales have not been as strong as in other years. 

The cost of running a farm has also increased. Machinery, labour, fuel, trucks and tractors are all expensive. People don’t always realize how much work and expense go into producing a crop.

What does responsible farming mean to you?

It means trying to grow a good product and being careful about how you grow it. 
You need to understand your soil, know which crops you are planting and follow the proper timelines when applying crop-protection products, so the vegetables remain safe.

We also rotate our crops because we can’t grow the same thing on the same land every year. 

You have to be aware of what is good for the land and the environment.

How does Green Valley Farms support the community?

When we have crops that we are no longer going to harvest, we donate them to local food banks. Sometimes a neighbour helps harvest the remaining produce, and local organizations come to the farm to pick it up. 

Over the years, we have also donated plants and flowers to the Lions Club to help beautify its hall. We provide produce to a church on our road that holds a small farmer’s market every Saturday. 

It’s important to support the local community and local farmers. 

What has contributed most to your success?  

Just hard work. 

Sometimes I’m out in the field for 12 or 14 hours. You have to keep going and do whatever the farm needs that day.

Also, perseverance, a sense of humour and a supportive family. In the spring, my two sisters and daughter come on weekends to help transplant the annuals, and my brother comes from Calgary for a month to help with Costco deliveries. On busy days, we can work until 10 p.m. filling orders, but there’s always plenty of laughter and joking to keep us going.

Want to learn more about Debbie's journey?

Read her full profile with Scotiabank and visit Green Valley Farms' Instagram to stay connected.