Corne Quik, co-owner of Chilliwack-based flower growers, Quik’s Farm Ltd., was named the 2026 BC-Yukon Outstanding Young Farmer on January 22 at the Pacific Agriculture Show.
“I’m in business with my two brothers, Andries and Leo, and Mom and Dad are still there as well,” he said in his presentation to about 50 people. “Our mission is to be a local family farm that grows horticultural products guided by a focus towards community, a greener future and happiness.”
Quik’s first project after officially stepping into the family business in 2013 was to build a warehouse to process the farm’s seasonal outdoor-grown crops and floral products for retail chains like Safeway, Save-On Foods and Sobeys.
Other building projects followed in 2019, 2021 and 2024, which he oversaw as general manager. It’s a long way from the farm’s beginnings when his father Harry Quik grew potatoes and cedar trees before adding a few cut flowers from a cold frame greenhouse in 1990.
“Our model is really there’s no customer too big or too small,” he says. “We supply to the customer or to the general public. We also supply to the flower auction in Vancouver, which in turn sells to wholesalers and florists either in the Lower Mainland or beyond.”
Quik’s Farm has three locations in Chilliwack and one in Airdrie, Alberta, with a total of 25 acres of greenhouses producing 28 million cut flowers annually.
Steve Saccomano, a farm management consultant with MNP in Abbotsford, says judges Melanie Lantz, Mike Manion and Annamarie Klippenstein faced a tough decision in picking a winner from among the three finalists.
Quik’s fellow contenders, Annelise Grube-Cavers and Steve Meggait of Fresh Valley Farms, spoke about innovation and expansion on their Spallumcheen farm, while Liam Ritchie of Abbotsford-based SJ Ritchie Research Farm spoke about his family’s poultry legacy and work to advance the industry.
“At its heart, this program shines a spotlight on the incredible work young farmers do in BC and across Canada,” says Saccomano.
Quik will deliver his presentation again this November at the national Outstanding Young Farmers event in Vancouver where he will compete against winners from across Canada.
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