Meet Katrina McQuail, an inspiring organic farmer from Ontario, Canada, and one of our early ambassadors! Katrina joined us on a transformative voyage to the Amazon in 2015, and since then, she’s been cultivating change in the agriculture world. At Meeting Place Organic Farm, Katrina combines her passions for community, sustainability, and environmental stewardship, finding creative and impactful ways to weave these values into her farming practices.
We caught up with Katrina to hear about her journey, how the Amazon voyage shaped her perspective, and her exciting plans for the future of sustainable farming.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Katrina McQuail (she/hers). I was born in Huron County and raised on my family farm (Meeting Place Organic Farm) in Ontario, Canada. I am a first generation Canadian.
I was fortunate to travel a lot when I was younger, and that sparked a desire to know more about the wider world and what’s going on! I studied Business and Non-Profit Management, with a minor in French at a university (Earlham College) in the United States.
I always had an interest in ocean conservation but decided to try to manage the farm and see how it went – turns out it went pretty well. I’m good for the farm, and the farm is good for me! I’m here with my husband and our 3 tiny humans, and I am farming!
My two daughters are actually named after people that I was on expedition with! My eldest is named Stella after Stella Stabbins, and then Imogen is named Imogen Robinson.
Image credit: Lisa Credit
What is your superpower?
My biggest strength is community building, bringing people together and encouraging them to try and be the change they want to see in the world.
Where did your passion for the ocean begin?
It all started from when I was really little. I just enjoyed finding out about all of the creatures in the ocean. For my birthday, my grandmother ‘adopted’ me a whale. So for years, I had this Humpback Whale that was ‘my whale’ that I’d get newsletter updates about which I loved! My love for the ocean grew from there. Whenever I had the choice I did school projects on the ocean, I specifically remember one I did no manatees.
When I was in my early 20s travelling in Central America, I started scuba diving! That was the moment… those first breaths underwater when I was truly captivated. All I kept thinking was ‘I want more of this’ and I just had to figure out how!
Image Credit: Rachel Labbe Bellas
Why did you decide to join the voyage?
After I moved back to the farm, one of my priorities was to make sure that I didn’t stop following my passions or doing things that were important to me. I’m really lucky, my parents have always been incredibly environmentally conscious and they’ve been very supportive of my journey.
One day, a friend of mine suggested going to this movie night and it ended up being a film by Jennifer Pate, a previous crew member from the Atlantic voyage. Whilst she was talking I was so inspired, I spoke to her afterwards and just decided that’s what I wanted to do. I never thought I would actually be accepted, but I put in my application anyway
Image Credit: Stella Stabbins
What surprised you the most during the voyage?
I thought I was pretty aware of stuff but not to the depth of understanding I came away with. Just the sheer pervasiveness was shocking.
On the farm, even now when we are digging, we find stuff that people dropped long ago! We always try to think about the impact of what we’re using on the farm and how it all breaks down. That’s why we are an organic farm!
“It’s frustrating to know that even though we are doing our bit, and we do believe wholeheartedly in our work, chemicals inevitably move through the environment – whether through the air, soil or water.”
During the voyage I took part in bioaccumulation tests and my results made me question why we are even organic… because I had these chemicals present in my body, from my environment and possibly from surrounding farms. It’s frustrating to know that even though we are doing our bit, and we do believe wholeheartedly in our work, chemicals inevitably move through the environment – whether through the air, soil or water.
Though that seems negative, it helped reinforce my understanding of the importance of our choices and what impact they can have. We need to be addressing this at a societal level.
I always try to be conscious of this, especially now as a parent of small children. For several years after I came back from the voyage, I did speaking engagements with local communities about the voyage and tried to spread awareness about the toxins and microplastics in our environment.
How else did the experience impact you?
As a person, it helped me on a deeper level too. Growing up I always struggled with feeling like the farm was not very interesting or exciting. However, after the voyage and being surrounded by these amazing women, I realised I could foster all my other interests, and use the farm as a means to support those things too.
Image Credit:Sarah Richardson
With my youngest now being 15 months, I’m finally able to start doing these things! On the farm I want to expand its potential and host community events and creative workshops. With the voyage in mind, my goal is to have events with a purpose! Being part of eXXpedition connected me to an amazing community and I want to build something more like that here too.
What role do you feel organic farming has in terms of keeping our planet healthy and maintaining the balance?
With the farm, I see multiple roles. The first being modelling for other farmers and others in agriculture. When our family first started, other local farmers didn’t think they’d last long… but 50 years later, we’re still here! Our business is testament that it works, it’s viable and it keeps getting better.
We showcase that you can have a financially viable business that is good for the environment. For example, simple changes such as planting trees every year, delayed haying and pasturing, allowing nesting songbirds to fledge their babies before we cut our hay. And if you can, even venture into farming without chemicals, to help sequester carbon and support wildlife.
The other role is the direct impact we have on the environment. We have a great coastal centre here for Lake Huron. They often highlight how farming relates to the ocean; whether it’s chemical runoffs or the type of manure you use, it all ends up in our water, so we need to do our part to not contribute to that.
“Now we know better, we need to move away from the best interest of the chemical companies, and focus on what’s best for us and our planet.”
There’s a new organisation called Farmers for Climate Solutions that we’re a part of that has gained enough traction that they’ve started affecting government policy with awareness around the climate impact – which means there’s now funding to support conventional farmers who want to change. One of the hardest things for farmers to do is to change the foundation of how the farm runs, it’s very risky. But this program is designed to help farmers try alternative, more sustainable approaches.
People who are farmers or work within the farming industry do it for the love of the land and supplying resources to their community. Organic farming is the next step in the right direction so to have this extra support to make that transition is really valuable.
The problem is that for my parents’ generation of farmers, they came into farming being sold the post-war message of modernisation. They had all these chemicals that were made for the war that they needed a new market for. At that point we didn’t know what all of those chemicals would do in the long-term. Now we know better, we need to move away from the best interest of the chemical companies, and focus on what’s best for us and our planet.
“It’s all well and good saying ‘this is the better option for the planet’, but you need to bridge the gap in regards to the risk involved when choosing an alternative”
It’s interesting because it’s kind of the same problem as plastic pollution, just a different substance. It’s all well and good saying ‘this is the better option for the planet’, but you need to bridge the gap in regards to the risk involved when choosing an alternative; like plastic bottles versus aluminium bottles or water filtration systems.
You have to provide support to help people get from A to B without letting them fall flat on their face. As more research is published about things such as all the places that plastic is ending up where it shouldn’t be, people are starting to become more conscious of their choices on a personal level and larger scale too. So we’re hoping to see bigger changes in agriculture because it really is the foundation of our society.
Have you got any exciting projects or events coming up that you’d like to share?
My big dream is to host events and workshops on the farm! I’m hoping to do more and have them open to a wide range of people and ages. We want to work more with our coastal centre to increase awareness of plastic pollution and use found objects to make art. I would love for the farm to have art installations, partly because I love art but also because sometimes we forget just how intertwined art and nature are, so to have different pieces embedded here would serve as an inspiring reminder.
If there is anyone in the eXXpedition community who is interested, we would love to hear from you!
What keeps you hopeful about the ocean’s future?
It has got to be future generations. Watching younger folks really get ‘it’ and want to take action is so exciting to me!
There’s an awareness and knowledge growing around us, and people are finally seeking more radical change to address it!
That is what gives me hope.
“Nature will prevail, whether or not we’re a part of that is our choice.”
If you could give one message to the world, what would it be?
I know it can feel overwhelming and hopeless at times, but when we take a step back and look at everything, I feel very strongly that it’s all worth fighting for. Nature will prevail, whether or not we’re a part of that is our choice. We have to survive and move forward in a beautiful way. It will be worth the effort and there is still so much opportunity to make a change!
