Karen & Dean High

Third generation farmer Dean High “works to grow the best, safest product possible,” says his wife Karen, who entered the family business through marriage over 20 years ago. Karen and Dean grow a wide variety of fruit on their 40-acre farm at the foot of the Niagara escarpment and lease another 50 acres to supply the wholesale market. Dean, who earned his degree in agriculture at the University of Guelph, uses spray minimally. A schoolteacher with a marketing background, Karen manages Kar-Dean’s pick-your-own sweet cherries operation and farmers' market participation. While farming is their livelihood, Karen and Dean support the buy local movement as a way to ensure the viability of safe food sources for future generations.