Boyd family, Strand audience enjoy premiere

From left, Greg and Lauren Boyd, Daryl Granger, and Roman, Connor and Victoria Boyd answer questions after the premiere of Young Farmer Monday at The Strand. 

Chris Abbott

Editor

Award-winning documentary Young Farmer opens at The Strand Theatre in Simcoe

It was an emotional Monday night for the Langton-area Boyd family.

Excited, and maybe in some cases a bit nervous, Greg and Victoria and their three children watched the premiere of Young Farmer for the first time on the ‘big screen’ at The Strand in Simcoe.

The locally filmed and produced documentary by Daryl Granger, Victoria’s brother, features the farming journey of Roman, Connor and Lauren in 2025, assisted by parents Greg and Victoria.

“My eyes were watering as soon as it started, as soon as Greg started talking about the history, the family, and where it all came from, and seeing those old pictures of his ancestry, his grandfather,” said Victoria.

AI was used to bring old family portraits to life for the introduction.

“An example of technology being used the right way,” said Greg.

Victoria played a supporting role in the documentary, which has already won, placed, or advanced in 14 international film festivals.

“I’m behind the scenes and I support, and I make sure everybody’s fed and clothed and healthy and well and where they need to be.”

And she made sure seven-year-old Roman Boyd’s single pair of overalls, which he wore pretty much every scene, were washed.

“Just the one pair, so had to make sure they were washed,” she laughed, “a lot… because he was rolling around. That’s what he does, he likes to roll around in the dirt.”

In the documentary, Victoria said, “Where do you find Roman? He’s out on the farm. That’s where you’re going to find him.”

“Not going to lie, it was a lot of work,” Greg smiled. “Not only growing the garden, but working with Roman to teach him and get him to be friendly in front of the camera.

“Tonight, very proud, very proud. Proud of all of them, they did a great job. And I’m just continually impressed by Daryl’s talent and what he is capable of doing, and I’m looking forward to be seeing what he will be doing in the future.”

Greg, who operated Heritage Lane Produce for 14 years, had the knowledge and expertise to create and ‘build’ the garden. Their children had varying levels of experience assisting in the garden.

“Connor… vegetables weren’t his thing. Cows, cows and more cows for him.”

The family’s beef cows, and the dairy farm where Connor works, were also featured in the documentary.

Lauren grew sunflowers to compete in the Langton Fair (where she won two first-place ribbons, and defended her ‘tallest’ championship) and sell at the Simcoe Farmers Market, along with Roman’s vegetables.

“Roman, he was always interested in watermelons – he loves watermelons. That always his thing. 2025 was kind of his first real introduction to ‘This is how we start’ and ‘This is how we prepare’ and ‘This is how we grow it’ and sell it. It was his first go-around, really, and I think it’s been a positive experience for him, for sure.”

The documentary was not the Boyd family’s idea, Greg noted.

“It was Daryl’s idea, Daryl approached us. Originally it was just going to be like a 15-minute YouTube thing. That’s what we all thought we were getting into.

“Then, about halfway through the season he breaks the news, ‘No, this is going to be a full-length documentary.’ So my anxiety kind of went up a little bit at that point,” Greg laughed.

Pleased with the finished product, Greg said “We couldn’t be more happy.”

Young Farmer will continue playing at The Strand – on scheduled dates – until the end of March.