A STORY STEEPED IN TRADITION
When you ask Margaret Hudson, President and CEO of Burnbrae Farms, the secret to their family’s success, her answers come quickly and knowingly: “It was our father’s vision, a lot of hard work and everyone’s dedication to our family’s values instilled by our father and the strong women who influenced him from the very beginning.”
Of course, the Hudsons’ journey to becoming a leader in Canadian agribusiness was not a simple one (think World Wars, a depression, a pandemic, etc.); however, tradition acted as an adhesive. “One thing each generation carries from one to the next is a closeness as a family,” says Sue Hudson, Burnbrae’s Communications and Digital Marketing Director. “The reason why our generation is able to lead the company as a group of siblings is because we have a bond, and we are working to create a similar bond through shared experiences for the next generation.”
G1 ACROSS THE POND
The Burnbrae Farms story begins when 17-year-old Joseph Hudson immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1874 with his parents, Joseph Senior and Margaret Hudson, along with five of his siblings. While his parents settled in Soperton, ON, and started farming and milking Ayrshire cattle (ironically named after where Joseph Senior and Margaret came from in Scotland). Joseph headed to Manitoba, possibly because of the economic boom caused by the expansion of the CP Railway. There he married Jean Thompson. The couple had three
