who we are

john skinner

owner

Skinner family involvement in Manitoba prairie horticulture stretches back more than a century. John's interest in plants started early and naturally, growing up in a nursery with a father who was a renowned plant breeder and horticulturist. He came home to farm and to teach in 1993 - his first native crop was locally collected big bluestem. Since then, he has acquired experience growing many different warm season grasses, cool season grasses, and more recently wildflowers. This interest in wildflowers has led to local collection of over 70 species and development of seed orchards to facilitate production and collection of seed of those species.

Michael grew up farming with his dad John, fostering a passion for native plants that lead to him completing a Bachelor of Science degree in biology at the University of Saskatchewan and pursuing a career in field biology with Parks Canada. He worked in Grasslands National Park for five years, eventually leading the native seed program, working on seed collection, cleaning, seed sourcing, long-term storage and designing seed mixes for the creation of critical habitat for species at risk in the park. When the opportunity arose to try his hand at farming again, in 2022 he moved back to Manitoba to manage Skinner Native Seed’s Fort Ellice restoration project for Nature Conservancy Canada and to expand our wildflower seed and grass seed production to enable the use of higher diversity seed mixes across the prairies.  

breanna lyon

Seasonal Farm Worker