Meet Josiah Mullet-Koop: A sixth generation farmer thinking beyond the barn

This is part of a series of profiles of young egg farmers. They are all young leaders taking part in Egg Farmers of Canada’s national young farmer program, an initiative designed to prepare the next generation of industry leaders.

Josiah Mullet-Koop

Jordan, Ontario

Long before it became Josiah Mullet-Koop’s childhood bedroom, the attic of the family farmhouse was once lit by heat lamps and filled with tiny, chirping chicks.

By the time Josiah came along, that chapter had long closed, but the sense of building on what came before him never really left. “I always knew I’d be part of it in some capacity,” he says. “I just didn’t know exactly what that would look like.”

The farm in Jordan, Ontario sits on land his family has worked for nearly a century. A sixth generation farmer, Josiah is part of a lineage that stretches back to the 1930s, when his family arrived from Ukraine and began building a farm that today produces eggs alongside 40 acres of red wine grapes, sold to wineries across the Niagara region.

Hens were part of it from the very beginning. Today, Josiah runs the farm alongside his father, Chris, while his brother Tim pitches in occasionally and his brother Liam is completing a degree in agriculture with plans to join in the coming years. His grandfather, who lives across the road, is still a regular presence.

Before stepping into his farming legacy, Josiah stepped away first. After high school, he headed to the University of Guelph, earning a degree in agriculture before going on to complete his master’s in poultry behaviour and welfare.

It was there, studying under the guidance of leading poultry scientist Tina Widowski, that the work he’d grown up doing began to take on a different kind of clarity.

“It opened my eyes to how much more there is behind the decisions we make on the farm,” he says. “Not just what works, but why.”

His research focused on perching behaviour in young hens, using cameras installed in his own pullet barn to track when birds begin to perch, what drives that instinct and how they move through a space.

“A lot of what they do is completely innate,” he says. “Even through years of domestication and changing environments, they’ve held onto many instinctive behaviours. Once you see that, you start thinking differently about how to set up their environment.”

That shift came at exactly the right moment, as the farm was converting its barns from an enriched housing system to a free run system. It was an approach that required careful planning and some trial and error. Josiah’s research helped guide that process, informing how the space should be structured and how the birds were introduced to it.

“You’re not just changing a system—you’re asking the birds to adapt to something entirely new,” he says. “So you have to think about how they’ll actually move through it, and what will make sense to them.”

It’s the kind of thinking that now shapes his day-to-day decisions. What he once learned in a research setting—how to observe, test and refine—has carried over into how he runs the farm, from designing systems to making management decisions.

“I didn’t expect to use what I learned in school this much,” he says. “But it shows up in everything.”

Solar panels, installed over a decade ago, are set to expand with the goal of offsetting electricity use entirely. Rainwater is collected, filtered, and reused within the operation. Each step builds on the last.

Beyond the property, Josiah has taken on a broader role in the industry. As an Egg Farmers of Ontario ambassador, he visits elementary school classrooms to talk to students about food production. He volunteers at fairs and events, and nationally, he’s wrapping up his second term on the Canadian Agricultural Youth Council, contributing to conversations with federal leaders. He also sits on a sector engagement table for the horticulture industry, meeting with government leaders to connect the priorities of research and industry.

“We’re all working toward the same thing,” he says. “But there can be gaps. Being involved in each of those areas helps turn research into something practical, and make sure high-level decisions reflect what’s actually happening on farms.”

That perspective is part of what draws him to the national young farmer program. It’s a chance to step beyond his own region and connect with others shaping the future of agriculture across the country.

“I like working with my hands. I like working with chickens,” he says. “And I take a lot of pride in being part of producing food. A dozen eggs seems simple, but there’s so much that goes into producing them—many different careers, scientific research and people making decisions every day.”

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