Children climb in and out of the combine loaned by John Deere to harvest the wheat crop for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, allowing for a safe, closeup experience with the harvesting equipment.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
On Tuesday, farmers, businesses and residents made their way out to the 26th annual harvest for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
This year’s crop was slightly down, says Albert Cramer, chair of the board and one of the owners of Big Marble Farms, which sponsors the undertaking, but they should still see significant good done with the proceeds collected.
“It’s so humid right now, so it’s harder to get a dry sample. But these grains are going to Patterson elevator, and they’re very gracious with us,” said Cramer. The grain harvested, which at the time of interview was estimated to come out to roughly 15 bushels per acre, will be sold, with proceeds used to assist those experiencing hunger throughout the world.
Alberta Representative for Canadian Foodgrains Bank Abe Janzen says the organization is extremely grateful for the work that various businesses and individuals have put into making this harvest happen year after year, as everything from the land and seeds, to the time with the harvesting equipment, has all been donated by members of the community.
Currently, there are 32 fields in Alberta part of this project, varying from as small as eight acres to more than 400. The field outside Medicine Hat, at 130 acres, is about average, says Janzen.
About 70 per cent of the proceeds will go to emergency hunger relief, where the other 30 per cent will go to helping people in places with food insecurity better establish and improve their own farming, so as to become self-sufficient.
While weather conditions did impact the crop, it did not impact the passion of those who worked on it, said Cramer, and they were pleased to see a large turnout of people to celebrate the accomplishment, and to enjoy a hamburger lunch as donated by John Deere.
“We’re very grateful on behalf of all those people in other countries. We’re very grateful for all the volunteerism, for all the interest at an event like this, for the churches that are involved, for the businesses that are involved,” said Janzen. “All the farmers that are involved, and all the individual donors will contribute in other ways, meaning cash or volunteerism. So it’s not just farmers, it’s really everybody that can participate. Last year in Alberta, we raised $4.4 million. About 52% of that came from fields like this, but that means that 48% came from donors. So we’re just very grateful.”
