The Manitoba Threshermen's Reunion and Stampede takes place this week at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum near Austin from Thursday to Sunday.
With more than a hundred acres of land that features life in a pioneer village, the 4-day event will showcase steam engine demonstrations and antique farming activities. Horse-drawn wagon rides and a classic car display will add to the event's fun factor, and of course every evening will feature Manitoba’s best semi-pro rodeo and live musical entertainment.
If you're wanting to take a break from the outdoor activities and learn some interesting facts about Canadian agriculture, you might want to check out the museum's current exhibition, 'Aquaculture: Farming the Waters'.
The exhibition invites visitors to dive into aquaculture…and discover how seafood and other products, like kemp, is produced across the country. Tactile models introduce visitors to some of the fish, shellfish, and seaweed raised in Canada.
"Aquaculture: Farming the Waters is an exhibit on loan from Ingenium and together with the Canada Food and Agriculture Museum in Ottawa, we were thrilled to be able to have this sent to us for this summer and to be able to showcase an area of agriculture that most people don't know about," shares Sara Thiessen, Curatorial Assistant.
"So, aquaculture is basically farming the waters," adds Thiessen. "It's the three main aspects of this that we're showcasing in the display. Those are fish farming, shellfish farming and kelp farming, and the techniques behind those."
The exhibition features farmers in aquaculture all across Canada, says Tricia Dyck, Collections and Programming Manager.
"And so, while some of them, like fish farming and shellfish farming, would apply more to the Prairie provinces, some of the others such as the kelp farming and that sort of thing would probably be in some of the other regions across Canada."
The exhibition offers a fun experience for families through fun decor and interactive displays. Through hands-on learning and information videos, the public will meet the producers and learn about the skills and tools needed to keep aqua farms healthy.
This summer the museum has 4 summer students, and three of them participated in setting up the Aquaculture display.
"It was definitely a process," shares Thiessen who is one of the four summer students. "We had our whole summer student team working on it for about two days doing the main setup. We had to do a lot of moving things around, but it was really worth it. I think it looks really good now. We had to work in our space, but we really made it work and that's thanks to our team!"
Thiessen says the exhibit brings attention to the wide diversity of agriculture in Canada, and that include aquaculture.
"I think one thing that's really important is just kind of expanding people's understanding of what agriculture and farming is, because it's really a lot more than what a lot of people think and it's really important to learn that."
When it comes to supporting Canadian farmers, one can source out what products are grown here in our country, from coast to coast to coast fairly easily. All one needs to do is search the internet, say Tricia Dyck. "And you know, if you're walking through your store, doing your grocery shopping look on the back of your fish sticks, look on the back of packaging and you'll see the labels indicating if that product was raised in Canada."
"It's important to recognize that aquaculture or fish farming is a really sustainable form of agriculture and, you know, developing and raising the protein from fish is extremely sustainable alongside some of the other animals that we raise," adds Dyck.
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum exhibition, Aquaculture: Farming the Waters will be on display until August 24. The museum is open from 10am - 4pm, 7 days a week through the summer months.
July 24-27, the Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede takes place at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum near Austin.
For a full list of events visit their website HERE!
For ticket information click HERE!
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