A familiar sight in the Pembina Valley at this time of year is farmers working tirelessly to harvest crops that are an invaluable resource locally, across Canada, and beyond. It’s a big job. Yesterday, farmers took time out of their busiest season to gather in a canola field northwest of Morden for a special harvest — 250 acres of canola to be donated toward the fight against world hunger.
This harvest is the SHARE operation, which consists of a group of farmers who support the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“SHARE stands for sharing [hope and] agricultural resources of the earth, and that's the whole idea with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank,” says Ben Friesen, a spokesperson of SHARE. “Their idea is to feed the hungry in the world.”
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 churches and church-based organizations. Its mission is to come together to end global hunger by connecting to and working with locally-based organizations in developing countries. The interdenominational organization has a program through which regions in need of emergency food can access it, and it also funds programs that support families and communities in their efforts to access more and better-quality food long-term.
Friesen says that the group of farmers in Southern Manitoba has been harvesting crops for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for approximately 15 years now. Each year, they work approximately 400-500 acres of crops for the cause.
“We're one small group. As far as Canadian Foodgrains Bank, they probably do about 4000 to 5000 acres in Manitoba with different groups all over the place,” he says. “We're on our last field, . . . . which is 250 acres. It is graciously donated to us by the . . . daughter and daughter-in-law of Dave Petkau. Dave Petkau used to own this land, and the daughters now own it. They donate it to this [project] and want us to farm it for them.”
The harvest operation, which made use of approximately 8 combines, was a group effort of Morden-based farmers including Ken and Irv Dalke, John Klassen, RM of Stanley Reeve Ike Friesen, Ben Friesen of BP Grain, and Duane Fehr.
“Duane Fehr was very instrumental on this field. He farms right close by here, so he was looking after the field all the way through the summer knowing that canola always takes a little babysitting — you have to watch for bugs. It was nice to have somebody just two miles away that could go and take care of it.”
For Fehr, his role with SHARE fell into place naturally.
“Several years ago, I was asked to participate with the combine, and since we farm right close by, I was asked if I would maybe want to take a little bit of a bigger role seeding the crop and looking after the spraying and crop scouting and stuff like that. I thought it was a good fit because I am the closest one here.”
Beyond his proximity to the field, his participation is also linked to genuine benevolence toward those around him.
“I've always had a passion to give back to the community and serve others and so this is just one way that we can do our part and look a little bit beyond ourselves,” says Fehr. “I asked the Lord to bless this crop and so I'm very excited to get into it and see what he has in store for us.”
Ben Peters of BP Grain also had an important role in the harvest — he supplied the trucks to transport it.
“Every project we're on, he's got trucks for us,” says Friesen. “No matter which field we're harvesting, I just send one text over to Ben, [and he says], ‘Oh, I have no trucks, but I'll find some’, and then a little while later, he's there with a couple of trucks and hauls [the crop] off to wherever we’re selling it that day.”
For the SHARE harvest, which yielded a 10,000 bushels, Peters says 6 or 7 trucks do the trick.
“The trucking is always part of what we have to do, and if everybody does their . . . part, then we have a really successful day and we expect that again today,” says Peters. “We're committed to moving all the grain for all our projects. Whenever they need it, we make sure that there are trucks to put it on.”
While the project is local at the level of the field — from the community members who have donated it to those who have given their time to take care of it and harvest it — the outcome is far-reaching.
“It's very important to do our part to feed the rest of the world,” says Ike Friesen, the Reeve of the RM of Stanley. “I've actually been on a Canadian Foodgrains tour. I went to Ethiopia, and I saw firsthand what benefit [there] is of helping and teaching other farmers a better practice of farming.”
The canola crop will be sold off, and the funds will be sent to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“We sell this product to Bunge,” says Friesen. “The money goes to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank which then uses [it] in other countries [and] partners up with organizations within the country.”
For Gordon Janzen, a representative with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, September 10th was a busy day for growing projects in Southern Manitoba. In addition to attending SHARE’s harvest event, he also stopped by another growing project near Darlingford, which is in support of the United Church’s account at the Foodgrains Bank.
“We met the farmers there . . . before they took off 40 acres of wheat,” he says. “Then I went over to Rosenfeld down Highway 14 . . . and they had, I think it was, 8 combines and trucks and they were taking off 300 acres of wheat. It's a large field, [so] the community came out, and so it's really just fantastic to see.”
The tour did not stop there. Afterwards, Janzen visited the Gardenland group near Winkler, which was harvesting another 80 acres of canola, before finally reaching SHARE’s project site.
“This is the busiest day that I've been to this fall. We have around 30 projects that have field projects, and then other groups gather without a field project,” he says. “We have almost 40 community projects working to support our work at Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and [we’re] just so thankful for these communities.”
Together, the growing projects in Southern Manitoba make a huge impact in the store of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
“[They] are just really key to our support. Half of our support in Manitoba comes from these community groups and this makes such a big difference [when] we talk about working together to end global hunger,” he says. “[We appreciate seeing] our farmers who can produce food [say] that they want this food to benefit the people who are in the most need.”
Janzen adds that the support often concentrates in the regions experiencing conflict that many hear about, such as Gaza, Sudan, The Democratic Repulic of Congo, and the refugees from Syria in Lebanon.
“The resources that are generated here [will] be used in some of the countries where there is most need,” he says. “This will benefit them not only in emergency settings, but [it will also] help farmers improve their production for themselves so that they can also have more to sell and have for their families. This will make a big difference.”
For more information about the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and its operations, click here.
~With files from Robyn Wiebe~
