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Joe Kleinsasser has dedicated his entire life to agriculture, and now he’s rewarded for it. Kleinsasser was awarded the Farm & Food Care 2024 Champion award earlier this week at the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium in Saskatoon, SK.
The award is given out every year to those helping engage consumers regarding agriculture and food production and helping build that trust from the farm to the table. Kleinsasser has been on the forefront of this, even sitting on the chair during the Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan’s inception 10 years ago.
“I was there at the beginning.” said Kleinsasser. “10 years ago, we decided to follow the lead of our sister organization in Ontario and started to include all of the different commodities on the grain side because we felt the issues were the same.”
Kleinsasser was raised on the Rosetown Hutterite Colony serving as a Minister since 1995. He was manager of a 400 sow-farrow-to-finish hog operation, served on the Board of Sask Pork and is also on the Agriculture Development Fund Advisory Committee and the Agri-Food Council, providing insight and knowledge for those in the industry.
Since it’s transfer from the Sask Animal Council to the Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan, Kleinsasser has been blown away by the growth and sentiments surrounding the conversations of food production.
“It is an organization that has grown exponentially. It's just amazing. I just attended a 10-year anniversary luncheon. I've been away now for a couple of years and to see the growth and relevance and quite frankly (the) industry buy into the message, it was just great to see. (I’ve been) part of a great group of people that for me has been a blessing. It has been a privilege to work with these kinds of people I have had the opportunity to work with and certainly have taught me a lot and how to engage consumers.”
As important as it is to recognize the amazing people within the agriculture sector, Kleinsasser carries himself with the utmost humility and respect for the industry. With such a deep-rooted tie to agriculture, growing up and living it firsthand, Kleinsasser believes in the hope and renewal of agriculture to continue its growth today, and for generations to come.
“I started very young, and it's been a great lifestyle. Sometimes you struggle to make a living at it, but quite frankly, I can't think of doing anything else for me. When I think about farming, it's that constant renewal. It's a metaphor for hope for me every spring.”
There’s a sentiment of hope and renewal every spring, but Kleinsasser is aware of the constant need to engage conversations surrounding food production, as the world depends on it.
“There are new animals, fresh animals are coming with calves and pigs. You put your crop in the ground every spring, it’s hope for me. As such, it's a privilege to be part of it and I hope we understand that privilege. We’re a part of it; and we understand that if we don’t engage and talk to the consumers of our end product, we could be looking around us and wondering what happened because we didn’t tell our story effectively enough.”