The Boissevain-Morton-Whitewater (BMW) Foodgrains committee is pleased with the progress on the 300 acre field at Fairfax for this year's grow project.
Field Manager, Mitch Bohrn, says this year they grew wheat the field west of Minto a bit on the later end when everybody else was seeding wheat in the area and it's actually turning out to be pretty good. "It's caught some really nice rains the last little bit here and things are looking really good," says Bohrn.
As always, fundraising is a key issue when it comes to input costs.
"There is always a call out for people to get involved," he says. "There's always needs there and we never really cover all our costs on that field with the donations, so we're always open to more donations."
Bohrn says the ongoing partnership with the Del and Heather Fraser family has been a great arrangement and gives stability to the grow project right from the start of the season. The BMW Foodgrains field has been rented from the Fraser family farm for over 15 years in the Fairfax area northwest of Boissevain. The BMW grow project began about a decade before that, but this strong partnership has been integral to the project.
"Yes, it's awesome," shares Bohrn. "We've been quite a while with that same field and yes we've had that same rent agreement for quite a while now. And it just gives us a one less thing to worry about every year without trying to find out what field we're going to do this project on it."
"Del is very well involved. He's on the board as well and he's very passionate about the project and that's a huge step in the right direction every year that we keep having that same place to do this project on. And being 300 acres, that's one of the bigger projects in Manitoba as well," he adds.
With the fall season not that far away, Bohrn is expecting harvesting to take place in September.
"Things look like they're right on track. We just had a fungicide put on there last week. And yeah, so we should be kind of at the tail end of when everybody else is just wrapping their wheat up."
