Ten combines and a half-dozen truck and trailer units came out for the Killarney Foodgrains Grow Project harvest this week Wednesday.   The 100-acre field of Brandon Red Spring Wheat, located north of Killarney, did better than expected, bringing in 165.51 tonne, averaging 60.81 bushels per acre. 

CFGB Regional Rep for Manitoba and Western Ontario Gordon Janzen

Landowner, Blair English, said he was very pleased with the crop and how it was managed by the Foodgrains Grow team.  The dry conditions were certainly concerning but by the time harvest day came, it looked pretty good.

“We have 38 active growing projects in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario this year and I’m so glad to have them,”said Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) Regional Representative Gordon Janzen.  “It’s been a difficult year for all the farmers, for all of us in the drought, but I’m amazed at the crops that have grown in these dry conditions.”

“We’ve had a few projects harvested, and the yield really varies,” he adds. “Rainfall patterns are very patchy, so from one field to another 5 miles away can be very different.”

There are currently close to 200 grow projects with the CFGB across the country, with a variety of grains and produce grown including wheat, canola, soybeans and sunflowers.  Janzen says many of those projects are in Ontario.

In the last fiscal year, the work of the Foodgrains Bank extended to 33 countries with food programs working with 15 national church agencies that do their work with their partners on the ground. 

“These folks who are doing this today, are doing it in faith that this will be used in a good way,” explains Janzen.  “We’re responding to needs that are really significant.  The number of hungry people in the world has gone up in the last 2 years because of COVID, climate issues and conflict in certain places.  So, this is really crucial for our neighbors in other countries.”

Proceeds from the sale of the crop will be sent into the CFGB as a donation.  Those proceeds, together with the matching funds from the Canadian government (up to 4x) will be used towards projects decided upon with the Foodgrains Bank member agencies.

Visit https://foodgrainsbank.ca/ for more information on the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

A young farmer in the making looks on at today's farming machinery. How much bigger will it get before he sits behind the wheel?