In all, the five locations — Lethbridge, Trochu, and three in Saskatchewan — have just over 300 acres that will be farmed this year. 

Some are traditional growing projects, while others are farmed by nearby individual farmers taking on the few extra acres as part of their own. When the crops are harvested, the proceeds are donated to the Foodgrains Bank, and used to fund hunger response projects around the world. 

“Land availability is continually a major issue for farmers who want to grow a crop for the Foodgrains Bank,” said executive director Andy Harrington. “We’re grateful for all farmers, growing projects, and Viterra staff who put their time and energy into helping people who are experiencing hunger around the world.”

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Those are the words of Mikaela Lemay, an agronomist and leader of the Young Guns growing project near Trochu. The group of young farmers started their growing project last year when the local Viterra terminal donated the use of surrounding land to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. This year, the group seeded 40 acres of barley.

The 23-year-old Lemay is one of the youngest growing project leaders in the country and one of the few women to lead a project. Along with support of Viterra, the project attracted donations of seed, fertilizer, and herbicide from the local Trochu agribusiness community, as well as support from friends, family and neighbours.

“People don’t hesitate to donate — they’re really generous,” said Lemay, noting her neighbour seeded the field and her brother did the spraying.

Viterra provided a total of 284 acres this year for growing projects at its terminals at Trochu, Lethbridge and Stettler as well as two Saskatchewan locations.

“One of their main challenges in getting these growing projects off the ground is securing land,” said Dryden Frere, the facility operations manager of the Trochu terminal. “By providing them with access to land around our elevators, we’re helping to give these volunteers an outlet for generously donating their time to plant and harvest the crops each year.”

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The delegation will learn about food security issues in Ethiopia, visit communities receiving support from the Foodgrains Bank, and explore ways to engage Canadian youth in issues related to world hunger.

“Our goal is to provide Canadian educators with first-hand learning experiences in Ethiopia that they can share with youth in their classrooms and local communities,” says Roberta Gramlich, Foodgrains Bank youth engagement co-ordinator.

“The tour provides opportunities for Canadians to meet people who have experienced hunger. We also organize workshops so that the delegation comes away with a deeper understanding of food security and agriculture, international development, and how Canadians can take action.”

All tours include an orientation to the Foodgrains Bank, and a full cultural briefing.

The cost is about $3,000, which includes airfare and all in-country costs. Approximate dates are Aug. 1-15 and the application deadline is May 15. There is some opportunity for financial support for the trip upon request. For more information, visit the Canadian Foodgrains Bank website.

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As of late January, $1.9 million had been raised from 30 growing projects with several more still to report. In a growing project, farmers provide the equipment and labour to seed, grow, and harvest crops on land that has been rented or donated for the season. Companies typically donate the seed and most of the inputs or support the project in other ways (such as paying premium prices for the crop).

About 4,200 acres were cropped by growing projects this year, including one in Mallaig (about 200 kilometres northeast of Edmonton) where volunteers grew two different crops — with two very different outcomes.

“The canola just didn’t mature because we had so much smoke from B.C. wildfires,” said Louis Dechaine, a member of the Acres of Hope project. “It’s still in the ground, and we’re hoping it’ll get wet and dry out again over the winter season, so we can harvest in spring.”

When the smoke rolled over the group’s wheat field, though, members were thankful.

“We had some really hot weather, and the smoke came during that time, so I think it actually allowed my wheat to not burn,” said Don Katerynych, who donated use of the land.

The hard red spring wheat yielded slightly over 60 bushels an acre, he said.

“It was a very good crop, we’re pleased with it,” said Katerynych. “It was a little on the tough side when we took it off, but I put a little bit of aeration on it. It’s a No. 2 wheat, so it’s quite a success for this year.”

There were tougher-than-usual growing conditions for most projects in the northern part of the province, said Terence Barg, Foodgrains Bank co-ordinator for northern Alberta.

“It was dry through most of the summer,” said Barg. “Then harvest started, then in the third week in September it started to snow. At that point, there were hardly any projects north of Red Deer that had harvested, so nobody did any harvesting for almost a month.

“Then we had two weeks of reprieve at the end of October that saved a lot of farmers and a lot of growing projects. We were very thankful for that.”

In Eckville, members of the St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church & Community growing project were generally pleased with the results of their 120-acre project.

“We had very little rainfall, it was real drought conditions,” said project member Ron Hopper, who farms the land.

“We had the whole crop off with seven combines, and it only took us a couple of hours or less. The yield was a bit less than we expected — it ran about 40 bushels per acre — but due to the dry year, it was still good. We were still really happy with it.”

The story in the south was a little different, said Andre Visscher, the co-ordinator for that region.

“It was dry in general, but with irrigation many projects were able to grow and harvest some really healthy crops,” he said. “Some of our growing projects actually had record-breaking years in terms of total money raised.”

One of those was the Coaldale-Lethbridge growing project.

“We had a very good year,” said project treasurer Herb Wall. “We grew 125 acres of irrigated barley and got 140 bushels an acre.”

But it’s the community support that is the true measure of success, he said.

“We get very good community and corporate support,” he said. “That’s always the case — people will drop what they’re doing to come and help us for a few hours. It’s a labour of love.

“We might not all have time to go on a mission trip, but we all have time to do this to help people who are less fortunate.”

There were 33 growing projects in Alberta this past year, the same as in 2017. While three projects closed, three new ones (in Red Deer, Trochu, and Lethbridge) started up. Along with growing projects, there are other initiatives that raise money for the Foodgrains Bank.

Last year, $2.3 million was raised, with the federal government contributing $4 for every one raised (to a maximum of $25 million annually). The Foodgrains Bank, an alliance of 15 Canadian churches and church agencies, is active in about 40 countries, providing food assistance, funding projects (such as ‘food-for-work’ community projects), and nutrition programs.

For more information, go to foodgrainsbank.ca and click on ‘Get Involved’. The website has details of the organization’s work and an interactive map of growing projects across the country.

– With staff files

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The list is created by Charity Intelligence Canada, a third-party independent organization that examines different charities annually and assigns ratings based on impact per dollar of donation.

On average, charities in Canada provide $2 in social benefit for every dollar received, the organization says, but high-impact charities like the Foodgrains Bank provide an average $6 in social benefit.

“It’s encouraging for us to have this public affirmation of the impact of the work we are doing through our members,” said Foodgrains Bank executive director Jim Cornelius.

“We have always been confident this work is reducing hunger in the world. Being included in this list gives our supporters additional confidence that their investments in the Foodgrains Bank are truly having an impact.”

The Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger. In its 2017-18 budget year, it provided more than $37 million of assistance for over 800,000 people in 34 countries.

Alberta is home to many of the organization’s growing projects, in which crops are grown and sold with the federal government matching the funds raised on a four-to-one basis.

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Tour participants will meet people who have experienced hunger first hand, learn about the root causes and impacts of hunger, and learn about efforts to respond to the different kinds of hunger.

“Our goal is to provide Canadian teachers with rich first-hand learning experiences in Uganda they can bring back with them to their classrooms and students,” said Roberta Gramlich, Foodgrains Bank youth engagement co-ordinator.

“Global hunger is an issue that’s distant for most Canadians. Allowing teachers to interact and actually meet and spend time with people who have experienced hunger helps to bridge those two worlds.”

Topics to be explored include food security, humanitarian assistance, Canada’s role in the world, international development, and global citizenship.

“Teachers who have gone on previous tours have told us they know they will draw on what they used for the rest of their careers,” said Gramlich.

Anyone who is an educator of children, youth, or young adults is welcome to apply for the tour. This includes, but is not limited to, school teachers, 4-H leaders, and youth pastors.

The cost of the tour — tentatively set for Aug. 2-17 — will be about $2,000 (including airfare and all in-country costs) and there is some financial support available.

The application deadline is May 15. For more information, go to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank website or call Roberta Gramlich at 1-800-665-0377.

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The Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working to end global hunger, has found local farmers to farm the land. Once harvest is complete, the proceeds of the sale of the crops will be donated to the Foodgrains Bank to support its food assistance programs. In addition to providing the land, Viterra will also provide the Foodgrains Bank with a donation of $5 for each tonne of crops donated to the organization through one of its 68 grain elevators in Western Canada.

With support from the Canadian government, the Foodgrains Bank provided $41 million for 127 projects in 35 countries, benefiting over 920,000 people in 2015-16. Just over $25 million was committed for food assistance programming, $14 million for agriculture and livelihoods programming, and $2.2 million for nutrition programming.

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Funds raised from this year’s concerts will go to support people affected by conflict and natural disaster in places such as Syria and Haiti.

Common Vision builds on the success of last year’s Spring Into Song concert package, which saw 41 community and church choirs from Vancouver Island to Charlottetown raise almost $80,000 to help fund training programs for small-scale farm families in East Africa. In Alberta, concerts were held in Vulcan, Clairmont, Spruce Grove, Lethbridge, Edmonton, and Calgary.

“The feedback we received from last year’s concerts was outstanding,” said James Kornelsen, public engagement co-ordinator for the Foodgrains Bank.

Several communities who put on concerts last year have already signed up to do so again this year, he said.

“The message we heard from choirs was that a free concert package that includes not only music, but video and graphic components, and ongoing support for publicity is something that makes a lot of sense for them.”

Participating choirs are sent a customizable package that includes all music, rehearsal recordings, publicity materials, and detailed task descriptions. Further support is available through the Foodgrains Bank office. All the music is composed by Canadian composer Ron Klusmeier and is customizable according to choir size and ability.

For more information, visit foodgrainsbank.ca/campaigns/commonvision or call Tami Duff at 1-800-665-0377.

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The call was issued by Mennonite Central Committee, headquartered in Manitoba and it was farmers from that province and neighbouring Saskatchewan who donated most of the 1,442 tonnes of grain to the newly created MCC Food Bank.

“But it appears that the call for grain got as far as Alberta, with three donations between Oct. 1, 1976 (when the Foodgrains Bank started collecting donations) and Dec. 10, 1976,” said John Longhurst, the organization’s director of resources and public engagement.

But who those farmers were isn’t known, he said.

“I don’t know if we could ever find out who those folks were,” said Longhurst.

The first shipment of grain — in sacks — went to India. A few years later, MCC invited other church-related agencies to join it and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank came into being. Today it is a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies supported by farmers, urbanites, businesses, the federal government, and others from coast to coast.

Corny Petkau, 72, was involved in that first collection of grain. He remembers driving from farm to farm in southern Manitoba, sticking his augur into bins, and auguring out bushels of grain.

“I was glad to be a small part of that beginning,” he said. “We knew it was going where it was needed.”

Donating grain was also personal for Petkau, whose father emigrated from Russia in 1926.

“He was helped to get started in his new country, Canada, and he passed along to his children the message that we also needed to do whatever we could to help others.

The grain he collected was taken to a local seed plant owned by brothers Ben and Jake Friesen, where it was cleaned, processed and bagged before being loaded into a boxcar.

“When asked, we were glad to offer our services,” said Ben Friesen. “We were happy to be part of it, never realizing how big it would grow.”

This year, donations (both grain and cash) from Alberta alone topped $2.6 million. That brought the five-year total for this province to $13.7 million. Last year, there were 40 growing projects in Alberta, along with 125 in Ontario, 50 in Manitoba and 31 in Saskatchewan.

Many farmers participate in growing projects for years and even decades. That’s true for both Friesen, 78, and Petkau, who are members of growing projects in southern Manitoba.

“It’s a very worthy cause,” said Petkau. “I’m glad to see it is still going 40 years later. As long as I’m physically able, I intend to support the Foodgrains Bank.”

Foodgrains Bank communications co-ordinator Amanda Thorsteinsson is looking for photos from early growing projects in Alberta. She can be reached at athorsteinsson@foodgrainsbank.ca or 1-800-665-0377.

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The Care of Creation Garden Tour, which featured 13 gardens, was organized by the Drayton Valley United Church as a fundraiser for Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger.

“It’s that effort to contribute to a more just society, both locally and globally, that is a value of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the United Church,” said organizer Dianne Nikiforuk. “It’s fundamental to our Christian faith.”

Finding a way to do that in an Alberta oil community was a bit of a challenge.

“We have a lot more oilfields than we do farms,” Nikiforuk said with a laugh. “But we do have gardens, and wonderful ones too.”

And with that, the Care of Creation Garden Tour emerged.

Nikiforuk said they received a lot of positive feedback from the tour participants, and she hopes to make the tour an annual event.

“We made it very clear that this was not a contest,” she explains. “We wanted the gardeners to be comfortable sharing their creations, and everyone was really pleased.”

Funds were raised through the sale of tickets to participate in the tour, which included an old-style English garden, a fairy garden, and a classic vegetable garden.

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