“There’s probably close to 100 organizations that help out in some way, shape or form,” said Jeremy Wind, the group’s chair.

“We had no challenges getting people to help out. There’s always a long list of people wanting to harvest.”

Tallying up all the money the group has raised with its growing projects and other fundraisers for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank takes time, too.

“We’re close to $20 million, including the (four-to-one) matching from the government, in our 26 years,” said Wind.

There are hundreds of growing projects across the country, including 28 in Alberta this year – many of which, like the one in Taber, have become generational affairs.

Collectively, volunteers in the province raised $2.2 million from growing projects and other community fundraisers last year (in a virtual tie with Manitoba and Ontario). Although the final tally isn’t in yet, a similar amount will be generated this year.

The Taber Foodgrains Project raised $130,000 this year by growing 135 acres of barley and selling it to local feedlots.

“The growing year was really good. We had a good crop,” said Wind, noting the amount raised will be supplemented by donations from community members, more than 200 of whom came out for a big barbecue on harvest day in mid-August.

However, because of economic pressures, the group has had a few challenges.

“The inputs were definitely higher than normal, especially fertilizer, and rent was higher than normal,” said Wind, who grows potatoes, forages and grains on his farm. “When it comes to cash donations, we’re lower than other years. We’re having an easier time getting people to come out and plant, harvest, and that kind of thing.

“When it comes to cash donations, something we normally get quite a bit of, it’s been down the past two years.”

Finding land to rent is the biggest hurdle.

“It’s getting worse because of the intensity of agriculture in this area, with commodity prices being higher,” said Wind. “It’s hard to find guys that will give up a piece of land to let us do the project.”

But the sharp rise in the price of grains, oilseeds and other crops has also made the work of groups like the Taber Foodgrains Project even more vital, said a Foodgrains Bank spokesperson. The organization, a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies, provides emergency aid and funds projects to assist farmers in developing nations.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in hunger this year,” said Christina Phillips. “We’re looking at 828 million people that are facing hunger. There are various degrees of the severity of hunger that they are facing. About 50 million people in 45 countries are teetering on the brink of famine.”

[RELATED] Manitoba Co-operator: Hunger crisis deepening, says Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Climate disasters have hit some countries on a nearly unprecedented scale in the past year.

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, the South Sudan and parts of Kenya are experiencing the worst drought in four decades. In Pakistan, summer rains that were as much as five times greater than normal left more than a tenth of the country under floodwaters for weeks, affecting more than 33 million people and killing more than one million livestock.

And the food emergency dollar doesn’t stretch as far these days.

“Food inflation prices are quite high,” said Phillips. “Some of the countries in which we work, vendors that we have worked with, can no longer guarantee prices (for food) because inflation is so severe within the short term.”

During its last fiscal year, the Foodgrains Bank provided assistance to nearly one million people in 34 countries. That work wouldn’t be possible without Canadian producers, said Phillips.

“Farmers have really been the backbone of support for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank since its inception. It was founded by farmers wanting to do something,” she said.

“Many of these growing projects, which are communities that come together, have been going on for two decades or longer. They continue to be supportive, and they continue to really work no matter what is happening in their own lives.”

That dedication and commitment also makes a difference when the organization goes to other funders, such as the federal government, which recently gave the Foodgrains Bank $14 million to provide emergency aid in the Horn of Africa.

“Our supporters have been so loyal through the years, it’s why the Canadian government chooses the Canadian Foodgrains Bank along with the integrity of the work we do,” she said.

“And when we can provide access to food in the various ways that we do, it tells people that people care for them. That is an important aspect.”

Farmers and others who support growing projects are simply generous people, she added.

“They are going to work hard for people who they may never see, but whose lives will be greatly, positively impacted because of the work they are doing.”

The post Once again, supporters of growing projects are making a difference appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Farmers and rural communities are the focus of our business, and we want to see them remain strong,” said Trish Jordan, senior business partner, government and industry affairs with Bayer’s CropScience division. “This program helps boost the incredible work being done in these critical communities. They’re the fabric of Canada and we want to do our part to help them thrive.”

Canadian farmers are encouraged to apply on behalf of agricultural societies, 4-H clubs, playgrounds, daycares, school projects, community sporting organizations, libraries and health/service groups.

However, the program isn’t just for farmers. Any local charity can participate by suggesting a charity for farmers to consider in their application.

For information on participation, visit CanadasFarmers.ca. If you’re a farmer, complete a farmer application to nominate a charitable cause or not-for-profit in your community.

If you’re not a farmer, use the “charity suggestion” option. Applicants can apply until Sept. 30. Winners will be announced this fall.

The post $165,000 available for rural-based charities appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The plots are used by farmers who volunteer their time, expertise and resources to grow crops and raise funds for Foodgrains Bank hunger response projects around the world. Some projects operate as growing projects and others are farmed by nearby volunteers who work on the extra acres as part of their operations. Once the crops are harvested, the proceeds from the sale of the crops are donated to the Foodgrains Bank.

“We’re grateful for Viterra and their sustained sponsorship over the past seven years, and with a hunger crisis gripping the world, their contribution is more necessary than ever before,” says Foodgrains Bank executive director Andy Harrington.

“We’re proud to continue our longstanding partnership with the Foodgrains Bank, and support the important work they do around the world through various food security initiatives,” said Kyle Jeworski, CEO for Viterra North America.

Viterra terminals in Stettler and Trochu in Alberta along with Viterra terminals in Balgonie, Grenfell and Raymore in Saskatchewan totalling 184 acres were seeded on behalf of the Foodgrains Bank.

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The campaign, which supports food banks and feeding programs across the country, was started by Farm Credit Canada nearly two decades ago. It’s now backed by dozens of companies.

“The food and agriculture industry remains a critical partner for Food Banks Canada in our mission to relieve hunger in Canada,” said Kirstin Beardsley, the agency’s CEO.

The organization said more than 840,000 Canadians seek help from a food bank every month, and there are more than 700 food banks in the country.

The post Drive Away Hunger food drive sets new record appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

And some produced some surprising results.

“We were very dry, but I guess we got the right rain at the right time, because the crop grew well and with record prices, it was our best return yet,” said Colin Boender, secretary for the Leduc and District Growing Project.

The group, now in its 22nd year, managed to donate $177,000 to the Foodgrains Bank this fall from the canola grown on 150 acres.

There are about 40 growing projects in Alberta, although not all of them are active every year. And since groups organizing the growing projects have until the end of the year to submit their donations, there’s not a final tally yet, said Julie Derksen, support relations manager for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

“It’s hard to say, because the ones that have reported have done well financially,” she said. “I think it’s the high commodity prices that had an impact, particularly on our projects in central Alberta.

“We have a number of projects in Leduc, Ponoka, Lacombe and even farther north, they’re doing fairly well this year.”

A lot of factors beside yields go into how much money is raised. Typically some or all of the inputs are donated and often there are other fundraisers that go along with growing and donating a crop (although the pandemic has had an effect on events like community dinners).

“We haven’t noticed a dollar value difference, but we haven’t analyzed the yields,” said Derksen. “We also keep track of how many acres and some of those informal measures and we haven’t got a full picture on that yet.”

The Leduc and District Growing Project has 17 members on its organizing committee who oversee the pro­ject from start to finish, said Boender. They rent the same field every year, with the landowner also supporting the project. Having access to the same land every year provides a lot of stability, he said.

Access to land is key to successful growing projects, said Derksen.

“Finding land is a factor because prices are going up and land is just more scarce,” she said.

The other critical ingredient is the people and their commitment, she added.

Boender agrees.

“This project happens not just because of the farmers who come together to do the actual seeding, spraying and combining,” he said.

Numerous donors from the community, including a car dealership and a parts supply company, make donations every year.

Unfortunately, the project had to forgo its annual fall fundraising dinner for the second year in a row due to COVID-19. The Leduc group kept its harvest day small, and didn’t call any media or advertise the event. About 16 combines showed up on harvest day.

“It was straightforward,” said Boender. “Everything was covered off, and the prices were double what they normally would be. We had an average crop.”

The project was one of 35 in the province that received free hail insurance from Agriculture Financial Services Corporation and inputs were covered off by donations, although the rising cost of the latter is a concern going forward.

“Next year might be a trickier year because of all the concerns with fertilizer and chemical and the concerns of getting all of these things, and the skyrocketing prices,” said Boender, adding he’s hoping the group will be able to have a fundraising dinner next year.

Derksen is hopeful that the donations this year will still be quite high.

“One of the strengths of growing projects is that they are so strongly connected to communities that even if events don’t happen, the donations to the growing pro­jects are actually quite strong,” she said.

“We’ve been watching and waiting to see what the impact is. Currently, it’s looking pretty steady for us, in terms of actual income.”

The funds raised are matched by the Canadian government on a four-to-one basis, up to a maximum of $25 million every year, with Ottawa recently renewing that arrangement for another three years.

The Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies and in its last fiscal year provided $49 million of assistance for 989,000 people in 33 countries. The aid consists of both emergency food assistance and what it calls “long-term response” efforts such as training and projects to make a local area more food secure.

(Descriptions of specific projects can be found in the Our Work section at foodgrainsbank.ca.)

The post Dry times don’t dent a bumper crop of community goodwill appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The nine-year-old organization processes locally grown vegetables, which are then dehydrated, used in soup mixes made by a sister group in B.C. and distributed by food aid organizations. (For more info, see peacecountrygleaners.ca)

“Operated entirely by volunteers, the organization was selected for its local roots and strong global impact,” BASF said in a release.

The donation will be used for equipment upgrades.

The Community Challenge allows Prairie farmers who grow InVigor canola to nominate a local organization or initiative. In addition to the grand prize, eight other groups (chosen by a random draw) received a $5,000 award. Two were from Alberta: the Glendon Minor Hockey Association in Saint Vincent and the Lyalta Community Club in Lyalta.

The post Food aid volunteer group in the Peace gets a boost appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“I thought it would be great to connect farms to food banks, and also to communities in need and to churches as well,” she said. “We started reaching out to greenhouses when we noticed a lot of farms were experiencing surplus because of restaurant closures.

“I just started to talk to food banks in Calgary and Edmonton, and heard there was an increase in demand. We wanted to connect the two with our organization.”

Zhang is one of the co-founders of Farms to Families, formally known as the FarmLink Project Canada.

“When I noticed there was a lot of food waste, I wanted to connect any food surplus to anyone experiencing food insecurity,” she said.” At the time, there was another organization doing it called Farmlink U.S. We are an independent organization (but) it was doing something similar, and it gave us guidance on how to connect with farms.”

Zhang is now studying public health at the University of Toronto, but is still continuing the project, which she and friend Tom Zhao began in May 2021.

Initially, she and Zhao cold called farms around Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and Edmonton, and picked up foods from farms and greenhouses such as Swiss Leaf Farms and Whole Leaf Farms.

“In the beginning, we partnered with a few greenhouses because it wasn’t harvesting season yet,” said Zhang. “Then we partnered with hydroponic lettuce farms, and then more greenhouses and regular farms that produce lettuce and tomatoes.”

The anecdotal reports of increased food bank use that Zhang heard are borne out by a new report from Food Banks Canada, the national organization representing about 650 food banks across the country.

Despite Ottawa’s unprecedented pandemic support for low-income Canadians, the number of visits to food banks grew by 20 per cent this year compared to 2019, the organization’s latest HungerCount report says. There were 1.3 million visits to food banks nationwide in March of this year, with about nine per cent of those in Alberta (116,000 during the month).

That’s an increase of nearly 30 per cent, and the number of children receiving food is also higher in Alberta than nationally (39 per cent here versus 33 per cent across the country).

“It’s staggering to see these numbers in Alberta, but not surprising with how hard hit the province was largely due to the pandemic,” Food Banks Alberta interim CEO Arianna Scott said in a release.

There are more than 100 food banks in the province.

“Our member food banks across Alberta have all been reporting a surge in food bank access, which includes a new population of Albertans accessing their local food bank largely due to increases in rental or housing costs, increased food costs, unemployment and other pandemic-related circumstances,” said Scott.

That ongoing need continues to drive Farms to Families, which now has about 15 student volunteers, mainly from McMaster University in Hamilton. The students raise awareness through social media, and contact farms and food banks.

“We began reaching out to farms in Alberta, and eventually expanded to Ontario,” said Zhang. “We’re continuing to build more farm connections. We definitely have more than when we first started. We’re hoping to work with farms weekly or monthly. We do a few deliveries here and there, but we definitely want to do more constant deliveries.”

The students contact the farms and connect their owners with food banks and community organizations that may need food or fresh produce.

The goal is to expand to other parts of the country.

“We’re cold calling farms in other provinces just to see if any farms are interested,” she said.

To date, the group has delivered about 40,000 pounds of food to food banks.

And there’s an opportunity to do more, said Zhang.

“When farms experience surplus, we didn’t want to see it go to waste. So we wanted to make it easier for them to donate their food to any food agency that we could help connect them with to make the process easier for them.

“We also hope to empower students in reducing food waste and help individuals who may face a barrier to accessing nutritious food and make access easier for them.”

The group is still looking for farmers who may be interested in donating produce. Interested parties can learn more at www.farmstofamiliescanada.org. — With staff files

The post Small but mighty student group bridging gap between food banks and farms appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

“Food banks have told us how Drive Away Hunger has transformed their ability to feed hungry families and we think we can do even more to help,” said FCC president and CEO Michael Hoffort.

Along with raising money and food for Canadian food banks, FCC is once again contributing a total of $200,000 in support of food programs offered at 200 schools selected by FCC offices across Canada based on need.

Half of that contribution will be directed towards schools that serve Indigenous children, as part of the federal Crown corporation’s reconciliation efforts. Each school is receiving $1,000 in support of their feeding program.

Cash and food donations can be made online at driveawayhunger.ca. 

The post Farm Credit Canada plans 20 million meals appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

Farmers who have grown InVigor hybrid canola can nominate an organization and must either say how the organization made a difference in their community or “share their BASF success story.”

Details and the online entry can be found at agsolutions.ca/invigorcommunity. Three Alberta organizations received $5,000 last year. 

The post ‘Community Challenge’ helping community groups appeared first on Alberta Farmer Express.

The 10-year-old program, which gives farmers a chance to help their favourite community charity or not-for-profit receive a $2,500 grant, is now accepting applications. Two grants are given out in each of the country’s 33 grain-growing regions each year — for a total of $165,000. Nine of those regions are in Alberta. 

Over the past decade, hundreds of groups have received grants, including ag societies, 4-H clubs, daycares, schools, sporting organizations, and libraries. 

To apply for the program (which is operated by the Bayer Fund, the philanthropic arm of Bayer), go to canadasfarmers.ca. Farmers can only submit one entry, but multiple farmers can complete an entry for the same charity or project. 

Applications can be made until Sept. 30, with winners chosen by a random draw. 

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