A Lethbridge-based custom-harvest and farm operation has donated $100,000 to Lethbridge College to augment heavy equipment mechanics training.
Taylor Harvesting will have its name on a heavy equipment bay in the college’s new trades and technologies facility in acknowledgement of the donation, which was announced by the college Oct. 7.
Taylor Harvesting Ltd. founder Ray Taylor and his son, Darren, are both alumni of Lethbridge College and support the institution’s agricultural instruction.
“The college provided us with the skill set we needed to succeed in our industry of choice and it’s our turn to give something back,” said Taylor in a news release about the donation.
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Taylor Harvesting began in 1980 and over the years Ray, his wife Faye and children Darren and Tara, grew the business to a peak of combining 32,000 acres of owned and rented land, much of it on southern Alberta’s Blood reserve.
Now Darren Taylor and his wife, Kimberley, run the business called Darren Taylor Harvesting, and also operate DRT Farms. They focus their custom combining operations in southern Alberta and farm 3,000 acres of grains and oilseeds.
A third generation of Taylors will be connected to the college later this month when Braden Taylor, Ray’s grandson, starts a heavy equipment apprenticeship program.
