BEAUSEJOUR, Man., – Sometimes farmers grumble that they are just growing crops for charity, but some rural youth have decided that growing crops might be the best way to do charity.
“We thought it was something that people in our area could connect to,” said 17-year-old
Nicole Stubel, a farm girl who helped produce an 80 acre field of grain for the Youth in Philanthropy group she belongs to at Edward Schreyer School.
“Because we live in such an agriculturally based area, we thought that this would be a good way to raise money.”
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The youth group hopes to raise about $10,000 from this field, while across Western Canada dozens of farm children have been working with their parents to produce one-acre plots of crop to donate to Easter Seals.
That charity hopes these mini-plots can encourage mature farmers to donate enough crop to fill 500 rail cars of crop to fund programs for children with disabilities.
“I thought it would be a good experience for me and would also help out some other kids,” said Robyn Fossay, 13, who lives on a farm near Starbuck, Man., and produced an acre of canola this summer.
The Beausejour philanthropy group managed to get all of the crop’s inputs including the land, seed, fertilizer, machinery and labour donated by local farmers and farm supply companies.
The free land for the summer was donated by the grandfather of the boy who helped organize the group, and the rural municipality forgave this year’s property taxes on the field.
Fossay and 50 other farm kids who took part in the Crops for Kids program had most of their inputs supplied by program sponsor Monsanto, while the land, most machinery and labour came from their own families.
Fossay supplied crop scouting and the harvesting labour herself. Driving the combine is something she always loves.
“It’s the best part of farming,” she said.
What does she think about her dad’s loyalty to the John Deere brand?
“Nothing’s better,” she said, before climbing up the ladder into the cab.
Laura Thomson, an 18 year old involved in the Beausejour youth philanthropy group, said she hopes their project raises money for their charity, which is the school’s endowment fund, and also makes town kids appreciate the economic value of agriculture.
“A lot of the kids aren’t as involved in farming like their families were, so this is a way to bring them back to their roots and in touch with agriculture again,” said Thomson.
