A farmer near Haywood, Man., south of Portage la Prairie, is offering the public a designated place for sunflower photo opportunities, for a good cause.
“I noticed there was quite a few people stopping taking pictures and I’ve heard that other farmers were having issues with people coming in their fields and damaging (crops),” JP LeFloch told Global News.
LeFloch said he had a friend who farms near MacGregor, Man., who previously set up a sunflower selfie station in support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. LeFloch decided to do something similar for a cause that’s close to his heart after a life-changing accident four years ago.
“I had an injury and I got the chance of STARS to pick me up and bring me to the hospital so I just wanted to pay it forward and raise some money for STARS,” he said.
In December 2020, LeFloch was chainsawing trees on the farm when one of the trees unexpectedly spun around and pinned him. He says he was eventually found by his father and rushed to hospital in Portage la Prairie, and then flown to Winnipeg by STARS Air Ambulance.
Visitors at the sunflower photo site, located along Highway 2, can donate to STARS through a donation box or by scanning a QR code.
Farmers reminding public to stay out of fields
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Unless there’s a designated photo area like in LeFloch’s field, many Manitoba farmers are reminding selfie-seekers to stay off their fields.
“When people are respectful and don’t damage anything it’s not a big deal,” farmer Lee Oatway said. “But unfortunately we’ve had situations in the past where we’ve had significant damage. And it’s troublesome for us because it’s a lot of effort put into this crop – it’s our livelihood – it’s how we support our families and run our business.”
Oatway says he and other farmers have had areas of their fields flattened by photo-taking passers-by, and sunflowers have been removed from fields altogether.
“The damage can be pretty frustrating because of the effort put in. When you come to a field and you see that someone has trampled over a bunch of your crop or taken a significant amount of sunflowers out of your field, it can be pretty disconcerting.”
Aside from potential crop damage, Oatway says there can also be risks to those entering a farmer’s field.
“There’s also some safety issues for people going in … we may have sprayed a herbicide on a crop,” he said. “And there’s label-suggested timeframes when you should enter and not enter a field after a herbicide application. So if you don’t know, it could be hours beforehand and you could be putting yourself at risk.”
Morgan Cott, an agronomy extension specialist with the Manitoba Crop Alliance, says a little damage in a sunflower field can go a long way.
“(With) sunflowers, you don’t have a high plant population, so knocking a plant is a big deal,” Cott told Global News.
“There’s about a third less plants in sunflowers than there would be in corn, for example. So it’s a big deal if you’re knocking over just a few plants. A little does a lot.”
Cott also says it comes down to people trespassing on private land.
“(Crop Alliance specialists are) here because we have permission,” she said. “We’re not doing this without the farmers’ permission. Every time I enter a field, I have permission and technically, it’s not legal to just walk in someone’s field.”
Deermeadow Farms offering sunflower experience
Deermeadow Farms, in the rural municipality of Springfield just east of Winnipeg, is offering another alternative for those wishing to take the perfect summer snap in the sunflower bloom.
The farm’s ‘sunflower experience’ starts on Friday and runs for about two weeks, or until the bloom is over.
“Sunflowers is a thing, everybody is jumping into random fields, taking pictures, doing selfies,” Deermeadow Farms owner Vince Rattai said. “So we said, ‘We’ll just grow our own and we’ll make it an experience.'”
The sunflower experience offers several events throughout the two weeks, including paint nights, wine tasting and yoga among the sunflowers.
Having the dedicated field keeps people out of other farmers’ fields, and gives people a place to do more than snap selfies. “Being able to relax, slow everything down, let go of some stress and just enjoy some sunflowers,” Rattai said.