Advertisement

Southern Alberta farmers harvest wheat for charity

Click to play video: 'Southern Alberta farmers harvest wheat for charity'
Southern Alberta farmers harvest wheat for charity
WATCH ABOVE: Southern Alberta farmers are once again working together to battle world hunger by doing what they do best. Jasmine Bala has more on the Taber & District Foodgrains Project that is finally ready for harvest – Aug 20, 2019

Farmers in southern Alberta have joined forces to harvest crops for a bigger cause: ending world hunger.

“We have about 100 organizations, individuals and businesses around this area that donate inputs [and] donate their time and equipment to seed, spray and now, as you can see, harvest a crop,” said Jeremy Wind, chairman of the Taber & District Foodgrains Project.

The project donates all proceeds from selling their harvested wheat to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a charity that helps send food to families in need around the world.

“No one in the world should go hungry,” said Andre Visscher, the southern Alberta co-ordinator for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

Story continues below advertisement

“Today, there are still about 800 million people that do not have enough food. Here, we’re raising funds to be able to buy food and do agricultural development projects in countries for people who do not have enough food.”

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

It’s a cause that Visscher is extremely passionate about and he is grateful to see local producers coming together as a community to help.

“It’s great when everybody is working together, giving up their time and their money… and working for a common goal: to end hunger in this world,” he said.

WATCH BELOW: (Aug. 8) Taber hail storm forces early end to Taber Corn season

Click to play video: 'Alberta hail storm forces early end to Taber corn season'
Alberta hail storm forces early end to Taber corn season

Wind expects this year’s yield to be above average despite the Taber area facing some weather challenges. A severe hail storm earlier this month caused significant damage to popular crops like Taber corn and sugar beets.

Story continues below advertisement

“Recently, in this area, we had a hail storm,” Wind said.

“We were fortunate enough to miss this field with that. It’s been a good growing season.”

So good, in fact, that Wind is hoping to get more than 100 bushels an acre from this crop and expects to raise $100,000 this year in wheat sales.

Sponsored content

AdChoices