saskatchewan

Dear Sask Roughriders, don’t you want me as a fan anymore??

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It rained a lot last week. And when it rains here on the ranch, it means we typically have a little more time for TV watching. This also also happened to be the week that A&W Canada launched their latest commercial – one that is breaking all the parts of my heart – the beef producer section as well as the sports fan section.

Like everyone growing up in Saskatchewan, we bleed green around here. The Saskatchewan Roughriders are our team, through and through. In good years and in bad years, we have loyally cheered them on, and loved every second of it. In fact, one of our very first dates as a young couple was at a Rider game.

But this week, the sight of the Rider symbol is making me clench my teeth in frustration. Something I never thought could happen.

Weeks ago I knew that A&W was at a game filming. This was sad enough to me, knowing that as a company, they have chosen to promote fear over science in their food. As a Canadian beef producer, I have spoke frequently about their decision to source the majority of their beef from far away countries, rather than from here in Canada, where some of the best beef in the world is raised. But I was not prepared for that very A&W commercial to showcase something far worse than imported beef that they can stamp some scientifically dubious labels on – because let’s face it – all beef is good beef, even if I don’t love the intentions behind the label.

No, this commercial is far worse than I had braced myself for. It’s for the Beyond Meat burger, and for so many reasons, is a direct slam to the hard working, dedicated, honest, beef producers in Saskatchewan. The very people buying Roughrider tickets.

Now, let me set one thing straight, I am all for a good veggie burger. For those who cannot, or chose not, to eat meat, a veggie burger is an awesome option. We are blessed here in Saskatchewan to have almost unlimited food choices, and plant based protein is a great option. Our farms here also grow amazing pulse crops, which (in theory), could be made into plant based burger patties. Options are awesome. I think that plant based proteins are the special teams of our diet here (to keep with the football theme).

But the Beyond Meat burger is a different story. It is no surprise to me that A&W and Beyond Meat teamed up so quickly. They are both dedicated to marketing based on “fear the other” rather than promoting their own merits, and to top it off, Beyond Meat doesn’t even help out our pulse producers here in Saskatchewan. Their patties are made in a USA factory, using their own ingredients. As for our beef producers here – Beyond Meat has made it their mission to smear beef production. To slander the way cattle are raised. To paint the people (like myself and my family) as those who care little for the environment, and are willfully destroying it.

For the Saskatchewan Roughriders to play a part in this narrative is breaking my ranching heart.

I cannot begin to count the dollars that this ranch has spent on Roughrider tickets. The thousands spent over the years on merchandise. The fact that we are raising the next generation of Roughrider fans, who also happen to be young beef producers in their own right.

For the past week, as that commercial played, I had to turn the channel. I can’t watch. But yet I have never left a Rider game early.

So, with all of this, I have a couple questions for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Do you value me as a fan? As a customer? Are you comfortable with telling people that what I do, in raising beef, is bad? What is next? A smear commercial on the oil and gas industry? Would you lend your logo to that?

I believe that Saskatchewan Beef Producers are noble people. They care about the animals, the land and the earth. They are focused every single day on raising the best food possible for their own families as well as the world. But now I wonder – do the Saskatchewan Roughriders feel the same? Today, I don’t believe they do.

This Is What Farm Stress Looks Like.

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This is what farm stress looks like for us. An empty feedyard amidst a grass and forage production crisis.

This spring has been unlike any other in our decades of farming. Drought combined with late, hard frosts, has resulted in almost no grass and forage growth across the ranch.

We have had farming seasons before that turned us upside down. We have survived BSE – when a sick animal from a different farm in a difference province cause the bottom to fall out of the beef market – and the value of every animal on our farm dropped to pennies. We survived the early 2004 frost, when every acre of our grain farm froze in the fields. Those moments will be forever etched in our minds, as they will for many of our fellow farmers. We have survived floods, a lightning strike to our cattle herd, trade wars and more. We know and understand farm stress as well as anyone.

But this spring is different. Our ranch is built around forage production. Over the years, that has ranged from high to low, and everywhere in between, but we have NEVER experienced zero production, and it is weighing heavy on our shoulders.

More than the financial hit we are taking, more than the uncertainty of what the best course forward is, there is such a weight of responsibility on us. The responsibility of having living, breathing animals relying on our decisions is immense. Crushing. We need to know that we have enough feed to nourish the animals in our care for not only the summer, but also the looming winter months as well.

We are already selling off animals, so they can be shipped out of province to parts of the country that still have feed. While it hurts to sell at a financial loss, moving those animals off the farm will free up what little feed we have for the animals that are left.

So we will make the best decisions that we can. We will remind ourselves that the struggles of our past have made us better farmers. We will knuckle down and pray for rain. We will look for ways to manage our stress as best we can. But – that pit in our stomach, the strained smile on our faces, the sleepless nights and the grouchy attitudes – those will be with us for a while. This is what farm stress looks like.

A Mother Allows Her Children To Walk Into A GMO Field Sprayed With Glyphosate. You’ll Never Guess What Happened Next. 

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It was a beautiful summer day, the perfect day for a family road trip to the lake cabin. A mother and her two children had packed the car, and hit the road for a weekend of fun. Along the way, they stopped on a quiet country road to picnic beside a field of beautiful yellow flowers. They snacked and frolicked without a care in the world. 

For those of you who know about Canadian agriculture, you will know that these yellow flowers are a crop called Canola, grown for it’s oil, much of which is GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), and sprayed with Glyphosate. 

So, as the children played, and smelled the beautiful flowers, and their mother looked on, what happened? 


Well, the simple answer is – absolutely nothing. 

You see, as a farmer herself, the mother understood that GMO plants held no risk to her children. Her university education and science background taught her that a field previously sprayed with Glyphosate held no more toxicity for her children than a field sprayed with salt water, which actually has a higher toxicity level. 

That mother knew that Glyphosate and GMO are scary sounding words, but science and research hold far more weight than any fearful scare tactic or headline she may see online. 

That mother, who loves her children more than anything on this planet, allowed them to smell those flowers with confidence in agriculture, confidence in science, and confidence in the farmer responsible for that particular field.

I am that mother. Those are my children. And I am thankful every single day for the science that allows farmers to grow bountiful, nutritious and delicious food that I can feed my children. 

Important Note: Never, ever enter a farmers field without permission. Not only are the crops in those fields their livelihoods, but only the farmer can tell you if it is safe to be in that particular field at that particular time. 

We Are All Broncos

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Yesterday, our small Saskatchewan world was rocked by the news of the kind of horrific accident that every parent fears on some level. 

A bus filled with an exuberant, not to mention talented, hockey team of 16 to 21 year old young men was in a terrible accident on route to what was meant to be an exciting and jubilant playoff hockey game. 

Just shy of their destination, on a crossroads not too far from my home farm, fate intervened and 15 lives were suddenly and tragically lost forever. The 14 surviving boys were each rocked with significant and critical injuries. 

As the news spread, the collective hearts of Saskatchewan broke as though they were one. 

For the past 24 hours, I, and everyone I know, have been unable to think of anything else. Whether or not we had a personal connection to those on that bus, it and it’s precious cargo have not strayed from our thoughts. 

Saskatchewan may be large geographically, but our population is not. We are one big small town at heart. A neighbor’s loss is our loss. When a neighbour greives, we greive. But this loss is more. This loss is deeper. This loss has rocked each of us to our core. 

You see, those boys were so much more than hockey players. They were heroes. 

As a proud hockey mom, I have spent countless hours watching my son’s passion and dedication to the sport grow. I’ve watched him spend hours on end perfecting his shot in the basement net, and drove miles and miles to cheer him on at games. I have watched him examine every move that his favourite junior hockey player makes, and then emulate those same moves on repeat, until he has them perfected. Those junior hockey player heroes, were some of those lost yesterday. 

As that bus pulled out of Humboldt for the final time yesterday, in Saskatchewan  there was not a minor hockey player that hasn’t dreamt of being on that bus. These young men and their dedicated coaches were living the lives that my son and his own teammates dream of every single night. They were hockey heroes. 

Those who’s lives were lost were in the prime of their lives. From the 20 year old team captain, Logan Schatz, to the 16 year old rookie, Adam Herold, who was called up to play in this important game, these young men were examples of great leadership in their community. To learn more about each of them, see more here. 

Anyone who has had the fortune of being a part of a hockey team, either as a player, parent or coach, knows that your team becomes your family. Your teammates are your siblings, their parents your defacto parents. This knowledge only makes the heartbreak that much deeper for those who survived. They and every family involved with the Humboldt Broncos all lost so, so much. Too much. 

As our tears fall, and our province and our entire country pull together in this time of great sadness, I keep a beautiful picture in my mind. I have a picture of those boys on the most perfect sheet of ice, skates laced, taking shots with legend Gordie Howe, under the watchful eye of their caring coaches. I can almost hear the tinkle of laughter floating across the ice…. 

May your shots be bar down forever. 

Please, please – take a moment and donate to the Go Fund Me page supporting the families of this tragedy.

Why You Need To Care About The Sask Party Leadership Race (And What To Do About It)

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If you live in Saskatchewan, I am sure you have heard the news that our Premier, Brad Wall, has announced his impending retirement, and the search is on for the new leader of the Saskatchewan Party. 

I don’t know about you, and perhaps it’s a result of my age, but I have never taken an active part in party (any political party) politics before. I’ve always seen party leadership races as something for the super engaged politico’s to deal with. Something for “those in the know” to decide. 

This leadership race is very, very different. This leadership race is unlike any other in modern Saskatchewan history. You see, our vote in the Saskatchewan Party leadership race is not only deciding the future leader of the party. It is not only deciding the face of one single party. THIS leadership race, this party election, will determine Saskatchewan’s next Premier. So, for Saskatchewanians, whether you vote in this race or not, whether you feel “in the know” or have been watching with slight, side eye interest, the results of this election WILL be the leader of not only the Saskatchewan Party, but also of our entire province. When you realize this, you will also realize just how important it is to have your say, insert your influence, by taking the opportunity to vote. 

So how do you vote? 

The only requirement to voting is very simple – purchase a membership to the Saskatchewan Party. This is not a life long commitment, you are not signing away your first born child, or even committing a vote for their party in the next general election. To have your say in who our next Premier is, all you need is a simple $10 membership. But here is the kicker – YOU NEED TO PURCHASE YOUR MEMBERSHIP BEFORE DECEMBER 8th!!! 

How to buy a membership? It’s easy!! Click right HERE, and it will take you right to the page on the Saskatchewan Party’s website where you can purchase one. 

Another little known tidbit – your kids can vote too!! There are Youth Memberships available for people aged 14–18, and their memberships are only $5. 

Then what? 

Voting will happen later in January. A ballot will be sent to your mailing address for you to fill out and send back to the party. It is not the same as a general election. In this case, you get to vote for more than one candidate. This is a preferential ballot – where you not only get to choose your top choice, but also your second, third, and fourth, choice (and so on), if you so choose. 

I have been very vocal in my support of Alanna Koch. She is someone who has inspired me for many years. Not only is she a strong, fiscal conservative, but she also brings balance to the equation. She understands that the reason we need a strong, vibrant business and investment friendly province, is to provide the backing for equally vibrant and efficient social service sectors, which allow the people of Saskatchewan to have the comfortable standard of living that we deserve. 

Having worked with Alanna in the past, she is someone who seeks to understand. Long before this leadership race, she made a point of touring our ranch in order to learn more about parts of agriculture she wasn’t as close to. She wanted to know more, and that is something you don’t often see outside of a leadership or political race. 

Alanna is a solutions based leader. In her work as Deputy Minister of Agriculture, as well as Deputy Minister to the Premier, she is someone who finds solutions, and will forge a path forward once the right solution is found. In short, she is an inspiration and, I believe, the right person to be our next Premier. 

I encourage you to have a look at each of the candidates, see who speaks to you, and buy a membership. Again, if you do not have a memebership by December 8th, you will not have a say in our next Premier. This may just be your most important purchase in December….

Balancing Leadership in Agriculture Requires Many Solutions

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Recently an Agriculture Commentator, Kevin Hursh, from right here in Saskatchewan, sparked a heated debate with a tweet commenting on what women need to do in agriculture. 

The quote he tweeted about was from Jen Christie, a respected woman in Ontario Agriculture. She was speaking at an event by Chatelaine Magazine, and was explaining the dynamics of board leadership in agriculture. 

This same tweet prompted a great discussion between myself and my husband. Aaron sits on many boards. He was asked to sit on every one of them them by experienced board members and executives. We listed off many of the (male) board members that we know. They were all asked to sit on boards. The local director for our Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association was first asked to run for that board. I have never been asked to sit on a board. The very long list of my confident, accomplished female friends have never been asked to sit on boards. This was a pretty simple light bulb moment for both of us. Board members need to be aware and look for great future board members of BOTH genders. It was a great discussion, one that Mr. Hursh did not seem to find in that quote. 

After receiving many questions and objections on Twitter, he then continued expanding on this opinion in a piece for a mainstream newspaper. Read it here. 

Over the course of the past week, I have written, then deleted, a snarky tweet response to Mr. Hursh at least a dozen times. I believed that a public spat over Twitter would do little good for myself, women in agriculture, or the industry as a whole. But upon reading his very public expansion, using terms such as victim mentality, I could no longer remain quiet. 

Since Kevin is (very obviously) not a woman in agriculture, I though that perhaps he could benefit from some context of what being a woman in today’s Ag industry actually looks like. Allow me to share some stories. 

A woman is told that the retail she is managing will quickly go to hell with a woman running the place – they would have been better with a toddler manager. The three other men in the office laugh and laugh, and comment that perhaps she best run the fertilizer blender in a skirt and heels. In the best interest of keeping the customers happy, of course. 

A man quietly walks (sneaks?) into a woman’s office while her back is turned to the door. He grabs her shoulders and proceeds to move his hands towards her chest. He is surprised at her anger, and makes comments about her need to “keep her customers happy” and to “not make trouble.”.

A woman is demoted for taking the standard maternity leave that the law affords her. With no warning and no discussion she is moved from a sales rep to a junior associate. 

A woman is at a commodity group meeting. She is told by three different men how odd it is that she is at the meeting instead of her husband. Would she not have been better off caring for the children so that he could be there? 

Do you think that these are isolated occurrences? Are these old school instances that no longer happen? Well, let me fill you in on a little secret. They were all me. Every single one. I am a woman in agriculture, and, at under forty, a fairly young one at that. That last example? It was last week. 

Now, perhaps you will think that by sharing these stories, I am falling into the “victim mentality” that Kevin referred to. I almost wish he had experienced a close up of his posterior posted on Ag Twitter to be examined and measured, as did a horrified young female summer student I spoke with last year. Perhaps he would understand that the hesitation to step up often has nothing to do with “victim mentality.”

The truth is that I have never spoken of these before. I have not complained or tattled, whined or whinged. I took each incidence for what it was, and made sure to make the best of each one. Sometimes you can laugh it off. Sometimes a fuss must be made. 

I know that I am not alone in these experiences. Just as I know that they have not ceased to occur. These instances, and my response to them, are experiences that I can share with younger women. Women who may not have my confidence, or my network to fall back on. 

Of Kevin’s opinion piece, I can point out some glaring mistakes. He did not get pulled into this discussion. He inserted himself into it, after reading a single tweet that he had no context behind. His generalization that “many women just aren’t interested in rural municipal politics or one of the many crop commissions” is pretty far off base, in my slightly more expert opinion. The women that I talk to are very interested. They are struggling to see the path onto many of these boards, for a multitude of reasons. 

I had the confidence to tell the grey hairs that I deserved to attend our regional meeting. I can only imagine their shock if I ran for a position. Fear of failure is not a reason to hold back, but it is a wall that needs to be climbed in order to move forward. Climbing such walls takes time, and an incredible amount of confidence. Kevin believes that these barriers are based on perception not reality, yet they still seem to leave a mark when we run ourselves into them. 

Mr. Hursh, I would like to believe that your intention was to inspire women to step up, rather than to tear down events and organizations that many women see value in, but let me assure you, that message was lost in your condescension. 

So here I am, as a confident, competent woman in agriculture, telling you, Kevin Hursh, that you do not get to tell me what it is that I need. There are many areas that I could learn from you and your valuable experience, but the struggles of being a woman is not one of them. 

Women and their personal experiences are as diverse as this amazing industry is. There is no one right answer in creating more balanced leadership. What does not help is bashing options. I, myself, have not attended many women focussed Ag events, but I would never belittle them as an option for those who seek their value. 

It is in the best interest of agriculture as a whole, for our boards and commissions to be diverse in both opinions and gender. It is a problem that they are currently not. Many issues require many solutions, but let’s all try to be part of the solution rather than the grey haired problem. 

#OurFoodHasAStory Post 31 Clinton Monchuk: My Food Story Is Also The Story Of Me

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It is the final day of Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan, but I ask each of you to continue to share your food stories throughout the year. This is something that I am sure today’s guest post author, Clinton Monchuk, would agree with. You see, beyond farming, Clinton also heads another of my favourite organizations, Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan. This is an organization devoted to helping consumers navigate through the multitude of food options by bringing them one step closer to the farmers who produced the food, and bridging that gap.

Follow Clinton on Twitter @cgmonch or Farm and Food Care SK @FarmFoodCareSK and visit their website here.  

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My Food Story

When I consider the many blessings this beautiful country of Canada has provided for my family and me, I feel it would be short sighted to not remember our past and how my food story has been formed. Similar to many prairie beginnings, the story of me is also my food story.My food story started at the end of WW1 when a young prisoner of war, my grandfather, left Eastern Europe in his early 20s in search of a peaceful country where food would be abundant. Canada’s promise of “utopia” still included its challenges. Although there was a lot of land, much of it had to be cleared of trees and broke to be made suitable for farming. I try to picture myself and my family breaking land in scorching heat of our summers with the labour done by hand. It is hard for me to imagine producing food for my family and others under the same conditions that he would have done it. Yet, he raised a family on 160 acres, which is roughly what I can plant now in 5 hours.


Sometimes we romanticize food production of the past and it’s simplicities but fail to recognize the difficulties. When there were crop failures from drought or early frost, the ability to support a farm family disappeared. This resulted in malnourishment, higher infant mortality rates and family members being more susceptible to disease. This concept is so far removed from our generation that it seems like a physical impossibility, yet it happened. One only has to read the book, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck to make an emotional connection to the hardships that occurred with farm families during this time.


My father took over the farm when he was 17 years old, after my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. As a young man he could identify the need to move forward and expand as other smaller farms were already falling by the wayside. Through the years not only did he and my mother raise six children, but they also expanded their land base, built a large scale dairy operation, increased their beef herd and dabbled in selling fresh fruits and vegetables. I remember numerous times being late to sporting events and family suppers as a result of a cow calving, taking her well-being and the well-being of the calf over the importance of whatever we were to attend. I can also appreciate the progression of grain farming from cab-less tractors and combines, to the comforts of cabs. I still have phantom scratches as I combine malting barley thinking of how my father would have had that chaff blowing around his face.

Growing up in agriculture allowed me to appreciate the sweat of the spring and summer, while reaping the rewards of harvest. The vegetable growing season was a busy time tending to the garden after the cows were milked by picking weeds and potatoes bugs, hoeing, hilling and the back-aching task of harvesting it all. But we also enjoyed all this fresh produce as a family. Some of my greatest memories of meal time are eating thick, juicy home-grown BBQ steaks with fresh potatoes smothered in cream and dill sauce, fresh lettuce picked an hour before supper, then topped off with fresh strawberries and cream with a touch of sugar. Hard to not read that and lick your lips!  


Fast forward to today and my food story continues. My brother and I are now in the process of taking over the family farm and our children and spouses are involved in the process. Our kids ride with us in the tractors and combines so they too can feel the appreciation of growing food. Gone are the days of cab-less tractors or combines, but producing food for our family and thousands of others is still in our blood.  


For me, my food story is the feeling of planting a crop, working with family, watching a calf being born, picking a fresh strawberry or smelling the settling dust during harvest, and it’s that feeling where I want my children’s food story to start.

 

#OurFoodHasAStory Post 30 Jordan Hamilton:Busy Family Making Food A Priority 

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Day 30 of Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan brings us a guest post from a very special friend of mine. Jordan Hamilton has been in my life since I was born. From school friends and teammates, to university roommates, we have always been close, no matter the distance that separates us. She gently urged me (ok, downright nagged me) to join social media, and later to start this very blog. I always love her perspective as a “city mom”, even though her roots are rural like my own. Enjoy her post on balancing a busy, commuting family and placing priority on good food and family meals. 
Follow Jordan on Twitter @jmhammy and check out her blog, Just Jordan, here.

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My story starts in Tisdale, a farming community in NE Saskatchewan. My great grandparents were farmers, as were my grandparents, and all 3 of my dad’s siblings. My dad owns and operates Fritshaw Meats, but still managed to farm a few years while I was growing up. My husband’s family has a similar history. His grandparents and parents farmed. Even as I think about our roots, I feel a swell of pride for what our families have accomplished and provided for this province.

Not surprisingly, because of my dad’s business, we ate a lot of meat growing up. And I wasn’t a big fan. In fact, I was known to push meat around my plate and a number of times even complained at the lake, “Steak AGAIN?” Not that you should ever complain about steak, but these ones in particular were always NY strips or tenderloin. I honestly had no idea at the time the price of all the food we ate and the fact that very few families would have eaten the plentiful choice cuts of meat that my family ate.

I grew up with 2 full time working parents. We didn’t eat out and we always ate at the table as a family. I know there were times when my dad would eat with my brother and I, because my mom and sister had quickly eaten before her gymnastics, but my parents created a real sense of family with us by treating meal time as family time that my husband Hugh and I hope replicate with our three yahoos.

My husband, Hugh, and I are also full time working parents. One additional factor that we have compared to our parents is our commute to work. We spend approximately an hour of our day in our vehicles. We also have a Saskatoon Blade living with us and have to factor his 19 year old appetite and cereal consumption into our meal planning.


Breakfast

I don’t eat breakfast. GASP. I know. It’s terrible. I just love my coffee. With a lot of creamer. And I typically don’t get hungry until mid-morning when I have a piece of fruit. Hugh is the same. Double GASP.

The kids LOVE cereal and we go through a lot of milk. And I’m pretty sure most days that’s all our billet eats until we get home :-). Hugh is the king of breakfast and so the kids often get pancakes or eggs during the week and if they request it, and waffles on the weekend.

Lunch

Hugh and I take a salad to work every day. These get made up on Sunday night. I take real pride in cooking homemade items for my family, but I have found that pre-made salads have really become my friend during the week to mix things up a bit. A person can only eat so many tossed salads.


Calder likes salads at school along with soup or noodles packed in his thermos. He will occasionally take a sandwich or ham dip and crackers. A new one for us this year is that he can’t take oranges to school. Apparently, a teacher has an allergy. I am finding this a bit frustrating. Oranges are so easy to take for him. They don’t get bruised like a banana or take too long to eat like an apple (so Calder tells me).

I always have muffins in our freezer to throw in our school bags and our weekly shopping trip always includes apples and bananas for Hugh and I to pack.

Supper:


Our freezer is packed with pre-made meals we put together on the weekends. Chicken bruschetta, a multitude of casseroles, lasagnes, cooked meatballs and ground beef, chicken pot pies, chili, marinated cuts of meat, beef stroganoff, shepherd’s pie, and fajita mix to name a few. What we cook each day depends on the amount of time we have. Eat and go days we rely on casseroles, one pot slow-cooker meals, or some well timed leftovers. Days when we have a bit of time to prep before our 5:30 meal time, we will often eat a protein with rice or pasta. We save those heavy prep meals, like roasts, ribs, and homemade pizza, for the weekend.


We also eat a salad most days at supper. Our billet and kids LOVE them, so they are an easy way to make the kids happy!

Things our food story definitely requires:

  1. Timer on our oven and delay start outlet we plug our slow cooker into.
  2. Costco’s large package of pre-washed romaine.
  3. Rice cooker
  4. 2 freezers (one stand-up and a medium sized chest)
  5. 2 fridges (one in the garage is great for beer, lunches, and garden veggies)

We also couldn’t live without online shopping. I have yet to use Superstore’s Click and Collect, but purchase all our dry goods from Walmart.ca. All items are identically prices as in store and they ship for free right to our door.  We have storage in the basement and I have a backup of everything. I hate running out and also hate going to the grocery store more than once a week.


Lastly, our garden is a big part of our lives. We devour fresh veggies in the summer and fall and enjoy salsa, spaghetti sauce, and pickles all winter long. These pictures are from last year. We now have a cement pad where the gravel is. Our kids love shooting pucks and riding bikes there in the summer and Hugh takes some serious pride in his rink in the winter.


I take full advantage of our limited space. When the bobcat came to dig out our rink, we had her put garden soil behind our fence in the back alley!

And that’s our food story.

#OurFoodHasAStory Post 19 Brad Wildeman: Times Are Changing; And Mostly For The Good

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Today, day 19 of Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan, brings us a guest post from a cattleman we can all learn from, Brad Wildeman. He has been heavily involved in shaping the agriculture and cattle industry in Saskatchewan. He has also been the head of a very successful, integrated feedlot and ethanol plant, PoundMaker Ag Ventures. Brad could be (and is by many) called a visionary in Ag. So it’s wonderful to see so much of his vision written in this post. Enjoy!! 

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I have been privileged to be involved in agriculture, and particularly in the cattle industry, almost all my life. Over the years, I have seen many changes and for the most part they have been positive even though change is sometimes hard to accept or embrace.
The adoption of new farming practises and harnessing the potential of new technological tools has improved yields, financial returns and increased the health of the land. Gone are the days of the prairie duststorms caused by over tillage. Capturing and conserving the moisture from fall and winter precipitation through minimum or no-till farming has allowed for good yields even on dry years that in the past would have resulted in crop failure. New cropping options, improved varieties, and the precise use of fertilizers and crop protection products have all been very positive improvements to farming practises.

Those improvements haven’t been limited just to grain based agriculture. New methods of grass management, utilizing new winter feeding regimes, and better cattle genetics has increased the productivity and financial returns of the cattle industry as well. Improvement in animal health products and the increased adoption of preventative vaccination programs has reduced morbidity and mortality within the herd. And although we haven’t harnessed all the opportunities available through adopting new technology yet, I see progress being made every day.

Perhaps the biggest change I see is the effort by the cattle industry to implement programs and procedures that allow us to promote our products as safer, more sustainable, and more accountable to our consumers. The demands of the consumer for transparency and accountability, and advocating the benefits that a healthy cattle industry can provide to everyone is a critical component of continuing to make a living in this industry. Our efforts in traceability, adoption of animal care standards, our participation in sustainability roundtables, the implementation of the Verified Beef programs, and the creation of Cattle Young Leaders and other mentorship initiatives that are training new advocates to communicate with consumers at their level of understanding and concern are all very positive steps. Organizations like Farm and Food Care are important avenues to creating and maintain this connection to consumers who don’t understand our business and make judgments on what they may see or hear on social media.

Social license and sustainability are the new drivers that will shape how we do business in the future. Just doing the right thing isn’t good enough unless we can prove accountability. Then taking this message to the masses is critical to changing the paradigm of modern day agriculture from the “factory farm and profit at all cost” vision to that of a socially and environmentally sensitive industry that is committed to feed an ever increasing population while preserving, and potentially enhancing, our impact on the planet.

These are tough goals but I believe we are on a winning strategy and I applaud the efforts of all those involved. It has brought out a passion for our industry that encourages optimism for the future. The key is to sustain this momentum as the stakes are high.

#OurFoodHasAStory Post 18 Kris Cherewyk – Agriculture: Through Many People’s Strength

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Our guest author for day 18 of Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan is Kris Cherewyk of Norquay, Sask. Kris is an agronomist, farmer, and works with Seed Hawk. I absolutely love his post. Careers in agriculture, the passion of farm families, and the sense of community that comes with living in a small town – I can relate to, and appreciate all of these amazing attributes of agriculture and food production in Saskatchewn. Enjoy!!

Follow Kris on Twitter @SeedHawkKris

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The agriculture industry has traditionally been called the lifeblood of the western Canadian prairies. Even though other sectors such as mining and oil and gas contribute more towards the provincial economy these days, it is agriculture that has the greatest impact in terms of community and way of life. With Ag Month in full swing, many stories will be told about topics such as the innovation of agriculture and the evolution of the industry itself. Perhaps the most important story, however, comes from one constant through all the years and that is the passion for the business of the people themselves. Whether it’s farmers putting in the time and effort to plant the seeds of hope in the spring, lab tech’s conducting research experiments or grain elevator personnel unloading super B’s, it’s this commitment and dedication to agriculture that produces the effort which feeds a growing society year after year.

When people who aren’t typically exposed to the world of agriculture are asked about people involved in agriculture, they typically think of farmers in their fields. The fact of the matter is, jobs in agriculture are as diverse as the grain and livestock that is produced. One in eight Canadian jobs are of agriculture employment which equals to roughly 2.1 million people (source: AgCareers.com). The range of careers that the agriculture industry features is enormous; including positions in research, labor, sales, manufacturing, processing, logistics and management. Obviously, different positions will command varying salaries and require different amounts of physical labor, however each one is a vital cog in keeping the business of agriculture flowing. From the corporate director in the boardroom to the guy driving forklift in the chemical shed, each person knows how important their role is to their company’s success and it is this dedication that has resulted in so much success across the agribusiness landscape.  


The role of producers themselves at the farm-gate cannot be understated. It is difficult to find a business with as much inherent risk as farming, no matter the size of the operation. Markets, weather and many other factors beyond producers’ control are always variables to consider in farm business planning. However, many of the families who call farming their occupation have done so for literally decades (century farms are quite common) and plan to pass along the operations to their children so that they can continue the great tradition. Some people who are unfamiliar with agriculture may ask why farmers would subject themselves and their heirs to such risk when they can take on other occupations that involve less volatility, less labor and fewer work hours. The simple answer is this: it’s the fulfilment of knowing that the hard work they do puts food on the table for so many people across the world. It’s this passion that keeps producers moving forward through the tough times and has brought so many young people in recent years back to farming when they could be doing something else for a living.


Through the passion from both farmers and industry personnel alike, support for communities in rural Canada has never been greater. In a business that is as volatile economically as agriculture is, people often count on each other for support. Whether it’s farming itself or the many local businesses that provide support to agriculture and vice versa, small towns create a friendly community atmosphere that provides a great place to raise a family. Many great leaders in the fields of academia, business and politics attribute their success to their rural upbringing as well as the lessons of hard work and giving to those less fortunate instilled in them at an early age. Events such as Telemiracle, held every March and supported throughout Saskatchewan, are successful because of the enormous support from people throughout the province who unselfishly donate their own time and money to help those in need. The term “shirt-off-their-back” is often over-used in society but not among farmers as they live this philosophy every day.


For those of us who eat, sleep and breathe agriculture every day, it’s not just a living; it’s a lifestyle. The community spirit that small farming communities are known for is reflected in the various agriculture trade shows throughout the year where it seems you can’t get ten feet without stopping for a friendly visit. Folks working the wide range of booths at the show may come from different backgrounds and might be representing vastly different products but they, along with the farmers who attend, all share one common bond. It is the passion and enthusiasm to contribute their part to a business that is projected to feed nine billion people worldwide by the year 2050. Agriculture has been around since the beginning of civilization and it’s the great people who keep it moving every day that will carry this planet forward. Perhaps Paul Harvey, in his address to the Future Farmers of America convention in 1978, said it best: “And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said I need a caretaker. So God made a farmer”.