CFGB welcomes students to Harvest Day 2023
By Joan Janzen
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB) welcomed Grade 7 and 8 students from the area to Harvest Day 2023 at Pattison Ag on Thursday, October 5th. The informative event and BBQ lunch were all made possible thanks to contributions from Pattison Ag, Kindersley Packers, Kindersley Co-op, Prairie West Growing Project and Nalco Champion.
The group of students included 66 pupils from Elizabeth Middle School in Kindersley, along with four teachers, 17 students from the Grade 7/8 class at Luseland School, accompanied by two teachers, and one teacher and 23 Grade 7 students from Eston School.
The students arrived Thursday morning and were divided into five groups to accommodate the five stations throughout the morning and afternoon. Because of strong winds throughout the day, Pattison Ag had moved all the activities indoors.
PHOTOS BY JOAN JANZEN, click for larger images and captions
Station 1 was conducted by the Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB), addressing the topic of Global Hunger and Food Security. There, they discussed the factors causing hunger. Those included inequality, conflict, natural disasters and food system failures. They learned that most people who experience hunger globally are small-scale farmers, and the number of hungry people worldwide is rising. Students formed small groups and played a board game called ‘The Cycle of Hunger.’
Simplot in Kindersley taught the kids about agronomy and sustainability at Station 2. A half dozen types of live plants were on display to help illustrate the lessons.
Station 3 consisted of a representative from Sask Ag informing the students about careers and farm safety. They were told, since agriculture is such a big part of the province of Saskatchewan, there are numerous careers dedicated to farm safety. Once again, a hands-on display illustrated the importance of farm safety.
All the students were excited about having a walk-through and demo of a combine and sprayer at Station 4, thanks to representatives from Pattison Ag. They were told the giant machines cost over $1 million, equivalent to twenty years of payments for an average wage earner. While sprayers can cover 1000 acres per day, combines cover only 300 acres per day.
Sprayers often don’t see daylight since they operate primarily at night when there’s less wind and no chance of causing drift into a neighbour’s field. The tank on a sprayer needs to be filled five or six times per day, and depending on the chemical used, the cost can vary from $1600-$5000 per tank of chemical.
The kids were told the largest producer in this area has nine sprayers. Each one is equipped with its own weather station, which shows wind speed, temperature and direction of the wind. All the recorded data is stored on the cloud, a feature which helps protect the farmer’s interests.
At Station 5, members of Pattison Ag spoke about ISC (Information Services). There, the students learned about Pattison Agriculture, a John Deere Dealer with a focus on helping farmers optimize their operations through the technology in their equipment.
After the students had visited all five stations and enjoyed a delicious BBQ, they acquired a deeper appreciation for the complexity and importance of the farming industry. They were told farmers are the most resilient people on the planet, and their favourite phrase is ‘There’s always next year.’