YORKTON – The Health Foundation's Ag Community Farming for Health harvested their canola crop Sept 12.
Now in its 11th year, the program has raised a total of $2,337,588, $1M of which has been set aside for a new a hospital and the remaining funds allocated towards equipment for the hospital.
"It's a tremendous project — it raises a lot of money," said Ross Fisher, Executive Director for the Health Foundation, adding, "to go 11 years is a long time."
Fisher told Yorkton This Week there were seven combines out in the field which included five from local dealerships and two from local farmers.
"Everybody donates their time and energy and the Co-op donates fuel ... we have no costs associatedd with harvest," said Fisher, later adding, "we're pretty forunate that we get that kind of support from people."
“This was an amazing year for our Farming for Health project,” said Wade McNeil, Committee Co-Chair, in a news release from the Health Foundation, adding “we had donations of time and product that allowed us to realize a really great year.”
According to the release, local implement dealers, Pattison Agriculture, Rocky Mountain Equipment, Mazur Group and Canada West Harvest Centre as well as Larry Hilworth and Ford Family Farms harvested the crop. Yorkton Co-op donated the fuel, Cargill provided fertilizer, Miccar Aerial applied fungicide as needed, BASF provided fungicides, Synergy Ag provided glyphosate, the City of Yorkton donated the land, Corteva provided our Canola seed, AVT Transport hauled grain Louis Dreyfus Company buys the crop and Agratactics Agronomy provides the agronomic services.
“What I love about this project is that it brings together businesses and people who are in competition with each other, but they all put that aside and work together because this project is about making our community a better place. It’s good to be a part of that," said McNeil in the release.
"Next year our funds are likely to be going toward the new hospital the government has committed to. A new hospital is coming; that is exciting news for everyone in this region. We want to be part of that and we recognize the community will have to financially support a new hospital," added the release.
