Farmers and agricultural businesses in the Ponoka area donated their time last week to harvest 165-acres of land south of Ponoka that will benefit a program aimed at reducing hunger worldwide.
The harvest was held Friday, Oct. 2 with several combines, grain trucks, balers and swathers out to complete the project.
Called the Ponoka Community Growing Project, for the last 18 years, a strong crew of volunteers have used the land to grow grains and then sell those grains to benefit the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
The bank takes the money to raise a four to one ratio of matching federal donations up to $25 million across the country, and brings funds and food to communities across the globe, explained Terence Barg, Alberta regional co-ordinator for the bank. “People are committed to the cause,” said Barg.
Areas such as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are a big focus. “We’ve programmed over $29 million in that area alone,” said Barg.
This year oats was the grain of choice for the project, which is believed to already have a buyer at slightly higher than market rate, added Peter Doornenball, one of the first organizers of the Ponoka project. He is pleased with the strong turnout and the number of farmers donating their time and equipment to the harvest.
Doornenball said local companies also donated their equipment or other needed materials such as fertilizer and chemicals for the crops. The biggest challenge this year was dealing with the loss of a big advocate who spend countless hours promoting the project.
Larry Henderson died this past spring and Doornenball said the loss was devastating on the small committee. “Larry left a big hole.”
Henderson handled much of the public relations work needed to create interest in the project and Doornenball said he will be missed.