Crop for Community learning event held at Stockholm

October 4, 2023, 9:31 am
Sierra D'Souza Butts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Grade 6 class of Macdonald School Stockholm learned about combining from Canada West Harvest Centre, during Crop for Community’s educational event on Sept. 26.

As part of the Crop for Community initiative, students from Macdonald School Stockholm engaged in an educational event about agriculture, on Sept. 26.

Approximately 24 students, including a class from P.J. Gillen School in Esterhazy, spent the day rotating between stations on the Serhan farm, where they learned about agriculture, and how importance it is in Saskatchewan.

“We’re taking the kids through the stations of harvest,” said organizer Heather Bergstrom.

“They’re starting with Nutrients for Life, which is a organization for education about agriculture. The students will learn about 4R which is the nutrient stewardship.

“Another station is about combining, we’ve got a demo here from Canada West Harvest Centre about a class combine machine made in Germany, and was assembled in the U.S.

A student eating grain from one of the wheat crops.

“They’ll learn about the grain cart and a little bit about the production process on the field, and how the wheat gets taken from the land to the elevators.

“We also have two stations where G3 from Melville is providing information about grain quality, logistics and transportation, and just about the sheer volume of wheat that Saskatchewan provides to the world.”

Since the community initiative started in 2014, the group has raised $255,000 which has helped build and upgrade existing facilities within the community, such as the school playground, the Stockholm Community Daycare, the communiplex and more.

“This is the 10th year we’ve been doing Crop for Community,” Bergstrom said. “It started out very small and morphed over the years, but this is the third year where we’re doing a real student event.”

Meaning behind the community fundraiser
Initially, Crops for Community started off as a fundraising initiative, but has recently grown into a learning opportunity for students as well.

“It’s really turned into a real agricultural event. Students are completely immersed in agriculture,” said Melissa Johanson, principal at Macdonald School in Stockholm.

“I’m starting to hear it a lot more over the years, they understand it.

“It’s gone from just a fundraising activity to a full on educational activity, and that’s really important because we live in Saskatchewan.”

Students from Macdonald School in Stockholm were learning about a tractor and grain cart in the field, on Sept. 26.

Johanson said teaching students about the role agriculture plays in the province and in the world is essential.

“Agriculture is all around us, and a lot of the students families work at Mosaic and with potash,”she said.

“We know that potash helps fertilize everything and helps feed the world, it’s a big deal here.

“I hope the students have an appreciation for agriculture through this. I hope they understand where food comes from, that it doesn’t just come from the store, and that the farmers are the ones who put all of their time and effort in, and that they are the reasons for where their food comes from.

“I hope that they are inspired, I hope that they appreciate farming and agriculture from this.”

Over the years, local businesses and volunteers in the community have helped contribute towards the project.

“There’s the generosity of Mosaic who provide a potash donation, and Sharpe’s Soil Services converts that potash to money so that we can buy seed, fertilizer, and also maybe pay for custom farming of 110 acres of land,” said Bergstrom.

Grade 1 students were learning about grain quality, while also tasting the wheat, at Stockholm’s Crop for Community’s educational event.

“In tandem with that during harvest, and sometimes during seeding, there’s an educational opportunity for the children to learn more about agriculture and the importance of it in Saskatchewan.

“There’s a lot of work and energy put in, we appreciate everyone in the community who does a little bit that makes it all come together.”

With all of the proceeds from Crops for Community going back into the community of Stockholm, Johanson spoke about why the fundraiser is so important to her, and members from the community.

“We want to give back to the community, we operate 10 months of the year and this helps us get around,” she said.

“We’re really grateful for the support from our community, the support from our families, from our students. I just think it provides so much opportunity for our students here.

“This is good for people because they may hear about Crop for Community, but maybe they don’t know what it really entails.

“It’s a fundraising initiative, but most importantly it’s teaching kids about agriculture and how vast it is.

“Heather gave the perfect speech to start it off today saying there’s so many career opportunities in agriculture, the sky really is the limit.”