Picture Butte community gathers for 25th annual Canadian Foodgrains Harvest

Sunny South News Photo by Kristine Jean. FOODGRAINS HARVEST: A total of 17 combines took to the field for the annual Picture Butte and Area Foodgrains Growing Project harvest event on August 27. The harvest took just under two hours to complete at east of Picture Butte on Highway 519.

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

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t was a celebration of community spirit as Picture Butte and area farmers, residents, community members and guests gathered August 27 for the 25th annual Picture Butte and Area Foodgrains Growing Project harvest. 

The event, held in a field four kilometers east of Picture Butte on Highway 519, raises thousands of dollars every year to help feed the world through the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. 

This year, the Picture Butte and Area Foodgrains Growing Project is celebrating a 25-year milestone.  

“It’s a perfect day for it,” said Tony Kok, board member with the Picture Butte and Area Foodgrains Growing Project. He noted they swathed the field last week and were hoping for about a dozen combines to help with this year’s harvest. They ended up with a total of 17 including an antique combine from the 1960’s. 

This year, farmers harvested 115 acres for the growing project, with the harvested straw and grain pre-sold to local feedlots and farms. 

“One of the goals of the foodgrains bank is to help (people) grow better crops in different countries so they can be self-sustainable,” explained Kok. “We do emergency food aid and displacement (war) like in Ukraine as well. Anywhere that’s in need.” 

The total amount raised for the foodgrains bank will depend on how much is harvested, noted Kok. Last year the project raised $328,000.  

Kok pointed out that the amount raised from the project is matched by the federal government, by a ratio of four to one. 

“So if we raised $100,000 they’ll throw in $400,000,” said Kok, noting there are 83 countries that are currently helped by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.  

Following the harvest, a gathering and barbecue was held on the farm of Tim Brouwer. 

One of this year’s harvest participants was Picture Butte resident Terry de Kok, who brought his early 1960’s antique Cockshutt 428 combine to the harvest event.  

“I remember as a kid, I grew up with this (combine) – my dad had two of them,” said de Kok, noting they still use it every summer and keep it running. “Looks like a good turnout this year,” he added, noting the community support for the Picture Butte project. 

“It’s good for the community I think, to get together and help the poor and help the hungry. That’s what everybody’s here for,” said de Kok.  

 Matt Summers, Canadian Foodgrains Bank ambassador for Southern Alberta, was on site for the harvest event August 27, and said the Canadian Foodgrains Bank has a lot of support in Picture Butte and harvest events like the one in Picture Butte, are successful every year thanks to the efforts of people coming together in small rural communities and towns across Alberta. 

“Having guys that will keep doing it every year, it’s huge,” said Summers. “Events like this are nice because it shows support for them and everything that they do.”