Banding together to lend a helping hand
by Michelle Minnoch

Harvesting 50 acres on the corner of Ivy Side Road and 11th Concession of Essa, Doug Dykstra and his crew of merry men are participating in the Loaves and Fishes program of Ontario Food Grains. It is a community project, where farmers donate what they can; land, seed, spray, etc and work together to donate the crop to those in need.

There are 300 acres in Simcoe County participating in the project this year. Last year group projects such as this donated 15,000 tonnes of grain.

The harvested product is distributed based on need, regardless of race, religion or geographic location. Last year, 22,000 tonnes was distributed to people from 18 various

The Canadian Foodgrains bank works with the Canadian Grain Industry, international partners, the government, Work Food Programme and Canadian Universities and schools.

This soybean crop was the culmination of many people in the community donating their time and their resources; Foodgrains plot - Doug Dykstra; planting and seed - Kell Farms; fertilizer spreading - Wayne Benjamins; spray and fertilizer - Maple Farm Supply; spray - Paul Wardlaw; combine - Henry farms and Rob Henry Custom Combining; fuel - Co-Op; drying and storage - Charweu Farms.

Pictured left to right - Arnold Robinson, Tom Howard, Wayne Benjamins, Doug Dykstra, Mason McCabe