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By Alice McFarlane

Agriculture Month in Saskatchewan

Celebrating farming and food

Oct 1, 2019 | 5:12 PM

October is agriculture month in Saskatchewan.

The event was started by the Ministry of Agriculture several years ago as a way to draw attention to the industry.

As it evolved Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan has played a larger role.

Executive Director Clinton Monchuk said it’s an opportunity to educate the public on food production.

“To draw attention to food and farming, invite conversations and engagement around not only food that we consume, but how the food that we’re producing here in the province is made and if there are questions from consumers, to ask farmers and ranchers who are producing it,” Monchuk said.

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Agriculture has been the backbone of Saskatchewan. Monchuk said in the early 1900s when the settlers were coming to the province, the strong majority were farmers and ranchers.

“Even though we have a stronger amount of the population that is actually urban in nature, there is still a strong presence of agriculture in rural life. It highlights the importance of agriculture for the province and again draws a little bit of the light to understand with people who don’t know as much of food or food production to ask those questions and make sure they’re as informed as possible on the subject as they are consumers of the food we produce,” Monchuck said. “When you look at the bulk of the population of this country we’re at about three per cent or less of the population that actually has a personal tie to farming or ranching. So that means you have 97 per cent that doesn’t have that opportunity to speak with a family member or a friend to actually get a true depiction of what happens on a grain farm or a cattle ranch or any of the different farms out there.”

Monchuk said consumers then go to social media or Google where the information may not be correct.

“You’re going to find things that aren’t necessarily true or pro modern agriculture. I think creating some of these different opportunities and celebrating agriculture is just another way that we as farmers and ranchers in Saskatchewan can actually engage consumers and make sure they have truthful information about how their food is being grown,” Monchuk said.

Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan and Federated Co-op will join Agriculture Minister David Marit at the Saskatchewan Food Industry Development Centre on Friday to launch agriculture month.

Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan will have a booth at the Saskatoon Farmers Market on Saturday where they will have virtual farm reality headsets so consumers can see working farms. Farmers and ranchers will be available to answer questions. There will also be a session at the University of Saskatchewan on Tuesday, Oct. 8 where the topic of plant protein versus animal protein will be discussed.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF