Agriculture – The Carillon

CARILLON ARCHIVES

Co-op Manager Bill Wowk with a basket of top-grade strawberries, part of a bumper crop the Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op grew at Hadashville this year.

COLUMNCarillon Flashback August 6, 1965 – Co-op hits jackpot after five-year wait

Wes Keating 3 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

The first experiment in co-operative strawberry growing ever tried in Manitoba has finally paid off, after a five-year wait. With the close of the strawberry season last week, the Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op at Hadashville announced to its elated members that for the one-month-long picking season, it had produced 22½ tons of berries.

For a solid month, thousands of householders from Winnipeg and other towns and districts have been swamping to the 16-acre plot to harvest the 45,000 lb. crop of berries.

For the privilege of picking their own berries, they paid 25 cents per pound and poured a total of over $11,000 into the treasury of the 74-member Reynolds Fruit Growers Co-op.

The Co-op’s resounding success this year only came after a series of failures as hail, too much rain and spring frost destroyed three crops in a row. This year’s crop was the first one actually harvested.

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Watershed is literary month focus for Agriculture in the Classroom

Wes Keating 5 minute read Preview

Watershed is literary month focus for Agriculture in the Classroom

Wes Keating 5 minute read Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

Water is wasted and polluted every day around the world, but the agriculture and food industry in Manitoba has had great success sharing about what farmers are doing to keep water clean and ensure the sustainability of watersheds for the benefit of all.

Manitoba’s 14 watershed districts, over the next three years, will be contributing $40,000, towards an Agriculture in the Classroom program focussed on watershed stewardship.

Katharine Cherewyk, Executive Director of AITC-M, says this welcome support marks a significant step forward in her organization’s mission to educate Manitoba’s youth about the importance of clean water and a sustainable watershed.

Starting with Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM) in March 2024, AITC-M introduced Caring for Our Watersheds to hundreds of Manitoba early years classrooms.

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Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024

AGRICULTURE IN THE CLASSROOM

Katharine Cherewyk outlines Agriculture in the Classrooms programs at an agriculture industry conference in Winnipeg earlier this year.

Ridgeville farmer shows neighbours benefits of SRR Watershed projects

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Ridgeville farmer shows neighbours benefits of SRR Watershed projects

Wes Keating 7 minute read Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

Last year’s winner of the Manitoba Watershed Association’s “District Builder Award” has never been averse to trying something new and has certainly taken a leadership role in a growing regenerative agriculture community in the Ridgeville area.

Seine Rat Roseau Watershed manager Joey Pankiw says Neil Claringbould was one of the first producers to sign up for the Alternative Land Use Services program in 2019, when he converted 40 acres of cultivated land into perennial grasses along a creek on his farm.

The next year, the Ridgeville farmer went back and added pollinators to the site, adding further environmental benefits.

Over the years, Claringbould has implemented several other ecological projects on the acres he farms in the Ridgeville area. He has fenced off riparian areas and dugouts to protect sensitive wetland areas, and created water retention ponds to help with water management in his area.

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Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

SRRWD PHOTO

Before perennial grasses were planted in this horseshoe-shaped low lying area, the St Elizabeth area landowner would have to go back to seed after the water went down in spring. He no longer has to do that.

Blumenort shop good fit for Ridgewood farmers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Blumenort shop good fit for Ridgewood farmers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

It may not be too long before the next generation of Penners will be found working on the family farm, four miles east of Blumenort. But this time around, they will not be farming, but rather becoming part of the family’s welding, machining and manufacturing enterprise.

In 2008, Elden and Corey Penner, like many others at the time, found it impossible to make a living raising hogs. Elden opted for an off-farm welding job with Brian Thiessen, and Corey went on to do other things.

Thiessen had left hog farming to others in 2004, sold his farm to the Penners and established a machine and welding shop at Blumenort.

Years later, when Thiessen decided to retire, Elden and his son Corey purchased Blue Ridge Welding, and the father and son team was re-united at what is today Heritage Steel Works.

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Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

When Elden Penner gets back to his restoration project, this pile of spare parts will again be a “just-like-new” 1951 Farmall-A tractor.

There’s always next year for optimistic producers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

There’s always next year for optimistic producers

Wes Keating 7 minute read Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

The formula for success for any scientific experiment, or perhaps even for the invention of a better mousetrap, is to follow the same steps for each experiment until those steps produce the same satisfactory result time after time. A Grunthal area berry producer found out this year that formula doesn’t apply to farming, especially when it comes to growing saskatoons.

Harvey and Karen Enns are at a loss to explain why their crop of saskatoons this year did not live up to expectations. The berries certainly were of good quality, Harvey says. There just weren’t enough of them.

In fact, regular pickers who look forward to visiting Rock Creek Saskatoons every year were just as disappointed as Harvey and Karen. The couple did not open their farm as a U-pick this year, as they had picked all the available berries themselves during two weeks in July.

The couple says they did everything the same as ever, and the weather was good, but the bumper crop they enjoyed last year just didn’t materialize. Although they are disappointed, Harvey and Karen are looking forward to a better crop next year.

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Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Harvey and Karen Enns have been growing saskatoons on three acres of their Grunthal area farm since 2011.

No place like home: A farm girl’s journey to resilience

Lori Penner 7 minute read Preview

No place like home: A farm girl’s journey to resilience

Lori Penner 7 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

Last November’s Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference welcomed keynote speaker, Kim Ulmer, RBC Regional President for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Western Ontario.

Amid her responsibilities of curating positive experiences for both business and personal banking clients, Ulmer’s heart remains rooted in the vast expanse of Manitoba’s fields and boundless skies, where she makes her home alongside her husband and son.

Ulmer’s presentation, reflecting on her journey from the rolling hills of Saskatchewan to the vibrant cityscape of Sudbury and the awe-inspiring tundra of Canada’s north, echoed the sentiment that indeed, there is no place like home.

Hailing from the farming landscapes of Melville, Saskatchewan, Ulmer said her upbringing instilled in her the values of family, friendship, and the profound connection to the land. Like Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” she embarked on a transformative journey that began amidst the golden wheat fields of her youth, ultimately leading her down her own metaphorical yellow brick road.

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Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

LORI PENNER THE CARILLON

Kim Ulmer, RBC Regional President for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and Western Ontario.

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback – August 2, 2012 – Well-rounded pilot is kept busy in ag industry

Wes Keating 3 minute read Preview

COLUMN: Carillon Flashback – August 2, 2012 – Well-rounded pilot is kept busy in ag industry

Wes Keating 3 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

When Rick Kornelson quit building airplanes a few of years ago, it seemed perfectly logical to him that manufacturing grain augers could be a perfect substitute use for a converted hangar at his Ridge Road acreage southwest of Steinbach.

Kornelson flies water bombers to fight forest fires, does crop spraying, and even ferries shipments of jet fuel up north for the medi-vac unit, when winter roads are delayed and supplies run short. It’s not like the man needs to look for things to fill in his spare time. But, he says, he likes to keep busy and starting a new enterprise at 56 doesn’t worry him at all.

“I’ve still got a few years left on my best-before date.”

It struck him as a rare opportunity when John Lepp, who owns the water bomber Kornelson flies, brought up the subject of manufacturing a 40-foot truck-loading auger to work in conjunction with a grain loading system his other company manufactures.

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Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

SUBMITTED

When Kornelson is not using this 800-gallon water bomber for dropping fire retardant on forest fires, he says his 1,400 horsepower turbo-prop airplane becomes the largest crop spraying plane in the world.

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Seine River Shepherds expands along with the growing market

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Seine River Shepherds expands along with the growing market

Wes Keating 7 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

After more than 35 years of raising sheep, it may have become time to turn the page for Seine River Shepherds’ Randy Eros. Like most family agricultural enterprises, there comes a time when it becomes a matter of expanding with the next generation taking over, and retiring.

Today, under the watchful eye of Mitch Eros, and a number of guardian dogs of course, the Ste Anne flock has indeed grown by the hundreds, but the senior Eros hasn’t exactly retired.

Since his son Mitch decided to become a full-time sheep farmer and was able to buy the property right next door, Randy says he has become “cheap labour” at Seine River Shepherds. His still busy schedule includes time to pursue his other interests, like publishing and editing Sheep Canada magazine and serving as deputy reeve for the Rural Municipality of Ste Anne.

Mitch and his wife Anna, who teaches at a Steinbach elementary school, bought the farm from Robert and Patricia Brisebois in April of 2022.

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Wednesday, Jun. 26, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

The guardian dog with Randy checks the driveway for unwanted visitors while Opus, the border collie, has an eye on the flock, as he waits for Mitch to give him the signal to begin herding the sheep.

Canadian Organic Growers expand program to prairies

Wes Keating 5 minute read Preview

Canadian Organic Growers expand program to prairies

Wes Keating 5 minute read Tuesday, Jun. 25, 2024

While Vita may not be the hub of organic farming in the country, it serves as a great home base for Dorthea Gregoire, who is the program manager for Canadian Organic Growers in the prairie provinces.

Gregoire says her main focus since joining the non-profit group a year ago, is to bring people together to explore the possibility of expanding regenerative organic crop production in the western part of the country.

At the same time, Canadian Organic Growers is working with existing organizations promoting regenerative farming practises, she said.

The province currently has only 150 certified organic growers, but her organization supports not only certified growers, but also those who would like to follow organic growing practices without immediately becoming certified.

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Tuesday, Jun. 25, 2024

COG PHOTO

Alberta producer Randy Gubersky, a participant in a COG Regenerative Organic Oats project, takes a look at a no till garden in Saskatchewan.

Versatile soybean useful in wide range of products

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Versatile soybean useful in wide range of products

Wes Keating 7 minute read Monday, Jun. 24, 2024

Lyle Peters says he decided to become a farmer when his dream of playing hockey in the NHL died. He was in Grade 5 or 6 at the time.

It turned out to be the smart career choice, for today he farms over 10,000 acres of soybeans, wheat, corn and canola and raises 75,000 pigs a year, along with three cousins as the third generation at Henervic Farms.

The question about career choice was one of many Peters fielded during a question and answer session following a virtual tour of his farm by elementary students earlier this spring.

The popular Follow the Farmer series presented by Agriculture in the Classroom this spring featured soybean production and Lyle Peters, of Henervic Farms. He outlined the history of the family farm before outlining the many uses for the most versatile soybean in a video for elementary students.

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Monday, Jun. 24, 2024

HENERVIC FARMS PHOTO

An aerial view of the Henervic farmyard, which has been home for generations of the Peters family since Henry Peters began farming in the Randolph area, 75 years ago.

Gibson Farm provides a perfect seasonal job

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Gibson Farm provides a perfect seasonal job

Wes Keating 7 minute read Monday, Jun. 24, 2024

Everett Gibson lives in Winnipeg, but spends most of his summers taking care of business at Gibson Farm, three miles west of Ladywood, Manitoba.

Everett’s father Brian works in Winnipeg, and he and his wife Patrice live on Gibson Farm, three miles west of Ladywood.

It’s the best of both worlds for father and son in this joint enterprise. Brian Gibson grew up on a farm and always wanted to return to the rural life, so he went farm shopping with his son when Everett was looking for a change after a career in the military.

When the owners of Fedora Farm decided to sell their berry farm in 2017, the Gibsons’ were more than ready to become the new owners.

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Monday, Jun. 24, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Everett Gibson can expect the first wave of pickers to visit their berry farm to be arriving any day now.

Cultivating wellness by managing stress

Lori Penner 5 minute read Preview

Cultivating wellness by managing stress

Lori Penner 5 minute read Saturday, Jun. 22, 2024

As anyone in the agricultural industry will attest, farming has its fair share of challenges.

But according to Louise Sanders, that doesn’t mean you have to be stressed out.

As a stress management trainer and coach, and the founder of, “The Stress Experts”, she helps her clients become their own ‘stress expert’ by empowering them with scientific knowledge and practical skills to handle life’s challenges, big and small.

In this way, her clients enjoy relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression, phobias and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

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Saturday, Jun. 22, 2024

LORI PENNER THE CARILLON

Stress management trainer and coach Louise Sanders demonstrates a learning tool she uses to demonstrate the relationship between the emotions, the nervous system, and the hormone system.

Wild pigs causing havoc across the province

Alex Lambert 4 minute read Friday, Jun. 21, 2024

Hundreds of farmed pigs are getting slaughtered because of disease, with wild pigs shouldering part of the blame.

Manitoba Pork wants you to report if you see them or any signs of them.

Wild pigs can carry multiple diseases, including African Swine Fever (ASF) which spreads quickly and can spread to farmed pigs. The pigs also cause damage to crops, they endanger other species like birds, small animals and plants, they have no natural predators and they reproduce quickly.

Diseases that pigs carry can spread through feces for up to 11 days, several weeks in carcasses and over 15 weeks in frozen meat which is why pig farmers and handlers need to take extra precautions, so they don’t get sick.

Avid farm toy collectors won’t part with favourites

Wes Keating 7 minute read Preview

Avid farm toy collectors won’t part with favourites

Wes Keating 7 minute read Wednesday, May. 8, 2024

The annual Farm Toy Show at Clearspring Centre is advertised as a show and sale, but for the most ardent collectors, it’s much more show than sale.

Surrounded by tables of green John Deere toys, some dating back to the 1950s, Ken Urbaniak and Brent Chubaty spend their time reminiscing about the old days between visitors, all the while refusing offers to part with any of their favourites.

“Maybe next year.”

Chubaty, who has been instrumental in organizing the annual show for a number of years, admits it probably is time for him to start selling some of his growing collection, but says he is in no hurry.

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Wednesday, May. 8, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Brent Chubaty and Ken Urbaniak spend a pleasant afternoon swapping John Deere stories with visitors to the annual farm toy show at the Clearspring Centre.

Tourists visiting Dugald farm see Bison Bob’s “friendly” herd

Wes Keating 6 minute read Preview

Tourists visiting Dugald farm see Bison Bob’s “friendly” herd

Wes Keating 6 minute read Sunday, May. 5, 2024

When Robert Thomsen approaches the pasture fence, whether he is alone or with a visitor, his herd of friendly bison comes over to greet him. But they don’t stay long and a few minutes later, they return to the bale feeding station at the middle of the field.

People from all over the world are curious about his bison, according to “Bison Bob”, who has been raising the animals on the family farm near Dugald, as a sideline to his regular job, for over 25 years.

The latest group of foreign visitors came last summer and were from Mexico, arriving in chauffeured truck bearing Mexican government license plates.

“This group had apparently traded for bison that had been raised in Texas and wanted to see how it was done here.”

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Sunday, May. 5, 2024

WES KEATING THE CARILLON

Thomsen is on the outside and the bison are on the inside of a substantial six-foot-high fence he built with sturdy page wire around the pasture, providing a safe way for visitors to get a close-up look at his herd.

Rural communities focus of St John first aid course

Wes Keating 6 minute read Preview

Rural communities focus of St John first aid course

Wes Keating 6 minute read Saturday, May. 4, 2024

St John Ambulance instructors are currently presenting a series of one-day first aid courses designed especially for Manitoba farmers and others who live and work in rural communities. The course, supported by Keystone Agriculture Producers and Manitoba Canola Growers, gives each class of 18 participants the skills needed to deal with life-threatening emergencies and more common non-emergency farm-related injuries.

Before beginning instruction at the course at the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum, in Steinbach, Colleen Robinson and the group discussed how to best deal with problems that arise when calling 911 from rural areas, where the service is often patchy at best and non-existent in other areas. Often dispatchers have no end of difficulty in dealing with calls from rural residents and, a person under the stress of an emergency, cannot always give clear directions to the operator, who may be located in an urban centre.

The precise location may not always be clear, Robinson was told, and dispatchers may have difficulty in knowing from what location emergency services must be dispatched. Robinson suggested rural residents would be wise to have the numbers of the local fire department and ambulance services readily available in the event of an emergency.

A handy wallet-sized first aid package, provided by Manitoba Canola Growers, contains a card on which to record numbers for police, ambulance, fire, local hospital and poison control centre. The little package, measures less than four inches square and also contains a dozen assorted bandages, gauze pads, two alcohol wipes, two hand wipes, antiseptic towelettes and a cool blaze burn relief packet. In an emergency, it would be beneficial to call the local numbers as well as reaching out to 911, Robinson said.

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Saturday, May. 4, 2024

September 18, 2024

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