Organizers with the Lacombe-based Central Alberta Foodgrains Growing Project are on the lookout for a field to plant this year's crop.
Each year, all crop sale proceeds are forwarded to the Winnipeg-based Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFB) to help in the fight against hunger internationally, officials say. Meanwhile, the Central Alberta Growing Project is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, said local committee member Doug Maas.
"It's an important anniversary year for us, so we want to make sure we have a parcel of land to farm," he said.
For the past three decades, the project has grown a crop in some part of Lacombe County in partnership with the CFB.
As mentioned, the organization works to bring relief where there are global emergencies with hunger, but they also are involved in long-term development projects in impoverished nations as well.
There are several similar growing projects around Central Alberta.
"We have some leads that haven't quite materialized, and we have one lead still out there," said Maas. "If any farmer or landowner in Lacombe County has land available, and would like to help our project, we'd be willing to talk to them," said Maas, adding that over the years, the sizes of donated land parcels have varied widely.
"In the early years, we had 160 acres. Lately, it has varied anywhere from 50 to about 140 acres," he said. "We are always grateful for what is given to us to farm on."
Last year, the project had two parcels to harvest.
"One was west of Highway 12 near Gull Lake - it was a smaller, 20-acre piece. And then east of Highway 2, just southeast of Lacombe, we had 120 acres," said Maas, who has been involved with the project for about 27 years.
He said it's become more challenging over the past decade or so to secure land, partly due to the fact that land prices have increased quite dramatically.
"Some of our land donors have actually already donated two or three times, so I think that is another reason as well.
"The latest date that we have ever obtained land was May 6," he added. "We thought that year we wouldn't have a project, but then we were able to get a 90-acre piece by that date."
Typically, the crop, which has been canola for many years, is put in by mid-May, he noted.
Last year, the Central Alberta Growing Project was able to send - despite the very dry conditions at the time - nearly $91,000 to the CFB. That amount is then matched four-to-one by the Canadian government.
According to the CFB website, it’s estimated that up to 783 million people are facing hunger worldwide and do not have food security, meaning they do not have regular access to enough nutritious food to live healthy and active lives.
Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 church and church-based agencies working together to end global hunger. Members represent nearly 30 Christian denominations made up of over 12,000 individual congregations across Canada, according to the website.
Anyone who has a parcel of land they would like to donate to the local growing project can call Doug Maas at 403-318-5733.
For more information, follow the Central Alberta Foodgrains Growing Project on Facebook, or visit www.foodgrainsbank.ca.
