YORKTON - It is of course a well-understood reality that increasingly the consumers of food have little direct connection to the farms and farmers that produce the food.
It’s a situation which was not so long ago a one involving those living in large urban centres; Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, but today you would find many in smaller cities; Yorkton, Prince Albert, Weyburn, who have no connection to a farm – have never set foot on one.
It’s a situation written about in this space before, and will be again, because it is a concerning evolution of a disconnect between food producers and many food consumers.
So anytime there are efforts to bridge that growing chasm of separation those involved need to be applauded.
Efforts such as student tours at Harvest Showdown in Yorkton, or Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, or ‘Pizza Farm’ projects that have students learning where the ingredients of pizza come from, are excellent examples of trying to educate youngsters about where food originates.
That brings us to Saskatchewan Open Farm Days, a program launched by Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan in partnership with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and Tourism Saskatchewan, which saw producers across the province invite people to tour their operations to learn a bit more about how farmers farm.
“This event is designed to foster a deeper connection between Saskatchewan’s residents, its vibrant agricultural sector and agritourism,” detailed an early release on the effort.
The event, held this past weekend promised “an immersive experience, offering a unique blend of educational, culinary, and hands-on agricultural engagements.
Bill Prybylski and family farm near Willowbrook, raising a variety of field crops on more than 10,000 acres, and calving near 200 cows. They were one of the farms involved, because Bill Prybylski said it’s important to build connections which tell the real story of farming. He said there are unfortunately a lot of misinformation these days, and producers need to take the time to tell the real story of how they do their best to provide safe and nutritious food for all. If that effort means hosting a weekend where people could climb on a wagon and visit crops in the field, and cows and calves on pasture, he said it is an effort he was glad to make, and will again.
The Prybylski family, and all the other producers involved with Open Farm Days are deserving of a huge pat on the back for their efforts.
Hopefully the effort will be undertaken again in 2025, with more people taking advantage of a chance to reconnect with those who feed us all.
