The SLA created OBOP in 2017, aiming to generate a provincewide conversation based on a single book at the same time as supporting literacy and creating a reading culture, raising the profile of libraries and literacy organizations, and building community. Food is an ideal medium to meet these goals, and two of the previous eight OBOP honourees are wonderful food books: Amy Jo Ehman’s Out of Old Saskatchewan Kitchens (2018), and the late Habeeb Salloum’s Arab Cooking on a Prairie Homestead (2022). My book Bread & Water is a culinary memoir about my return to Saskatchewan in 2010, woven through with meditations on cooking, grief and loss, aging, flood and place, the politics and issues of local and sustainable food, and sexism in the restaurant world.

April is a great time for a kitchen party. On the Prairies, the month is a hopeful time for food lovers: we’re perusing seed catalogues, planning our gardens and dreaming about salads made from the season’s first greens. We know that our winter plainsong chant of cabbage and carrots and rutabagas and beets and the winter’s last spuds will soon be replaced by the tonic notes of the first rhubarb, the grassy high notes of the first asparagus, the snare drum rattle and roll of crunchy first peas. And of course food remains a doubly hot topic as our nation keeps our collective elbows up in the face of trade tariffs.

Tins of handmade cookies will make the trip with me. As regular readers know, cookies are high on my list of gifts to make and share, and I’ve rummaged through some of my favourite recipes for ideas on what to bake for this road trip.

Cookies are deceptively simple bits of baking. Being made of very few ingredients, they rely not only on the best ingredients but careful attention to detail and technique. They are often the first thing that child bakers attempt, because how complicated can they be, right? Regardless of whose hands do the mixing and shaping, cookies made with good will and attention are community builders of the highest order, and I’m pleased to share mine with you. First we eat, then we turn our attention to matters of trade.

Apricot and almond stars

These rich cookies are fragile and a wee bit fussy, but immensely delicious and beautiful, ideal for a mid-afternoon cuppa with your bestie. They are proof positive that handmade cookies far outstrip anything you can buy in a grocery store, and are worth the time they take to make.

Makes about 30 cookies.

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• ½ tsp. almond extract
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg white or whole egg
• 1 Tbsp. milk or cream
• 1/3 cup apricot jam
• ¼ c. sliced almonds, optional
• Set the oven at 375 F. Line several baking sheets with parchment.

Cream butter on high speed for a minute. Add sugar and almond extract, and cream until light and fluffy, 5 minutes. Add egg yolk and mix well. Sift together dry ingredients, and blend into the mixture.

Whisk the egg white or whole egg with cream until homogeneous, then set aside.

Dust the counter with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4-inch or slightly thinner. Cut into 2-inch squares. Use a metal lifter to place each square on baking sheet. Use a small knife to slice each corner diagonally, leaving a ½-inch centre unsliced. Spoon a bit of jam into the centre. Fold every other point into the centre, forming a star. Gently brush exposed cookie dough with egg wash and sprinkle with optional almonds. Bake until golden brown, about 7-10 minutes. Cool before moving from the tray.

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So, if food companies and agri-food corporations want producers to try new practices and shift toward regenerative agriculture, it will require peer-to-peer education.

“Without that, we’re going to have a hard time reaching scale,” Watson told the Reuters Transform Food and Ag conference held in Minneapolis last fall.

By “scale” he means the various government and corporate goals of making regenerative agriculture a standard practice on thousands of farms and millions of acres.

Some in the agri-food industry believe payments or financial incentives will convince farmers to try cover crops or reduced tillage, but Watson and General Mills are honing in on grower education.

“Some (of our) programs don’t even have those financial elements. It’s more focused on training and technical assistance … community and culture building,” Watson says.

“The producer has to know how to be successful in implementing something new …. We (General Mills) are thinking about how we make sure those dollars we employ are well spent and drive lasting change.”

In Canada, General Mills has partnered with ALUS on a regenerative agriculture program called Growing Roots.

ALUS partners with farmers to create “nature-based solutions on their land” that are designed to improve climate resilience and biodiversity.

From 2022-24, ALUS enrolled 115 western Canadian producers in the Growing Roots program. They are involved in 234 regenerative agriculture projects across more than 12,000 acres, ALUS said last July.

General Mills is committed to Growing Roots and is providing more funding, which will extend the program through 2026.

At the heart of the project is training and peer-to-peer education. ALUS has created a partnership advisory committee of farmers, agronomists and other leaders in regenerative agriculture.

Those experts share their knowledge with producers in the program.

“Farmers look to each other to find guidance and support, and ALUS helps create the community needed for this …. (This program) allows me to provide that support by sharing the successes and failures my operation has experienced with a larger network of producers,” says Tannis Axten, who runs Axten Farms at Minton, Sask.

Other organizations also use training to spread the good word about soil health.

Starting this year, Assiniboine Community College in Brandon will deliver training to certified crop advisers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan about soil health and conservation agriculture. The program is branded as the Canadian Prairies Trusted Advisor Partnership.

General Mills, PepsiCo, Bimbo Canada, Nature United and the SouthEast Research Farm at Redvers, Sask. support the program.

It “will offer a master class in soil health agronomy, water management and diversified cropping systems, covering established and emerging stewardship practices in topics like residue management, zone mapping, variable rate technology and tillage reduction,” Assiniboine said in its announcement last August.

In a related project, the college is developing a soil health network with support from the Weston Family Foundation. It has created a website, www.soilhealthnetwork.ca, to share information and create a peer-to-peer network.

It’s clear from the ALUS and General Mills project that farmers want to improve the health of their soils. A survey asked the 115 farmers in Growing Roots about their reasons for joining the program.

Ninety per cent said they want to build soil health and more than 80 per cent said they want to improve soil organic matter. About 70 per cent said they want to enhance soil water infiltration.

Less than 10 per cent were interested in markets for regenerative commodities and only 20 per cent were motivated by potential payments from carbon markets. GN

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Prairie agricultural equipment manufacturers, which are often located in smaller communities, are feeling that pinch as severely as anyone.

The Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC), an association representing that industry, has been working on behalf of its membership to address the problem.

In a joint announcement today, AMC and the Saskatchewan government unveiled a new program to help encourage people to consider careers in agriculture and agricultural equipment manufacturing.

A new high-tech “Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab” will begin a summer tour of Saskatchewan at Ag in Motion July 16 to 18 to help develop a “talent pipeline” for ag and ag equipment manufacturing.

The program is getting $300,000 from the Saskatchewan government.

According to the announcement, the Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab will utilize “virtual reality technology and other educational tools across multiple experiential learning stations. Individuals will have the unique opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the experience of a career in this dynamic industry.”

While AMC specifically represents ag equipment manufacturers, ag equipment dealers might benefit from this initiative as well. Dealers have also been vocal about the difficulty they’ve had in recruiting employees, especially skilled technicians.

“Without question, this is one of the largest challenges our industry is facing,” COO and President of the North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA) John Schmeiser said late last year. “We survey our dealers once a year about what’s keeping them awake at night when it comes to workforce development, and the shortage of technicians is there.

“In that same survey, based on our dealers ’existing capacity without building a larger shop, every dealer would take three to five mechanics right now if they could find them. When you multiply that by 400 locations in Western Canada alone, it’s a shortage of what we need right now of 1,000, perhaps 1,500. That’s dealing with today’s needs, not taking into consideration what the future needs would be as well as attrition rates of older folks retiring or moving on to other industries.”

The Careers in Ag Mobile Skills Lab will make stops in several communities, visiting schools, career fairs and trade shows to showcase career opportunities. It will also focus on those already involved in the ag equipment industry to promote professional development opportunities.

“Agricultural manufacturers play an important role in driving our provincial economy and employ people in communities across Saskatchewan,” said Minister of Immigration and Career Training Jeremy Harrison in the release. “Saskatchewan is a leader in innovative agriculture and this investment ensures that agricultural equipment manufacturers will continue to attract the talent needed to support their growth.”

As newer generations enter the workforce and older ones slowly move into retirement, popular career interests tend to change. So, the Mobile Skills Lab will be a tool to promote enthusiasm for the ag equipment manufacturing industry and point out the benefits of working in it.

“Attracting the next generation of Canada’s workforce requires key messaging and engaging projects that speak to the minds and hearts of that talent,” said AMC President Donna Boyd. “From long-term career stability to protecting the environment and ensuring global food security, our industry has proven itself to be an ideal match for any Canadian looking for a stable and exciting career. AMC is proud to address the needs of our members and the industry at large with the Careers in Ag initiative. In working with the Saskatchewan Government to build and launch the Mobile Skills Lab, we are making great strides in matching our industry’s growth with the talented workforce it needs to sustain it.”

—Updated 10:35 CDT, adds photo of AMC president Donna Boyd.

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Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C) has partnered with CropLife Canada to develop interactive teaching resources designed to help students explore some of the realities of modern farming by seeing how to successfully grow carrots, turnips and potatoes.

The resources draw on CropLife Canada’s Real Farm Lives documentary web series, which was created to showcase the work and lives of farm families across the country.

“Teachers play an instrumental role in shaping the future of our next generation by guiding students towards a deeper understanding and appreciation of the vital role agriculture has to play in our lives,” Mathieu Rouleau, Executive Director of AITC-C, said in a news release. “By fostering a deeper understanding of our agriculture and food system, we empower students to become informed citizens and stewards of our planet’s future.”

Season 3 of Real Farm Lives, which these resources are focused on, features the McKenna family from Prince Edward Island, who are deeply committed to growing high-quality food for their family and families across the country while leaving the land in better condition for the next generation.

Both AITC-C and CropLife Canada said they believe in providing accurate, balanced and current information to educators to promote agriculture education in Canadian classrooms. Resources like these help students build knowledge around key ideas such as food preparation, food waste and crop protection.

“We know that fewer and fewer kids have a direct connection to the farm. Through Real Farm Lives, we’ve provided an easy and engaging way for Canadians to look inside the lives of Canadian farm families and what it takes to grow our food.

“By connecting students with real farmers who sustainably grow safe, high-quality food, we hope they learn about some of the obstacles farmers have to tackle and the tools they need to do their jobs,” said Pierre Petelle, president and CEO, of CropLife Canada.

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“We are currently seeking eligible partners across Canada that have existing training programs that may be in need of further refinement or support,” it said in an emailed newsletter.

Eligible organizations can access funding between Feb. 1 and March 31 of this year, CAHRC’s website says. The training programs must be ready for delivery so participants may finish them by the end of March.

Funding may be used for things like enhancement of programs and materials, funding to deliver training in Indigenous communities or at an institution, and for ‘wrap around’ supports for participants, such as transportation or childcare allowances.

CAHRC will ask for an in-kind contribution of 10 per cent of the training program’s total budget.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 31.

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor with AgCanada. She writes from southeast Manitoba.

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The Woodchurch High School farm opened 13 years ago, becoming a haven that nurtures the mental health and confidence of its students.

Based in the town of Birkenhead, which faces Liverpool across the River Mersey, the school counts dairy farmers and veterinarians among its former students who say the school’s farm is the reason they found their calling in life.

Woodchurch itself ranks in the top 10 per cent of local areas in England for income deprivation. Last month local authorities announced that the nearby leisure centre would be demolished.

And with UK social mobility at its lowest ebb in over 50 years, restricting people from moving to a higher income level, the farm’s ability to expose its students to people and professions far removed from the school’s urban trappings is more important than ever.

“It is really important that (young people) have an opportunity to achieve, to thrive, to actually show skills,” head teacher Rebekah Phillips said, adding that it had also helped support social and emotional development.

Each year the students compete in the prestigious Royal Cheshire and Westmorland county shows, displaying skills gained by looking after their sheep, alpacas, goats, pigs and chickens. Many have won prizes and acclaim from farming experts.

“The farming and agricultural communities have opened their arms to us,” Linda Hackett, the farm manager, said.

Year 10 (Grade 9) pupil Ella-Rose Mitchinson, 14, was awarded Student of the Year 2023 by the School Farms Network – a collection of 140 schools, many from rural communities.

For her, the farm represents a safe space, away from the world of social media and the rigours of teenage life.

“It lets me breathe,” she said, adding that she dreams of becoming a veterinary nurse.

Year 8 (Grade 7) pupil Corey Gibson, 13, agreed.

“It provides a happy place where you can be yourself. Animals won’t judge.”

Cultivating the future

Former pupil Sophie Tedesco, 27, now works as a dairy farmer in Shropshire, having first tasted farm life at the school before she left it in 2013.

“It opened my eyes to the agricultural world,” she says. “It was just completely different to what we were used to and I just loved it,” she said.

Increasingly the school is recognized as a centre for conservation due to a stroke of luck when it was gifted North Ronaldsay sheep at the farm’s opening in 2010.

Originally from Orkney, the sheep are listed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust as one of four “priority” breeds–the charity’s highest grade of concern.

“Our little school, over 13 years in our one-and-a-half acres has bred over 60 sheep, we’ve had lambs every year. Our sheep count towards the national census for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust,” farm manager Hackett said.

Headteacher Phillips says other schools have shown interest in the farm, but she laments the fact that it is never taken into consideration in the country’s academic review system, despite the broader community impact.

“We have never had one bit of vandalism, ever, in 13 years,” Phillips said.

“I think the worst incident we ever had was the uproar when a child fed a sheep a crisp (potato chip).”

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Students from Iowa’s CAC Media Group ventured to Regina for hands-on agricultural journalism experience.

Hannah Grantz, Jake VanderHeiden and Katlin Truelsen, students from high schools across Clinton County in eastern Iowa, interviewed, photographed and videotaped Canadian livestock producers, Spanish bullfighters and Saskatchewan rodeo queens for their social media channels.

They also plan to take stories home and work with other editors and publishers at digital and print publications across the United States.

Truelsen was eager for the chance to explore Canadian agriculture. At 16 years old, she has written articles for Humps N Horns Bull Riding Magazine out of Fort Worth, Texas. At Agribition, she jumped at the chance to interview bullfighters from Spain, who were competing in the Bullfighters Only Canadian Grand Prix on Tuesday.

Growing up on a cattle farm, Truelsen said learning about the rodeo world is new for her.

“It was cool to learn about the rodeo experience, hear what the bull riders have to offer. I mean, most of them are the same age as me, or a little older, so it’s cool to see what they do in their everyday lives compared to what I do.”

In addition to the students, three media group alumni also travelled to Regina for the event: Nate Lange, Beth Lamp and Carsen Mangelsen.

Lange was interested to see how different businesses run their operations. He earned a degree in marketing and sales management after participating in the CAC Media Group program when he was in high school. He’s been drawn to how businesses find efficiencies and create solutions to ongoing problems.

“Everyone does it a little differently, so just seeing how they do it and why they do it is really interesting.”

Lange was one of the first members when Jenna Stevens started the ag media program in 2017. Stevens noticed gaps in the Future Farmers of America (FFA) curriculum when it came to agricultural communications, so when the Agriculture in the Classroom consultant had unexpected free time with a group following an early end to a competition, they started a podcast that got picked up by a local radio station.

From there, they created a television show during COVID-19 because there was studio time up for grabs. Since then, the group continually looks for new opportunities to get student members hands-on experience in the agriculture journalism and communication industry.

The group is working on a rebranding and marketing campaign for Humps N Horns, said Stevens, and will help the magazine launch a new apparel line when the crew goes out to Las Vegas later in the year.

“I’m designing some of the new logos that are going to go on their apparel,” said Stevens. “We’ll be updating their website and doing some more marketing with that.”

Stevens works with 56 teachers in classrooms, teaching agricultural education, whether those are fun lessons for younger students or more complex, hands-on concepts.

Stevens and her students were surprised at the lack of agricultural education and hands-on learning provided in the Saskatchewan curriculum. She works to provide experiences to kids in her area, taking agricultural concepts and putting them into practice. She’s had students build things like rice paddies and hydroponic farms from the ground up.

Before coming to Agribition, the CAC team visited the University of Saskatchewan’s Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence and the Bovigen cattle reproduction centre in Moose Jaw.

Comparing educational opportunities in Saskatchewan versus those in Iowa, people want to see more when it comes to ag education in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms, said Stevens.

“There are a lot of rural individuals in this particular province and so it seems like people would like to see their children have those opportunities through the school system.”

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“I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). 

Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and got a term job at Cereals Canada. “I just happened to have a boss who saw potential and connected dots for me.” 

Mahoney spoke during a panel discussion on agriculture technology, education and labour during the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg, Oct. 26. 

“When you write your next job description, are you putting agriculture as the number one requirement?” Mahoney asked. “Or are we looking at some of the soft skills?” 

“When we put out a job ad, you know, five to six years working in agriculture is usually the prerequisite so, you know, we automatically have to cancel people out,” she added. 

“We’re really trying to change that conversation around our table,” Mahoney said. 

The panelists discussed how Agriculture in the Classroom plants the idea of agriculture careers in the minds of young people. 

Mahoney told a story about how, at the diner in her small town, the young waitress told her she wanted to become a plant geneticist. When asked where she got that idea, the young woman said that Agriculture in the Classroom had come to her school. 

“And I saw whoo!” Mahoney said. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” 

Panel host Jennifer Flanagan, the CEO of Actua — a firm that connects students with the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields — said her organization recently partnered with EMILI and Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M) to bring agriculture technology to young people, particularly Indigenous youth in the Prairie provinces. 

The project added agriculture technology jobs to a career exploration package Ag in the Classroom provides to teachers AITC-M executive director Katherine Cherewyk said in an interview after the panel. 

Technology is changing quickly, Cherewyk acknowledged. However, she said in her experience, when kids know what they want to do, they begin connecting how they can use new technology to reach their goals. 

For more coverage of Agriculture Enlightened, see future editions of the Manitoba Co-operator, the Western Producer and Grainews.

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OAC said Wednesday its proposed new “master of plant agriculture” (MPAg) program would allow recent graduates and professionals to “quickly upgrade education and training without the need of conducting academic research through a traditional thesis-based program.”

The University of Guelph-based college would offer the first intake to the new program through its Department of Plant Agriculture starting in the fall of 2024, pending approvals from the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance and the provincial ministry of colleges and universities.

The new master’s degree would “address the demands of employers in the private and public sectors who are looking for professionals with advanced expertise in plant breeding, crop production and plant science,” OAC said in a release.

Students would be able to complete the new program in three or four semesters, allowing international students to be eligible to apply for a post-graduate work permit, the college said.

The program would allow students to study on a full- or part-time basis and select courses lining up with “specific career goals in breeding and genetics, biochemistry and physiology, or crop production systems for both agronomic and horticultural crops.”

“We are consistently hearing that employers are seeking graduates that have the scientific knowledge as well as the hands-on training in plant and agricultural science,” Dr. John Cranfield, acting dean of OAC, said in Wednesday’s release.

(Cranfield was named acting OAC dean in July, after dean Dr. Rene Van Acker was seconded to serve as the University of Guelph’s interim vice-president for research, replacing Dr. Malcolm Campbell.)

“This program will fill this gap and provide graduates with valuable skills in collaboration and communication needed for career success,” Cranfield said.

“This program provides an opportunity for students to gain a more comprehensive knowledge in the core subjects of plant agriculture, without focusing on one particular project through a research degree,” Corteva AgriScience research scientist Dr. Eric Shaw said in the university’s release. “I can see this being an advantage to those applying to Corteva.”

OAC emphasized it continues to offer the “thesis-based” M.Sc. and PhD in plant agriculture, which it described as “ideal for students wishing to pursue careers in research in the private or public sector.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“A great deal of our agriculture industry’s success comes from research and skill development,” said federal ag minister Marie-Claude Bibeau in a news release, Tuesday.

Bibeau and Derek Johnson, Manitoba’s minister of agriculture, and Sarah Guillemard, Manitoba’s Advanced Education and Training Minister, announced Tuesday that the two governments would provide up to $6.4 million to establish the Prairie Crops and Soils Research Facility (PCSRF) at the University of Manitoba.

This adds to some $7.7 million from agriculture groups and companies such as Nutrien Ag Solutions, the McCain Foundation and the Manitoba Canola Growers Association, the University of Manitoba said July 5 on its website.

Thanks to the cash, “UM scientists will be able to accelerate soil and crop research far beyond what is currently possible,” the university added.

The current facility at the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba is nearing the end of its lifespan, the government news release said. This new facility will expand and modernize agronomic research and training.

The PCSRF will improve the quantity, quality, and efficiency of seed, soil, and plant sample processing, analysis and archiving, and will integrate soil, crop, entomology, livestock, and engineering research.

“This is a significant investment that will greatly enhance our capacity for research, education programs, and collaborations with producers for more sustainable crop production,” said Martin Scanlon, the university’s dean of the faculty of agricultural and food sciences, in a statement.

“The PCSRF sets the stage for our researchers to develop an integrated approach to robust agronomic systems that will benefit Western Canadian producers and consumers across Canada for years to come,” Scanlon said. “At the same time this will allow our students to become the next generation of agri-food leaders.”

The PCSRF will improve students’ ability to get hands-on experience, the University of Manitoba said on its website.

The total budget for the PCSRF is $20.7 million, the federal-provincial news release said. Manitoba Advanced Education and Training is providing funding of up to $5.9 million in capital investment over three years, and the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) is providing up to $500,000.
The new facility is slated to open in June 2026.

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