The country turns 151 on Sunday
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
On Sunday, Canadians will be draped in red and white to celebrate the country’s 151st birthday.
So Farms.com asked members of the ag industry to share what they love about being a Canadian farmer.
Charlene Bradley, a director with the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, is appreciative to work in an industry with global reach and live in a country with a good reputation.
“The best part about being a Canadian farmer is that you’re feeding the world,” she told Farms.com today. “The respect we get around the world just for being Canadian and what it means when people see the maple leaf is a great feeling.”
Farmers are also grateful of the freedoms they have within their own operations.
Having the ability to make independent decisions is sometimes an overlooked part of living in Canada, said Brett Halstead, a grain producer from Nokomis, Sask.
“We’ve got the freedom to run our businesses the way we want and set our own hours,” he told Farms.com today. “Some people don’t have those same rights, but we do and it’s something we should celebrate.”
Canadian farmers consider themselves lucky to live in a country with informed consumers.
Without that support, the ag industry would suffer, said Darlene Stein, a lamb producer from Barrhead, Alta.
“People in this country genuinely support farmers,” she told Farms.com today. “As a farmer that gives me a good feeling that the people I’m feeding believe in what I’m doing.”
While many will celebrate all things Canadian on Sunday, some farmers will still be out in the fields ensuring their crops and livestock are healthy.
“Being a farmer means you get to work during holidays,” Larry Wegner, a beef producer from Virden, Man., told Farms.com today with a laugh. “I’ll do my relaxing in the evening.”
Canada has experienced some agricultural innovations in its 151-year history, including:
- Marcellus Gilmore Edson, a Bedford, Que. pharmacist, creating peanut butter in 1884
- Three pediatricians from Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children inventing Pablum Mixed Cereal in 1930
- Ag scientists Keith Downey (Sask.) and Baldur Stefansson (Man.) inventing canola in 1970
- Charles Saunders, an agronomist in Ontario, invented Marquis wheat in 1904
- Gary R. Johnston (Ont.) developed the Yukon Gold potato in 1966
baona/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo