Thanks For Farming Tour A Big Hit in Swift Current

Jul 16, 2021

The 2021 edition of the Thanks For Farming Tour (TFFT) officially wrapped up last night in Swift Current.

The two-day trade show event featured a quartet of speakers daily and over 60 agricultural exhibitors.

Jeremy Matuszewski, one of the organizers of the TFFT, said they played host to around 300 farmers between Tuesday and Wednesday.

"Everyone seems to really be enjoying themselves," he said. "It's kind of a tough year around here and a lot of western Canada with drought and stuff like that, so to be able to see people laugh and kind of come out of these crazy times we've been in has been really cool."

Imperial Seed's Avery Shepherd spoke to the crowd about cover crops, Denise Filipchuck from Filipchuck Management Inc. shared some insight into successful ways to transition a family farm, former Humboldt Broncos Assistant Coach Chris Beaudry had the microphone for a mental health chat at lunchtime, and the last gig of the day had some rural farming comedy courtesy of Quick Dick McDick.

"Farmers that have come have enjoyed it, I've had so many people come up and saying thanks for putting this on," he said. "I've talked to some farmers just about our speakers and the impact they've had."

While Matuszewski wasn't sure what was next for the TFFT, he did say he thinks the future for it is bright and that they'd like to make it back to Swift Current next year if possible.

"Swift was really good," he said. "That's some of the feedback that we've gotten from our exhibitors, is maybe it's time to blow up Swift Current next year and do a really big event. As you can see from the grounds, we have room to expand. Honestly, this is the vibe and vision that the Thanks For Farming Tour was all about, was a really strong agricultural community surrounded by a lot of large farms and the colonies, who are amazing farmers, for them to get a chance to come out and be a part of this."

The Swift Current show ended up wrapping up the TFFT this year as they had to cancel the Brandon, Manitoba show for July 28-29 due to COVID-19 restriction

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