The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba and BMO are once again on the hunt for six farm families to shine the spotlight on during this year’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
Nominations are open for the 2023 BMO Manitoba Farm Family Awards.
It will be the fifth round for the annual awards. Each year, the financial institution and organizing body for Brandon’s major agricultural fairs jointly honour a half dozen farms for “their commitment to agriculture and the community.”
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Successful nominees are actively involved in agriculture and community, derive a major source of their income from agriculture and must have at least some members living on a farm and actively farming.
The award ceremony will take place during the winter fair. Winners will get free fair admission and behind the scenes privileges, the exhibition has said, along with an award plaque, one-night hotel stay and VIP seating at the fair’s evening show area.
The awards are an extension of a decades-old BMO program that similarly singles out farm families in southern Alberta. The program later spread to southwestern Ontario before making its Manitoba debut.
“BMO has deep ties to Canada’s agricultural industry,” states the award’s nomination portal. “Agriculture represents one of the largest portfolios of the bank and BMO has remained committed to providing the best agriculture products in the market to its customers, while providing a wealth of knowledge and experience to help grow and sustain the industry.”
Nominations are open until the end of January. Applications, including self-nominations, can be submitted through the exhibition’s website, under the tab for the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
The fair will run from March 27 to April 1 in Brandon’s Keystone Centre. It is the first of three major annual fairs organized by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba, alongside the Manitoba Summer Fair and Ag Ex.
