Ag Days Gives Back will give back more than ever this year, thanks to a wave of public support last year, when the show returned after missing the 2021 and 2022 outings due to the pandemic.
The ability to provide more community grants, and the ongoing educational scholarships, comes at a great time, says committee chair Hannah Minshull.
“We’re in the second decade of investing into our communities and that’s an exciting milestone for the program. We make 100 per cent of the funds in the 50/50 and, over the last year, public support was so strong that we’re expanding the Ag Days Gives Back program this year.
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“For 2024, the grants are totalling $50,000.”
Ag Days Gives Back has been an integral part of January’s annual Ag Days celebration and, over the last decade, it has awarded funding to programs and community groups throughout rural Manitoba. Funds have been used to enhance and upgrade projects from skating rinks to daycare centres, and it has promoted agricultural education.
“It’s a way for us to give back and involve the communities that are patrons and home to many of our exhibitors,” Minshull says. “These are the communities that they live in so it is definitely something that we are very confident in and stand behind.”
Last year’s theme dealt with health and well-being so money was awarded to local fire departments for equipment and training.
“This year we didn’t target a specific community group,” says Minshull. “With the expansion of the grant program, we wanted to expand our reach to any community not-for-profit organization that needed our support, so we’ll be selecting 17 lucky recipients this year to receive a $2,000 grant for community projects and to support their continued operations.”
Applications are made online and can be found on the Ag Days website. There were 60 applicants this year, including fire departments, daycares and community centres.
“Going through the applicants was really exciting,” Minshull says. “We saw the different regions that they’re coming from and the different projects they’re doing. It’s interesting to see what some of these communities are up against and what sort of projects they’re tackling. It will be really difficult to narrow it down to 17.”
The awards are distributed among four provincial geographic regions.
The bigger purse means more money for scholarships as well, according to Minshull.
“So we have changed our format this year so there are three grants but they’re $2,000 each,” she says. “And this year we’ve opened it up to any ag-related education or training related to agriculture.”
Traditionally the three scholarships went to agriculture students in two institutions; two to students at the University of Manitoba – one to degree and one to diploma. Another was awarded to a deserving student at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon.
This year the committee considered the number of other jobs related to agriculture, such as accounting, financial advice or machine operation. These are fields that require formal training but aren’t specific to a college or university agriculture program.
“We just wanted to make sure we weren’t missing anyone,” Minshull says. “If you’re taking ag related post-secondary education in any facet, then we wanted to make sure that they had the opportunity to apply for the grant funding as well.
“One of the examples we talked about is the class one licence that you need to drive your semi-trucks from the field to the elevator.”
Once again, applications are done online through the Ag Days website.
“I think we had 20 applicants for the scholarship program so we’re going to have a really hard time narrowing it down to three applicants,” Minshull says. “But it’s a great way for us to continue stimulating the economy, encouraging ag education and encouraging young people to participate in this industry.”
The program will also provide the annual $10,000 Education and Leadership grant to Ag In The Classroom Manitoba to help continue its work to bring information about agriculture to the Manitoba school curriculum.
“They really are the driving force in getting ag education into the schools and into the hands of the kids so it’s really a unique opportunity to work with them and support them with what they’re doing,” Minshull says.
“They’re doing it on such a bigger scale than we can during our short time in the winter. They’re doing this type of work 365 days a year.”
To purchase a 50/50 ticket or see a list of last year’s winners, visit the Ag Days website under “Visitors” and look for “In The Community.”
