I didn’t do beef club, although my family’s farm did run beef cattle. All my friends did activity club, so I did the same. 

The environment was one of continually expanding exploration and skill acquisition, not surprising for an organization whose motto is “learn to do by doing.” 

It was through 4-H that I remember learning how to hammer a nail and not poison myself with my own cooking. By my later 4-H years, basic kitchen skills and babysitting shifted to things like advanced bread making, interior design and outdoor survival. 

And, of course, there were the yearly communications events, which honed public speaking and presentation skills. 

Somewhat to my regret now, I didn’t take advantage of as many regional opportunities through 4-H Manitoba and 4-H Canada as I could have. Still, like many former club members, the experience and skills I got through 4-H have stuck with me, and I have reaped the rewards as an adult. 

That’s why the news that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is slicing its regular support of 4-H Canada is so disconcerting. As Geralyn Wichers reports, AAFC’s usual contribution is slipping by about 30 per cent. 

Outside the funding reduction, 4-H Canada’s membership numbers post-pandemic should give pause. In 2019-20, there were more than 23,400 4-H members coast to coast. In the next year, with the country embroiled in lockdowns, that number plummeted to just under 16,990. 

The organization is trying to claw back from that hit, topping more than 17,400 members as of the last annual report in 2022-23. But it’s hard to maintain growth when one of the major funders decides to slash their contribution. 

Town or country, 4-H is important. Activity club projects like gardening connect even urban kids to food production and their own little slice of agriculture. In 2018-19 (the last year such a breakdown was published in 4-H Canada’s annual report) 62 per cent of club projects were oriented around sustainable agriculture and food security. 

Last May, I wrote an editorial arguing that 4-H could form a bridge between teens and food systems, rather than relying on sometimes poorly funded home economics courses in school. This is even more relevant in rural areas, where a smaller student count makes home economics a logistical challenge. 

In livestock clubs, 4-H has a business role, forming some of the first foundations for farm succession. Those animals connect kids to the daily workings of the operation and give them a sense of ownership in the farm, perhaps some of the first they have. 

Programs like the 4-H Canada Science Fair connect the next generation with the future of farm practice. Year after year, the project lists include topics like managing ammonia in poultry operations or gauging carbon storage on pasture versus cropland. All of these are done by high school kids. There is also a mentorship aspect, which helps participants who go on to pursue a career in science and technology. 

On a global scale, 4-H members are engaged in fascinating and forward-thinking projects that tackle agriculture technology, food security and sustainability. 

A quick look at the sponsors for the provincial arms of 4-H indicates how important this organization is for agriculture. You’ve got producer groups. You’ve got seed and agri-chemical giants like BASF, Bayer and Syngenta. You’ve got massive firms like Richardson, Viterra and Cargill. You’ve got grocery retailers, various levels of government and community groups. You’ve got banks and credit unions, equipment manufacturers and post-secondary institutions. 

Pretty much every corner of the agriculture and agri-food value chain recognizes the role, both historic and current, that 4-H plays. 

The funding cut won’t impact local clubs just yet, the interim CEO of 4-H Canada told the Co-operator. Likewise, AAFC says there’s still support coming through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership. 

I hope that’s true. I see first-hand how local clubs encourage personal growth, set the stage for the next generation of farmers and generally act as pillars of the community. It would be a shame to see any of that disappear.

The post Editorial: In defence of 4-H appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

In fact, according to a recently released study of Grade 9 students by the University of Manitoba, rural kids might be eating worse in terms of things like sugars and saturated fats.

And when it came to veggies or certain major nutrients, the news was bad all around. A whopping 94 per cent of kids aren’t getting enough fruits and vegetables and a majority were short on proteins. Vitamin D, calcium, fibre; the list of shortcomings goes on.

In terms of solutions, the need for better education is one of the big ones.

University of Manitoba professor Joyce Slater says that we, as a society, “are not equipping youth to really thrive” in an environment that exposes them to marketing campaign salvos from every direction.

It’s an important point. Take a scroll through Instagram or YouTube some time, particularly if you’ve even slightly interacted with posts on fitness, exercise or any recipe with the keyword “healthy.”

It doesn’t take much to be suddenly drowning in wellness influencer content — a few clicks, and the algorithm does the rest. The paid advertisements that accompany this kind of content only add to the barrage.

I have never sought weight loss ideas through social media. But, as an active person, I have watched content from science-focused, accredited fitness trainers. As a foodie, I’ve looked for cooking tips and recipe ideas.

In response, I sort through a lot of “fitfluencer” murk. Eat “x” food. Buy “this” supplement. Pay for “this” workout plan. Eat veggies — but not “these” veggies. All this other stuff is junk, do “this” instead.

The messages are often contradictory or come from sources without any formal credentials, yet they have lots of followers. It goes without saying that social media should not be the go-to source of food information for teens.

The study’s final report noted that 82 per cent of students surveyed felt that it was important to learn this kind of thing in school, but only 62 per cent had taken a class covering it.

Adding school programming may be easier said than done when governments are trying to tighten their belts. Even a recent 2.5 per cent funding boost isn’t keeping pace with inflation.

The overall tone of the government since 2016 has been about savings, finding efficiencies and the Holy Grail of a balanced budget.

In the process, school divisions have repeatedly found themselves scrambling to reduce spending. Specialty programs, including home economics, where nutrition is an easy fit, can be prey for that kind of reduction.

Even if funding is there, bringing programs to rural schools, which often don’t have the resources or numbers for in-house instruction, comes with its own challenges. Alternatively, more social media literacy and diet culture discourse could be rolled into health classes.

But there’s another potentially powerful tool available, one that doesn’t require fighting a school division budget or waiting on curriculum changes. It already has a long and trusted history in rural areas across the country.

Maybe more teens should join their local 4-H club.

If you’re among those who can still repeat the 4-H pledge from memory, you’ll recall that one of those Hs stands for health. Another promises your “head to clearer thinking.”

Both of those dovetail with creating the kind of well-educated eaters that the University of Manitoba study would like to see.

4-H Canada has already established a Healthy Living Initiative, which provides resources, activity guides and leader training on mental health, physical health and a program dubbed My Plate and the Planet. That program aims to connect members with the food system, tackles topics like food security and food literacy and includes veggie gardening among its prepped activities.

Within activity clubs, food covers some of the most established topics in the project repertoire, from progressively more advanced cooking programs to gardening.

Furthermore, 4-H is inherently linked to agriculture and includes programs that introduce concepts like soil health or that promote innovation. As examples, last year’s winners of the 4-H Canada Science Fair ranged from cattle impact on grasslands to post-hatch chick stress to hydroponic food production.

If the goal is critical thinking when it comes to food, agriculture knowledge can help.

Long-time 4-H members will also remember the organization’s motto: Learn to do by doing.

When it comes to developing healthy eating habits for life, it’s hard to imagine a better starting philosophy.

The post Editorial: Food and the four-leaf clover appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Throughout the first year of our partnership with 4-H Canada, we were constantly inspired by Canada’s youth – their drive to take action and inspire change within their local communities is admirable,” said Jonathan Sweat, vice-president of BASF Agricultural Solutions Canada in a news release.

“We’re proud to extend our partnership with 4-H Canada and continue to ensure today’s youth have access to the skills and experiences they need to thrive and make a difference in the world,” he said.

Community Engagement & Communications is one of 4-H’s four leadership pillars. It encourages young people to volunteer time at local events, practise public speaking and other activities, according to 4-H Canada’s website.

BASF pledged $600,000 over three years.

In 2020, BASF supported 4-H Canada’s Youth Advisory Committee, the annual Show Your 4-H Colours campaign and provincial youth leadership programming in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The company will continue to fund these, the news release said.

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“It’s very exciting for me personally to have a show that the group of us started from a canola field into an event that’s now grown to the size that it is,” show director Rob O’Connor said here Tuesday during the show’s fifth-anniversary kickoff event.

“It’s been phenomenal growth, and to see how things have evolved in the first four years, hitting year five is pretty special.”

About 180 exhibitors were on hand at the AIM site near Langham to mingle, enjoy some barbecue and share birthday cake. Of those, 50-60 were original founding exhibitors.

Several seed exhibitors were also busy at their test plots, preparing their crops for this year’s show, which runs July 16-18.

Morris Industries and Horsch also started seeding canola Tuesday with their respective hardware and software.

O’Connor highlighted how the original 320-acre site evolved from an empty canola field to Western Canada’s first outdoor farm expo.

Now on a full section of land, the show continues to focus on providing first-hand opportunities for farmers to see in-field demonstrations and the latest crop varieties.

The trade show, he said, has more than doubled in size from its first year in 2015, when there were 200 exhibitors and 11,500 attendees.

Year two grew to 302 exhibitors and 16,500 attendees, followed by year three with 409 exhibitors and 25,787 attendees — a 53 per cent increase from 2016.

Last year, there were 459 exhibitors and 30,335 attendees.

Highlights this summer are expected to include more than 500 exhibitors and the second annual Field of STARS, presented by Bayer; the Innovations program, in partnership with the Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority and Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada (AMC); and Field of Excellence.

O’Connor said he wasn’t expecting such rapid growth but certainly welcomes the faster acceptance and participation from western Canadian companies as well as exploding attendance.

“We had a three-year and a five-year plan and to be honest, when I was hired and had the opportunity to start this project, where we got to last year is actually where I thought we’d be in 10 years, not in four,” he said.

Looking to the next three, five and 10 years, he said the site will continue to be developed, but Ag in Motion as a show will always be the showcase feature event on the property.

Field demonstrations, one of the “jewels of the show,” will continue, including air seeder demos, high-clearance sprayer ride and drives, fertilizer spreader demos and earth-moving and trenching demos.

“But we also want to do more,” O’Connor said. “We want to have more season-long demonstrations, where companies work together to demonstrate, ‘If you use my equipment and this company’s crop inputs, this company’s seed genetics — put that all together into one group and they can demonstrate this is how a farming system can look.'”

Producers can look forward to demonstrations of how some of the new autonomous equipment is going to operate in an on-farm scenario, he added.

Portions of the new property will also be used by companies such as Federated Co-operatives as a training centre for their staff and customers.

“When it comes to the industry, we want to be able to offer opportunities for grower associations or for livestock associations to either host meetings or even their own events, whether it’s a livestock-oriented event or whether it’s a series of seminars or training opportunities that associations may want to put on in the field. We can do that for them,” he said.

“That’s what interests me a lot over the next decade.”

Developing partnerships with groups such as STARS and 4-H Canada is also key for the show’s continued success, he said.

“The phenomenal success of STARS’ very first event at Ag in Motion last year gives us the opportunity to do more than just be a place of business, but also a place where we can embrace the industry and rural lifestyle,” he said.

“STARS is becoming so important because people who live in rural areas don’t get the same services that we can get. So for us to be able to work with them, to help them with their success, we’re happy to do that.

“We want to embrace rural Western Canada as well, and that is one of our goals.”

The acquisition last year of the Farm Forum Event by Glacier FarmMedia is another exciting avenue; that event will be held in Saskatoon Dec. 3-5.

“We’re going to be able to offer companies and growers the opportunity to see what happens in the summer,” O’Connor said. “We can talk about it in the fall at the Farm Forum Event or if there’s new products being launched in the fall, they can see that being launched at Farm Forum Event and then being operated in the field at Ag in Motion or in the Field of Excellence.”

“So we’re going to be able to offer more year-round opportunities and programming between the two events.”

— William DeKay writes for the Western Producer in Saskatoon.

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Rob Black, executive director of the Rural Ontario Institute and a former president of 4-H Canada, was named Thursday as one of two new senators from Ontario by Governor General Julie Payette.

Why is this significant? It has been a long time since someone so connected in Ontario agriculture has been a member of the Senate.

Also a Wellington County councillor since his election in 2014, Black has been the head of the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) since it was formed in 2010.

ROI advocates for and researches rural issues and also administers the long-running Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP).

The ROI announced Black will help with the transition to a new CEO of the organization.

“We thank Rob for his many years of dedication and passion to the (AALP) preceding the formation of the Rural Ontario Institute and especially for his guidance and stewardship since then,” said Suzanne Trivers, ROI board chair.

Black has also held many roles in 4-H over the past 40 years ranging from member, to leader, to the founding executive director of 4-H Ontario.

Black has also been the general manager of the Ontario Soybean Growers and worked for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for 15 years.

Black received his Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Guelph and a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University.

“Rob Black has always been an enthusiastic supporter of youth and agriculture throughout his career,” 4-H Canada chairman David Hovell said Friday in a release.

“4-H Canada is proud to have a champion for those causes in the Senate and looks forward to working alongside him as we advance the development of youth leaders committed to positively impacting their communities across Canada.”

The other new senator from Ontario is Martha Deacon, an educator and director on the Canadian Olympic Committee.

“I am confident that Parliament will benefit from Ms. Deacon and Mr. Black’s knowledge and experience, and that they will be great ambassadors for their region and communities,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday in a separate release.

— John Greig is a field editor for Glacier FarmMedia based at Ailsa Craig, Ont. Follow him at @jgreig on Twitter.

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Philip and Leanne Fenez, who have a small farm near La Salle, were among nine individuals across Canada to earn special recognition from 4-H Canada for exceptional volunteer leadership. The awards were announced during National Volunteer Week.

It’s quite an honour, says the couple, who both grew up in Winnipeg and had no experience with 4-H until they were adults.

“We were St. Vital kids and high school sweethearts,” says Leanne, adding they always planned to move out to the country one day.

Philip said his first impression of 4-H was at a farm show years ago, and from then on having their kids in the program one day was part of the plan too.

“These kids had a milking stand and were asking, “You want to come and milk a goat?’” he recalls. “They were just so effervescent and they spoke so well. It just blew my mind and I said one day I have to put my kids in this.”

Later, with three young children of their own, and settled near La Salle, they started the local club with another family. The Fenez family has been a 4-H family ever since, with Leanne and Philip serving as 4-H leaders a dozen years, including at regional and provincial levels and their own kids, now ages 15, 18 and 20, continuously involved as well. They’ve taken projects from sewing to blacksmithing to car repairs and website development, say their parents, plus the travel opportunities — to places like Costa Rica, Japan, P.E.I. — and 4-H scholarships and chances to go to camp through 4-H have long held their interest.

Meanwhile, 4-H has delivered exactly what impressed Philip years ago.

“From a parental perspective I think parents see what we saw, which is the really well-rounded skills that kids can get out of 4-H, like the communication skills and the meeting management skills and the business knowledge,” said Leanne.

The awards to Canadian 4-H leaders were made through a local nominations process.

Caroline Boddy of the Golden Prairie 4-H Club in Alberta was chosen by a panel of judges as the 2016 National Volunteer Leader of the Year.

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Rapid City Beef

The club had its reorganization meeting on Nov. 10 and elected a new council. Wyatt Inglis is president; Thijs VandeLangemheen, vice-president; Brooklyn Hedley, secretary; James Reid, treasurer; and Anja VandeLangemeen, reporter. Other members include Drew Horner, Gavin Reid, Mona VandeLangemheen and Sierra Inglis. We welcome new members Justin McKee and Zane Finlay.

This year the club will be using new workbooks for the projects, and the members are all excited for the change. The club has decided to hold its first weigh day on Dec. 5, so we are hoping for nice weather. The weigh day will be followed by a potluck lunch and the December monthly meeting at the same time. — Anja VandeLangemheen

Happy Rock Horseshoes

The club held its first meeting Nov. 3 at the Westbourne Longburn Community Centre with 12 members present. We welcomed two new members. Our head leaders are Terri Hall and Stephanie George.

We elected our new officers, including Jodie Davis, president; Cassidy George, vice-president; Megan Hall, secretary; Kaitlyn Davey, treasurer; J’lyn Funk, banner scanner; and Madison Teichroeb, reporter.

We reviewed the 4-H Code of Conduct and went over the expectations for each member. Terri Hall showed us the new 4-H logo! The 4-H clover now has a maple leaf in the centre.

After the formal meeting, we played a few games. In the first game our small groups were challenged to make the tallest tower with uncooked spaghetti noodles, marshmallows and painter’s tape. In the second game, we had to use our feet to get as many marbles as possible out of a bin of soybeans in one minute. The games were a lot of fun and also taught us teamwork and concentration.

Our Christmas party will be held Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. After a meeting and some time for bookwork, we will have some games and a potluck supper.

I am excited for the new 4-H year! I’m sure everyone else is too! — Madison Teichroeb

Safety, leadership funding

4-H Canada is set to launch a new youth leadership program, along with a farm safety fund, thanks to a $600,000 contribution from Canadian National Railway (CN).

Executives at 4-H and CN unveiled the 4-H Canada Leadership Excellence Awards of Distinction (LEAD) at Canadian Western Agribition on Nov. 25.

Each year LEAD will award four 4-H members with a four-year scholarship toward their post-secondary education. The scholarships total $5,000 per recipient per year.

The award benefits 4-H’ers in four thematic areas: community engagement and communications, the environment and healthy living, science and technology, and sustainable agriculture and food safety.

The first LEAD recipients have already been chosen, including Austin Pizzey of Manitoba, Cameron Choquette of Saskatchewan, Meghan McGillivray of British Columbia and Louise Pickard of New Brunswick.

CN’s contribution is also launching a farm safety fund. 4-H Canada CEO Shannon Benner said the fund would allow 4-H clubs to start farm safety initiatives at the grassroots.

Sean Finn, executive vice-president of corporate services and chief legal officer at CN, said that rail safety and farm safety is something that’s close to their hearts.

When one looks at farm fatality numbers, it’s clear “we’ve got some work to do,” he added.

Finn said the railway wants to work with 4-H to develop future leaders and promote a safe environment on farms as well as railways. — Lisa Guenther

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Earlier this year, a spokesperson for the museum said they’d pack up the collection of uniforms, banners, scrapbooks and other donated items this fall as a precaution against chill and humidity.

Its current home, the former Royal Bank building built in 1902, is proving too difficult to heat and control the humidity, which is damaging to the artifacts.

But the 4-H Museum has nowhere else to go right now, said Colleen Hodgson, a member of the Historical Society of the RM of Roland.

They explored the idea of building an addition onto the municipal hall to house it so the collection could be on display year round.

“That idea did not pan out,” she said. “The whole hall would have had to be updated — a lot of engineering issues that were going to be very, very costly.

“So now we need to come up with another idea.”

In the meantime, they’re wondering what support actually exists for preserving this collection beyond Roland. The museum was begun by members of Roland’s historical society in 1988 during the 75th anniversary of the 4-H program.

But during the 100th anniversary celebrations in Roland in 2013 officials with the Ottawa-based Canadian 4-H Council declared it a national site.

That raised hopes some resources will follow, said Hodgson. But Roland is still fundraising to pay that $3,000 Hydro bill. There have been no indications from the national group of assistance to help cover the capital costs of a move or site upgrade.

“We know they’re (4-H Canada) not flush with money either,” said Hodgson. “But we have dealt with it as it is for 25 years. Now that they’ve claimed it as a national museum, you would hope that there would be some more help.”

No one from the Canadian 4-H Council was available last week for an interview, but in an emailed statement Jennifer Austin, the organization’s director of marketing and communications, said the organization recognizes the significance of the museum to the tradition of 4-H and 4-H Canada has contributed significant resources to it.

They’re waiting to hear what Roland recommends before they can offer help, Austin wrote.

“The Manitoba provincial association is working with them to develop a plan for the future that will assess the current financial issues,” she wrote. “Once that plan is developed, we will assess if we are able to support. We look forward to seeing this detailed plan.”

The Manitoba 4-H Council also wants to help, said Manitoba 4-H’s executive director Clayton Robins, noting the provincial group supports the museum directly with an annual percentage of membership fees allocated to help with operating costs.

“We know that they need significantly more dollars because the building that they’re in doesn’t have a whole lot of good service left in it,” he said.

However, Robins also said it remains up to Roland to decide what’s the next step for the site.

“Once they know exactly what they need in terms of the building and the cost and the plan going forward, our commitment is to work with them to help them find those dollars,” he said.

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development also has staff and processes in place to help organizations like Roland’s museum board to do strategic planning, Robins added.

“That’s been offered to the museum board to go through that process.”

But that’s the clincher. Theirs is a small group with little time to do this, Hodgson said.

“These are volunteers on our board,” she said. “They don’t want to be going to seminars to learn how to fill out a form to ask for grant money.”

However, once harvest is done, and Roland has its annual fall supper and fair behind it, they’ll regroup to look at their options again, she added.

The post Where will the collective memory of the 4-H Museum go? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Participating 4-H clubs will create bee-friendly habitats using Proud to Bee a 4-H’er bee-friendly seed packets.

4-H clubs that register for the program receive a free Proud to Bee a 4-H’er garden bag stuffed with bee-friendly seed packets, planting instructions, and information about pollinator habitat. The activity encourages 4-H members to learn all about the amazing and fascinating work of bees, to get outside and enjoy nature, and to raise funds for their local clubs.

“The importance of pollinator-friendly habitats to the ongoing health of bees and other insects should not be underestimated,” says Dr. Paul Hoekstra, regulatory and science stewardship manager with Syngenta Canada. “The quantity and quality of food sources available to pollinators is a key determinant of overall population health and an important part of maintaining and enhancing biodiversity.”

Syngenta support for Proud to Bee a 4-H’er is through its Operation Pollinator program, which is focused on research and other initiatives that contribute to enhanced biodiversity and habitat in support of healthy pollinator populations.

4-H’ers can plant the seeds themselves or use them to support activities in their communities. Last year’s effort was highly successful with more than 100 clubs taking part and nearly 78,000 seed packets distributed across Canada for planting.

“Proud to Bee was a great experience for our members last year,” said 4-H Canada CEO, Shannon Benner. “This year, Syngenta Canada has renewed its commitment to giving 4-H’ers a great opportunity to not only learn more about pollinators but to get together and take an active role in supporting pollinator health in their communities.”

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