OTTAWA (Rural Roots Canada) – The Grain Growers of Canada have launched a short video aimed at educating Canada’s legislators and policy makers about the business of a modern grain farm.

The video called ‘Today’s Modern Grain Farm: A Harvest Across Canada’ features interviews and clips from farmers spanning Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and the East Coast.

Erin Gowriluk is the Executive Director of the Grain Growers of Canada.

She says they needed to find another way to get their message across to policy-makers after the pandemic made it impossible for them to take them on grain tours.

“In hindsight, with the video, we’ve been able to reach a much broader audience than we would have if we were doing in-person tours,” Gowriluk said

She adds they’ve interviewed eight farmers from across six provinces, from Alberta to Prince Edward Island.

“Talking to us about what it takes to put a crop in the ground, what it takes to protect and nurture that crop over the summer months, and then everything that goes into harvest and marketing that grain.”

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Gowriluk says the video and its predecessor, ‘Speech from the Combine’ have really amplified their message.

“That video got thousands of views and so, while, it’s difficult to replace a face to face meeting, that’s a critical part of our relationship building with government officials here in Ottawa that’s the one thing we’ve been able to do with this virtual medium, is that we’ve been able to reach a lot more people.”

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She hopes all the MPs, Senators, and government officials take time to see it.

She says agriculture is well-positioned to be a big part of the government’s “tagline” to build back better after the pandemic.

“We know that the agriculture sector is well-positioned to drive the post-pandemic economic recovery. We’re a sector with tremendous potential. A number of reports have cited that.”

In the meantime, she says one of the things they want to see from the federal government is recognition for the work farmers do to mitigate climate change.

“We want to know what that recognition looks like, and we want to work with our government partners to establish programs and protocols that do truly recognize Canadian farmers for their contributions and for the investments that they’ve made.”