Farmers in Leduc County reaping early wheat harvest for global food insecurity efforts

A fleet of combines hit a wheat field in Leduc County to collect crops that will help fight international food insecurity. CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson reports.

A group of nearly 200 farmers flocked to a wheat field in Leduc County this week to begin an early harvest for a charity working to end global hunger.

The Leduc Growing Project, which has been doing a group harvest since 1999, seeded donated land – 150 acres of it – in the spring.

About half a square kilometre was grown, dry and ready for harvest for farmers on Thursday.

• Get the latest Edmonton updates right to your inbox

The work, which would normally take around a day and a half, was chopped down to a few hours between 14 combines filling 12 trucks with grain.

“People are taking time out of their own harvest today to come and do this,” said Colin Boender, a member of the group.

The wheat that comes off the field and its subsequent profits go toward Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a Christian charity partnering with organizations in developing countries.

Through the non-profit, which was founded in Winnipeg circa 1983, grains and crops are harvested and 70 per cent of profits support people in famine situations around the world.

The other 30 per cent of profits is spent to help farmers grow more crops, including in areas that have suffered from erosion and drought.

Boender estimated that this year, nearly $100,000 will be raised through the harvest, which then could be matched up 4-to-1 by the Canadian government – turning it into a $500,000 donation.

In the last 25 years, the Leduc Growing Project has raised more than $2 million.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson