A growing project near Rivers has raised a crop for the Candian Foodgrains Bank every year since 1998 but volunteers aren’t hitting the field this spring.

A problem securing land kept the project from going ahead in 2022.

Ron Krahn is a local farmer and helps coordinate the growing project every year. “It’s disappointing because this will be our first year without a growing project in our area. We haven’t been able to find any land for the project and we’re appreciative of land owners who have rented us land in the past but circumstances have changed and we’re with out a project. It’s too bad especially now with so much demand for food around the world.”

Krahn wouldn’t say he’s confident they’d find land for next year but he remains hopeful.

“In many cases if you are renting land there is a lot of demand with land for farmers and prices have gone up. Sometimes circumstances arise and you’re unable to get land but we’ve had a good run and we’re thankful for the land we’ve been able to send to the foodgrains bank” said Ron Krahn.

Gordon Janzen is the area representative for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and he says the number of projects for Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario will be down in 2022. He normally works with 36 or 37 groups and this year that number will be closer to 35.