MacGregor-area farmer opens charity sunflower selfie spot for 2nd year

A Manitoba farmer is continuous his custom of serving to folks take the last word sunflower-themed selfies — whereas additionally elevating cash to stamp out starvation and defuse a thorny drawback some producers face from picture-hunting trespassers.

Dean Toews, who farms simply outdoors of MacGregor, Man., has once more planted a big discipline of sunflowers in hopes of attracting Instagrammers to come back, snap pics and make a voluntary donation to the Canadian Foodgrains Financial institution. 

Toews is the chair of Feed Different Nations Undo Hunger, or FOCUS. His household’s farm, two others within the space and 5 Hutterite colonies volunteer to develop meals for the group in good thing about the foodgrains financial institution. Native suppliers additionally assist with donations of fertilizer and chemical compounds. 

The Canadian Foodgrains Financial institution works to assist creating international locations meet emergency meals wants and devise long-term options to starvation.

Final yr’s effort raised $2,000 in money donations and made one other $20,000 on the sale of the sunflower crop, Toews stated. The federal authorities matched that quantity at a ratio of 4:1, that means greater than $100,000 was raised general.

He hopes this yr will exceed that. To get there, Toews is using a big signal full with a QR code guests can use to donate via their telephones in the event that they select, in addition to accepting money. 

The attraction can also be open earlier within the season than it was final yr, rising the possibilities of a higher donation yield.

A part of the thought additionally got here from a pressure level that may flare up between farmers and metropolis people, Toews stated on Sunday. 

“Once they’ve come out to the sector, they wish to see the sunflowers, nevertheless it’s primarily trespassing until they’ve permission. And so we thought, ‘What if we gave folks permission to come back and revel in themselves within the discipline?'”

Sydney Winter, who drove out Sunday from Headingley, simply west of Winnipeg, stated it was value it.

“We love taking photographs, so it was very nice that there is a place that welcomed us onto their property … and I might publish on Instagram and never get in bother,” Winter stated. 

There’s one other aspect profit, Toews stated: connecting folks to farming. 

“As time goes on … individuals are extra separated from agriculture, and so this enables extra interplay,” he stated. “It’s elevating cash, however on the farmer hat aspect, it is only a pleasure to have folks get pleasure from what we do.” 

To find the fields, drive 1.6 km east of the MacGregor Co-Op Fuel Bar, positioned on the north aspect of the Trans-Canada Freeway. MacGregor is about 120 kilometres west of Winnipeg.