Year number two on the fields of southeastern Manitoba has turned into another positive fundraising venture for the Steinbach Pistons.
The Pistons harvested their second crop last month with the help of Henervic Farms, MazerGroup Ltd, Southeast Seeds, Mark Hutlet Seeds, Adama, Sengenta and the leadership and guidance of Herbsigwil Farms who were the lead hand on this year’s project.
“This year started out very promising with an early dry seeding date,” said Scott Peters of Herbsigwil. “Soon after we had large amounts of rain and a solid dose of hail. Just for good measure we had cutworm issues aswell.”
This is almost exactly what happened last year, except last year’s field experienced excess moisture instead of hail. And just like last year, the field managed to come back to life in the later stages of the growing season.
In terms of a good crop, this year wasn’t quite there, mustering up only 23.5 bushels per/acre. For those non-farmers, 35-to-40 bushels is good and 50+ is great! Since the field suffered major hail damage early in the season the Pistons wre able to claim money back on their hail insurance.
The crop cheque combined with the hail insurance kick-back and sponsorship money from Herbsigwil Farms, Henvervic Farms, MazerGroup LTD, Southeast Seeds, Mark Hutlet Seeds, Adama and Sengentta has helped the Pistons reach new fundraising heights. The generousity of all the crop program’s supporters has helped the team net over $30,000 on 120 acres of land.
“It’s a great way to give back to the community,” commented Peters, who is also one of the Pistons 38 community owners. “We all like to see a high level of hockey close to home as well as a successful team. It takes volunteers and money and time to have success in the MJHL. We try and do our part to contribute.”
The Pistons are already planning next year’s crop with Henervic Farms stepping up to lead the program for the second time in three years. And the plan is to plant corn for the first time after seeding soybeans the first two years.
