ESTEVAN — The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins have launched an agricultural fundraiser to support the junior A hockey club.
Bushels for the Bruins has two components. Executive member Derek Tendler said the first involves the club growing about 140 acres of crop on rented land northeast of Bienfait. Canola was chosen this year because of a crop rotation.
"We're trying to get sponsorships and donations, which we've done fairly successfully just with seed and fertilizer. The biggest thing has been the equipment, to actually seed it, to spray it, to combine it and to get it to the elevator," said Tendler.
The club has a three-year commitment for the land. Next year, Tendler said it will be a cereal of some sort, whether it be durum or a spring wheat, and then it would likely be a pulse crop for the third year.
"If you're not part of the agricultural industry, it's tough to explain how many moving parts there are to be able to grow a crop. So, once the land was acquired, basically it got the ball rolling from there," said Tendler.
With advice from Estevan’s Richardson Pioneer, the club said in a news release that inputs and suppliers were organized to prepare and seed recently-rented land. With support of community farming families, the crop will be maintained and the Bruins hope a strong crop will be ready come harvest time.
The club is also encouraging local producers to support the team. Tendler said there will be 100, 200 and 300-bushel donations that would not only result in a tax receipt, but would include incentives such as season tickets, a commemorative Bruins' ag jersey or admission to the Bruins' annual Sportsman's Dinner. The Bruins have set up accounts across southeast Saskatchewan elevators for crop donations.
Tendler noted agriculture runs deep in the Estevan area and across the province. Other organizations and sports teams have enjoyed success with similar fundraisers. The Bruins hope to raise as much money as possible each year, but it's dependent on the weather co-operating.
"If the rain doesn't come, the needle moves back quite a bit. So, obviously with the support that we've already gotten, a lot of the overhead has been mitigated, so we're hoping to get to a point where anything that we do make off the crop can be kept as fundraising money," he said.
Tendler is pleased with how the fundraiser has progressed so far. Like other farmers, they could have more rain. Weed pressure happened early on, but working with Richardson Pioneer, they have been able to take care of it, allowing the canola to flourish.
