Company announces community program

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

by DAVE PINK

Winnipeg-based Monsanto Canada is preparing to donate $145,000 to some of the registered charities and non-profit organizations nominated by the nation’s farmers.

The Monsanto Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, announced the launch of its Canada's Farmers Grow Communities program on Monday. Two grants of $2,500 will be made to worthy causes in each of Monsanto’s 29 marketing districts across Canada. Five of those districts are in Ontario.

“Rural communities are the heart of Canada. Whether growing crops to feed people, feed livestock, create biodiesel, or clothe us, farmers in rural communities provide many of the necessities in our lives," Trish Jordan, Monsanto’s public and industry affairs director, said in a news release. "We wanted to provide an opportunity to help farmers invest in their communities and highlight the important contributions they make every day."

Farmers are encouraged to send in nominations for any cause they believe deserves a $2,500 grant, provided it is a registered charity or non-profit organization. The winners will be decided in a random draw.

“We wanted to keep the program as simple as possible,” Jordan said in a phone interview. “We didn’t want to restrict them, or force them to spend hours writing a pitch.”

Under the rules for the Canada's Farmers Grow Communities program, farmers who are 19 years or older and actively engaged in farming a combination of corn, soybeans and/or canola on at least 160 acres in Western Canada, or a combination of corn or soybeans on at least 80 acres in Eastern Canada, are eligible to participate in the program.

As well, the program allows other non-farming residents of rural communities to go online and make suggestions of worthy groups or projects for a farmer to consider using a Canada's Farmers Grow Communities application.

Entries will be accepted until Sept. 30. Winners will be notified by Nov. 15, and the grants will be made before the end of the year. No purchase is necessary in order to enter or win. Eligible farmers can submit just one application.

Information on the company and the grants can be found at www.monsanto.ca . BF