A team of farmers gathered on Monday at the 22nd annual HOPE (Helping Other People Eat) grow project east of Arnaud to harvest 160 acres of spring wheat.

HOPE is one of the dozens of Manitoba projects associated with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. Profit from the sale of the crop is donated to the CFGB to help support the hunger relief work the organization does in developing countries.

With 13 combines, five grain carts, 10 semi-trucks, and a total of 90 people in attendance, project chair Jeremy Calder says this was the best turnout in many years.

"There's been a few years where it was a bit down with participation but we still got a lot of crop in and got it off, but now it seems like the last couple years we've had a really good resurgence with combines coming out and stuff and taking the field off," he said.

In just over one hour they collected 70 bushels an acre, which Calder estimates will equate to between $50,000 and $60,000 for the CFGB.

"It was dry, we were concerned, but it turned out fairly well ... very happy with it," Calder said.

The project received a number of input donations, including seed and fertilizer, from businesses in the community.

Photo courtesy of Bernard Funk

Photo courtesy of Bernard Funk