The 57th Annual Convention
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Thurs. Nov. 19 to Sat. Nov. 21, 2026
Radisson Hotel, Winnipeg Downtown
288 Portage Ave, Winnipeg, MB
This November, the National Farmers Union is heading to Winnipeg! Join farmers, farm workers and allies from across Canada at the NFU’s 57th Annual Convention, November 19-21 in Winnipeg or online. This year’s theme, AgriCULTURE, brings us together to connect with fellow farmers, discuss the issues facing our farms and communities, and help set the direction of the NFU’s work. Whether this is your first Convention or you join us every year, we’d love to see you there. Everyone is welcome; you don’t need to be an NFU member to attend!
Book your hotel room!
Guests can call or email reservations manager Sandi Quinn to book a hotel room:
Sandi Quinn
Radisson Hotel Winnipeg Downtown
Reservations Manager
Office: 204-975-6221
Email: squinn@canadinns.com
Or please call the front desk at 1 (204) 956-0410 for 24-7 booking service.
Block Code: Please use the code 720432 when booking to receive discounted rates.
Program Highlights
Download the 2026 Convention Agenda to see the complete schedule, including breaks, elections and resolutions, and other NFU business.
Keynote with Clayton Thomas-Müller
Clayton Thomas-Müller is a member of the Treaty #6-based Mathias Colomb Cree Nation located in Northern Manitoba. He has been recognized by Yes Magazine as a Climate Hero and is featured as one of ten international human rights defenders in the National Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Clayton is an award-winning film director, media producer, organizer, facilitator, public speaker, and bestselling author on Indigenous rights and environmental and economic justice. His book, Life in the City of Dirty Water, is a national bestseller. Clayton serves as the Arctic & Hudson Bay Campaigner for Climate Reality. He is currently organizing efforts to stop the export of LNG & other fossil fuels from Western Canada and critical minerals from Ontario’s Ring of Fire out of his Peoples’ homelands via the Arctic Port of Churchill.
Thursday, Nov. 19
Panel One
Food Security in Manitoba: Farmers, Communities and Local Initiatives
In a land of plenty, some Manitobans still go hungry. This panel will discuss initiatives to address food insecurity, increase resilience and strengthen Manitoba’s local food systems.
Kristie Schertzer of Direct Farm Manitoba will share how the Manitoba Community Food Currency Program connects households experiencing food insecurity with fresh food from local farmers. Stan McKay brings perspectives on food sovereignty, cross-cultural relationships and addressing injustices rooted in colonial history. Kerry Spence of Food Matters Manitoba brings perspectives on community-led food security, Indigenous food sovereignty and connections to the land and traditional foodways.
Kristie Schertzer
Kristie Schertzer is the Executive Director of Direct Farm Manitoba (DFMB), a non-profit cooperative supporting Manitoba farmers’ markets and small-scale producers. Kristie has worked in the sector for over 12 years, working on a variety of projects, including the development of Direct Farm Manitoba’s Manitoba Community Food Currency Program, a sector building initiative supporting food security and directly benefiting local producers, that connects food insecure households across Manitoba with fresh, farm food at their local farmers’ market. In addition to her work with farmers’ markets and farmers, Kristie was a member of the Provincial Government Relations team for Farmers for Climate Solutions, and also sits on the board of Canadian Farmers’ Markets.
Stan McKay
Stan McKay is a Cree leader, educator, and former Moderator of the United Church of Canada. Born in Fisher River Cree Nation in northern Manitoba, he attended Fisher River Indian Day School and Birtle Indian Residential School. He went on to study at Manitoba Teachers’ College, the University of Manitoba, and the University of Winnipeg before being ordained by the United Church of Canada in 1971.
Throughout his career, Stan has worked in education, pastoral ministry, Indigenous leadership, and reconciliation. He taught in Norway House and Nelson House, served as a minister in Norway House and Fisher River, and held leadership positions as National Coordinator of Native Ministry for the United Church and Director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Centre. From 1992 to 1994, he served as Moderator of the United Church of Canada. He also worked as Director of Spiritual Care at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.
Stan continues to focus on building cross-cultural relationships, encouraging dialogue, and addressing injustices rooted in colonial history. He lives in Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba, with his wife, Dorothy. Together, they have three children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
Kerry Spence (Food Matters Manitoba)
Kerry Spence is the Director of Programs at Food Matters Manitoba, an Indigenous community-led organization working alongside northern and Indigenous communities to strengthen food security and revitalize Indigenous food sovereignty.
In her role, Kerry works alongside communities, building relationships grounded in mutual respect and trust, while supporting community-led food sovereignty and food security initiatives. Her work is rooted in a commitment to Indigenous self-determination and the strengthening of connections to the land and traditional foodways.
Growing up in the rural community of Eddystone, Manitoba, Kerry was immersed in a way of life shaped by her father’s hunting, harvesting, and fishing experiences that helped foster her own appreciation for the land and the food it provides. As a First Nations woman with an educational background in nutrition, she brings both personal and professional perspectives to her work, walking alongside community partners as they strengthen their food systems in ways that reflect their own needs, priorities, and knowledge.
Friday, Nov. 20
Panel Two
The NFU In Action – How we build collective power
Each year, the NFU’s Year-in-Review is presented to NFU members as a list of completed tasks – this year, we want to prioritize hearing from you! What 2026 NFU campaigns excited you, spurred your involvement, made you proud to be a member? What critical policies/issues will energize and involve you in 2027? The NFU VP of Policy and policy staff will facilitate an interactive session to help you evaluate what NFU policy work accomplished, what the union collectively did well, what could be improved upon, and the best ways you can get involved in NFU policy work after the convention. Come prepared with your celebrations, feedback, critical analysis, and dreams!
James Hannay
James Hannay is the policy analyst at the NFU. He lives on the territories of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Chonnonton, now known as London Ontario. James has worked on nearly every policy issue imaginable during his time at the National Farmers Union, including climate, seed, right to repair, trade, livestock, and transportation. James’ favourite part of working at the NFU is collaborating with our members to build an agricultural economy that creates dignified livelihood for our farmers.
Sarah Marquis
Sarah Marquis is a policy analyst at the National Farmers Union. She has been with the NFU since 2025, and her work focuses on agricultural technology sovereignty, climate change and farmland issues. In 2024, she completed her PhD in Environmental Sustainability at the University of Ottawa, where her research explored discourses of techno-solutionism and techno-optimism with regards to digital agriculture technologies in policy and media contexts. She is also an activist and community organizer living and working on unceded Algonquin territory in Ottawa, Ontario.
Phil Mount
Born and raised on a dairy farm in eastern Ontario, Phil Mount is NFU’s Vice-President for Policy. Phil has a research background in political economy and sustainable regional food systems and, along with his partner, Denise, is currently developing joint food and farm enterprises—expanding both a mixed Katahdin flock at Flat Earth Farm, and a processing and food service enterprise at The Sheepdog Grill.
Saturday, Nov. 21
Interactive Workshop
We are Connected! Why International Solidarity is Key to Food Sovereignty and Changing the World
La Via Campesina
This interactive workshop organized by the International Programs Committee (IPC) invites NFU members and allies to consider the ways that our challenges, hopes and visions are connected to those of farmers, farm workers and Indigenous Peoples around the world. If our struggles are connected, how can we build solidarity? Roundtable discussions will focus on: intergenerational renewal, land access and concentration, settler colonialism and imperialism, agroecology brigades, the future of the United Nations (UN) and grassroots alternatives to multilateralism. Whether you are a beginner or long-time participant in international organizing, this workshop will give us all a chance to learn together.
Developing Campaigns that Build Power and Win
Led by OrgX
Amidst fierce attack on farmlands and communities, it is more important than ever to grow our strategic capacity to fight back and build lasting power. This training session will explore campaigns as a vehicle to build power, organize members, and win material changes. Participants will learn the key campaign planning tools and apply them directly to campaign options the NFU is exploring.
Vi Bui
Vi Bui (she/her) is an organizer from Vietnam living and organizing on unceded Alqonguin Anishinaabeg territory (Ottawa). For over a decade she has been fighting extractive projects, expanding health care, standing with Indigenous communities, organizing workers, and building community power. She is currently a Training Manager with Organizing Exchange, growing our movement’s capacity to organize, build power, and win.
Wyanne Sandler
Wyanne Sandler (she/her) is a NFU family farm member from Region 1, District 3 (Mi’kma’ki/NS). She has a passion for organizing around farming, food sovereignty, and social, ecological, and climate justice. Wyanne grew up on a mixed farm in Prince Edward Island, and now lives on a small homestead with her partner (a commercial beekeeper) and their two children. Wyanne is also a Co-Director at For Our Kids, a grassroots network of parents, grandparents and caregivers organizing to take climate action for our kids and future generations.
Friday night at the Ukrainian Labour Temple!
Details coming soon
Papa Mambo
Papa Mambo plays a mixture of Salsa and Latin jazz charts that include the classics as well as original songs that have delighted audiences for over 35 years here in the band’s hometown of Winnipeg as well as across Canada, with an aggressive and tight rhythm section alongside a horn section. Papa Mambo always delivers a brilliant, exhilarating, and groovy set to their adoring audience.
Thanks to our 2026 Convention Sponsors
