Everyone is welcome to attend the annual NFU Region 6 (Saskatchewan) Convention on Wednesday July 24 (free public event and Seed Bank tour) & Thursday July 25, 2019 at Queens House Retreat Centre (601 Taylor St. W) in Saskatoon. We encourage all members and other interested people to attend our Saskatchewan Convention. Our conventions are always lively where new ideas are explored and direction is given for our Region.

You are invited to a tour of the Plant Gene Resources of Canada (Canada’s seed bank) on Wednesday July 24 from 3:00 to 4:30 PM. We will visit the outdoor plots where 3,000 varieties are grown out every year. Please phone or email the NFU national office at 306-652-9465 or nfu@nfu.ca if you plan to be on the tour so we can let PGRC know how many people to expect. We will meet at the Queen’s House parking lot at 2:30 to carpool over to the site. If weather is inclement we will tour the PGRC’s indoor facilities instead.

Our Public Event on Wednesday evening 7:00 pm at Queens House is a presentation called “Farmland Drainage: A Looming Environmental Crisis”. Our speaker Jeff Olson is a Wetlands Specialist and retired planner with Water Security Agency who ranches in the Beaver Hills area.

Our guest speaker on July 25 will be NFU member Glenn Wright presenting his personal perspective on “Sustainable transitions and minimum input grain farming in our changing climate.”

The convention will also have presentations on the NFU’s campaign to protect farmers’ seed rights, and updates on the Saskatchewan Wheat and Barley Development Commissions, as well as reports, elections of officials and resolutions.

Resolutions on current policy issues may be presented to this convention and those passed will be forwarded to National Convention.

Elections for three National Board members, a Women’s Advisory Committee member, a Youth Advisory member, and an International Program Committee member will also be held, as well as nominations for the Grassroots Member Award.

Convention registration will take place at 8:30 am Thursday, July 25 at Queens House, with the Call to Order at 9:00. Convention will adjourn at 4:00.

Speaker bios:

Jeff Olson is a retired public servant of 36 years in the environmental field. He has extensive knowledge surrounding farmland drainage and wetland loss as a Conservation Officer stationed throughout Saskatchewan, as a Wetlands Specialist with Saskatchewan Environment and, in the last fourteen years of his career as a Watershed Planner with the Water Security Agency. Jeff is a co-founder of the Saskatchewan Environmental Alliance; a group of concerned forward thinking citizens working on innovative solutions to contemporary environmental problems. He holds a recognized Environmental Professional (EP) designation in Natural Resource Management and is principal in Mind’s Eye Consulting (Saskatchewan) which is involved in watershed management, environmental law enforcement, and present environmental water issues in Saskatchewan. Jeff ranches in the Beaver Hills area of west central Saskatchewan.

Glenn Wright is an engineer who was born and raised in Saskatoon. Scratch that engineer part — he prefers to be thought of as a problem solver — perhaps that is what drew him to farming. All of Glenn’s extended family farmed and he was always envious of his cousins who lived out of the city. In 2004 Glenn and his wife Shannon moved out of the city and began growing a small farming operation near Vanscoy, SK. Growing the farm has required off employment; Glenn worked as an engineer mining uranium for 14 years before retiring in 2016 to pursue a law degree. Glenn is currently in his last year of law school at the University of Saskatchewan.  He is very focused on sustainable transition initiatives: renewable energy, electric transport, home insulation retrofits, regenerative agriculture, politics, and activism. Glenn is also the author of the NFU’s affidavit in the constitutional challenge regarding GHG pricing.

Registration Fees:
• July 24, Public Event 7:00 – 9:00 pm: by donation
• July 25, Regional Convention 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (including lunch): $60
• July 25, Regional Convention Youth under 25 years (includes lunch): $25

Please pre-register for Convention by emailing Glenn Tait, Regional Coordinator at gttait@sasktel.net or by calling 306-892-4342 so we can let Queens House know the number of people attending for lunch preparations.

Accommodation: If you wish to stay overnight at Queens House, please contact them directly at 306 242-1916. The Overnight lodging rate is single bed $60. Breakfast July 25: continental breakfast $5; a hot breakfast buffet for $9 will be served at 8 AM if there are sufficient overnight guests to warrant. If you prefer camping, a full-service camp site within the city is available at Gordon Howe campground located at 1640 Avenue P South, Saskatoon, and is a 15 minute drive to Queen’s House. To reserve a site Call 1-866-855-6655 toll-free or 306-975-3328. ca