Nila and Keith MacFarlan are lifelong city dwellers with no farm experience. For the past two years, however, they have been a big part of the harvest season. 

Keith laughed when asked if he and his wife had ever been to a farm. But when asked about the 2018 harvest, they both got excited.

"We were really thrilled to discover the program and participate in it last year," said Keith MacFarlan. "It was kind of a no-brainer this year."

The program MacFarlan is talking about is the Mennonite Central Committee's (MCC) Grow Hope Project with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). 120 people gathered together on Sunday at Crystal Springs Colony, 20 minutes south of Winnipeg, to celebrate the program's 2018 harvest. 

The idea behind the project was simply to slow the separation between urban and rural communities.

"The model for Grow Hope is to link urban non-farmers as donors to support the expenses of placing and growing the crop in rural farm locations," said executive director of MCC Manitoba Darryl Loewen. 

While many CFGB growing projects rely on farmers and business sponsors to front the cost of planting and harvesting, Grow Hope asks those off the farm to donate towards the input cost of planting.

The harvested field is sold, with the proceeds being donated to MCC and the CFGB. This year, MCC is sending aid to Syria, providing displaced families still in their country with monthly food hampers.

"We've been blessed quite substantially with our farm and our lives," said Kyle Friesen, a farmer at H&M Farms who joined the Grow Hope Project this year. "We feel like it's our purpose in life to give some of that blessing back to those who need it."

Friesen has put aside 60 acres of land for this project, located along Highway 30 just north of Altona. Despite the dry weather, his crop is looking good. He's hoping to get up to $500 per acre once he harvests and sells.

While the divide between urban and rural seems to grow every year, Friesen was impressed with the number of people who travelled out to Crystal Springs Colony to celebrate the harvest. And while he may not be impressed by a field of canola, Nila MacFarlan certainly was.

"We just saw it as an opportunity to act out our Christian faith," she said, noting that she has also been impressed by both MCC and CFGB.

Grow Hope is one project with plots in six different locations throughout southern Manitoba. Last year, the project raised an average of $600 per acre, which was a record year. Loewen isn't expecting that but is very excited to see what comes this year.

Show the government you care

While CFGB is using this money overseas, they are looking for the Canadian government to join them in contributing more. Gordon Janzen, a regional representative for the CFGB in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario, says Canada should be using its wealth to help those who need it.

CFGB is asking farmers and non-farmers alike to engage with them in the I Care campaign. Janzen says all you need to do is sign a postcard. That card states that you care about foreign aid and would like the government to contribute more. 

Janzen says he plans to deliver them to Justin Trudeau, possibly inside the grain bags they were being collected in on Sunday.

October 16 is World Food Day, which is when the postcards are being delivered.