Agricultural Society Innovation Award accepting applications

This award celebrates the significant contributions agricultural societies make in Alberta.

“The Agricultural Society Innovation Award recognizes agricultural societies for their innovation, resilience and commitment to their communities,” says Susan Lacombe, program coordinator with Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development. “This award allows us to work together to champion and celebrate the significant contributions that agricultural societies make, while inspiring others to take action.”

The program recognized 2

agricultural societies in 2021, which made tremendous impacts on their communities – the Calmar and District Agricultural Society and the Rocky Mountain House Agricultural Society.

The Calmar and District Agricultural Society and curling club were gifted a piece of land to farm. Using donated materials, machinery, seed, fertilizer, crop insurance and a host of volunteers, profits from the harvest were distributed to the curling club and other Leduc County charities and organizations. This had a tremendous impact on the local community.

The Rocky Mountain House

Agricultural Society was recognized for developing a series of agriculture education videos for grade 4 students.

These videos featured local farms and producers covering a wide range of topics from farm safety, equine safety and dairy, beef and sheep production, to information on 4-H steers. These videos are also available to the public, and can be incorporated into future in-person educational programming.

A selection panel made up of individuals representing agricultural societies will evaluate the 2022 applications based on a ranking system that includes creativity, community impact, challenge overcome and overall impression.

“Up to 3 agricultural societies will be recognized at the upcoming Alberta

Association of Agricultural Societies annual convention on February 3, 2023. Innovations should be something that is new to the agricultural society, and demonstrate how the society continued to positively impact community engagement, recovery and reopening during the last year.”

The winners will each receive a banner suitable for display in their area or community hall to mark this achievement, along with a formal certificate of recognition. Applications for the 2022 award are now available. The deadline to apply is November 30, 2022.

“Agricultural societies matter and this is one small way for us to say thank you for the critical work they do in building a stronger Alberta,” says Lacombe.