The Dauphin Ag Society held Farm Outlook 2023 yesterday and it was a huge success.
At the event, the Ag Society presented the Ron Brook Memorial Award, and this year it went to a group you might not immediately associate with Agriculture. The Dauphin Fire Department was this year's recipient, and selection committee member Tere Stykalo says a lot goes into the decision process.
"You sort of try to pick the most appropriate for that current year, and you know, sometimes a little more assessment goes into the recipient each year, and this year, the Fire Department was hands down what everyone felt was the organization we wanted to acknowledge."
Fire Chief Cam Abrey says it's a great honour for the department to receive the award, and they did some digging into the history between the two organizations.
"A few weeks ago we had one of the members of the Ag Society come to the fire station and ask for the history of the Fire Departments' involvement with the summer fair, and anything else we could put together on our partnership with our Ag community."
Chief Abrey says during their research, they found that 1978 was the first request for them to assist with the fire protection for the demolition derby during the summer fair. He says that relationship is something that means a lot to the department, and it's a great feeling to have their involvement with the Ag Society Recognized.
"It's something for the members of the department past and present. This is a 45-year relationship that they've had with the Ag Society and the Summer Fair for the fire protection. There are a lot of members that have come and gone through our doors. It's nice to remember those folks as well, so having this award presented is recognizing past, present, and future, and a partnership that we hope continues for a lot of years."
The rest of the event featured a number of presentations about everything from grain buying and selling decisions to rural crime and what can be done to slow the trend. Co-chair Chad Sahulka says they really wanted to focus on having a wide variety of topics.
"Having a wide variety of speakers was a huge thing for today. We wanted to kind of get out and get in touch with everyone to try and cover our whole industry. Kind of looking for the same thing next year, hopefully, get some new faces in and some new presentations."
