By Alice McFarlane

Social media ag challenge raises money for charities

May 26, 2021 | 4:20 PM

MELFORT, Sask. — A Davidson area farmer may not be able to take credit for the much needed rain on the weekend.

But Rob Stone’s Twitter challenge to other farmers to give money to charities in return for some moisture appears to have worked.

Stone, like many farmers in Saskatchewan, was waiting for a crop saving rain this spring. He said shared on #AgTwitter that he would donate $1,000 to charity if his farm received a half inch of rain by May 25. Many other farmers joined in.

“I was driving down the road one day and I thought we could do something about this and set some targets in order to have something to look forward to,” he said. “I threw the challenge out to my friends on ag twitter and encouraged them to do the same.”

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The response from farmers was overwhelming. The rain came on the Victoria Day long weekend. Getting the rain now was very important, according to Stone. The situation was dire. Stone said without a timely rain he believed at least half of his crop would not have even emerged.

“Generally you seed and you find the moisture, the seed germinates and it’s set up for in-season precipitation to achieve your target yields. This year was just dry,” he said.

Stone said he then had to decide which charity would get the money.

As a long time 4-H member and supporter, the Saskatchewan 4-H Foundation seemed like the best choice for him. Stone said every farmer that participated picked their own charity.

“There’s a lot of support for STARS, Telemiracle, Alzheimers and numerous local charities. Everyone has their own personal preference. It’s done a lot of good for great organizations,” Stone said.

Stone said it’s important to give what you can when you can.

“Saskatchewan is a very giving province and when you put out the call to participate it’s an easy task,” he said.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW