Everybody needs food, but for some people, actually being able to afford that food is a challenge, and one they can鈥檛 always meet. The God鈥檚 Little Acre project, now in its second year in Yorkton, is a community-based movement to feed the hungry in the city by raising produce, and recently held a potato planting event to start the 2015 growing season.
聽Jas Singh began the God鈥檚 Little Acre project in Surrey, BC. He says it began as he made a major shift in his priorities, moving from the corporate world into growing food for people. The project has significantly expanded since it began, going from potatoes on three acres to 70 acres on five farms.
鈥淚 grew up on a farm, and I decided to go back to farming, and some personal changes in my life meant I am following a different path now, and that path lead me to do a lot more community work than before,鈥� Singh says.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e looking at a guy who lives in a basement suite, owns no property and is giving away 150,000 lbs of product this year alone.鈥�
The project in Yorkton is trying to go in the same direction as the B.C. original, beginning with potatoes and then steadily expanding to more crops and more land.
The Yorkton expansion was created from a series of fortuitous chance meetings. He met someone in Regina at an Airport who had heard of the project after deciding to visit the province. They just happened to both be headed to Yorkton, and after being invited to church by this person, he met most of the main group running the show in Yorkton, and they quickly decided to move forward with the project.
鈥淚n my life I don鈥檛 believe anything is a coincidence... I think it was all planned long before I showed up here.鈥�
Singh says that he provides the seed, whether that means the literal seeds or the experience of doing the project in B.C. He says that the local crew is what makes the local version work, and their hard work, and their contributions make it work. One of those local people is Dwayne Kruger, the farmer who is providing the land. He says it made sense to support the project with land because that鈥檚 what he has and can contribute, and he believes in Singh鈥檚 vision. Kruger says that the project has brought together the neighbours, as the tractors were all provided by the neighboring farms and families.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a really good community out here rurally... It鈥檚 about cultivating the land, but cultivating relationships and community,鈥� Kruger says.
The first year of the project was a success, in spite of a difficult growing season which included flooding, limiting access to the land and causing concerns over the health of the crop.
鈥淪omehow, our potatoes were protected, and we were able to pull out ten or twelve thousand pounds of potatoes to give away.鈥�
Singh says that for him personally, he believes everyone has a responsibility to help their fellow man, and this is how he can help. He does not make a profit on the project, as he doesn鈥檛 believe profits should be in the equation when it comes to feeding the hungry, saying that expenses are handled through farmers markets and it鈥檚 otherwise entirely volunteer based.
鈥淚 think whether you鈥檙e a religious person聽 or not, you will hopefully be at a point in your life where you will be lying down and asking 鈥渨hat did I do with my life?鈥� I want to make sure I have an answer to that question... To say I did good, to say I did the right thing, that I didn鈥檛 let my brother or sister starve here. That鈥檚 very basic, how you can lift people out of poverty if you can feed people. It doesn鈥檛 matter if they are addicts, it doesn鈥檛 matter if they are street people, it doesn鈥檛 matter if they鈥檙e drunk, we need to feed them first and motivate them second, and if we follow that path I think we are doing the right thing.鈥�
It鈥檚 hard work, and it鈥檚 for a good cause, but the Singh says it has also been a fun project, and he invites people to follow along with what they鈥檙e doing at www.godslittleacrefarm.com.
