The Dauphin Agricultural Society (DAS) visited its own history in presenting the annual Ron Brook Memorial Award at its Farm Outlook 2024, Mar 14. For 40 years DAS has been presenting continuing education opportunities for producers, first through the Challenges of Production seminar and in recent years, through the Farm Outlook programming.

To mark that milestone this year’s award was presented to the organizing committee of the first seminar.  That first committee consisted of DAS members Rod Fisher, George Richardson, Bev Prestayko, Brian Damsgaard and Reg Tarrant, who worked in conjunction with Lyle McNichol and Peter Kiez from Manitoba Agriculture and with the help of the local Bank of Nova Scotia branch. In presenting the award, Farm Outlook co-chair Jim Kaleta said in the early days Dauphin hosted one of the very few farm seminars in the province and the program took place over two days, drawing hundreds of producers from the Parkland and beyond to learn from a full slate of agricultural industry professionals. Banquets were regularly standing room only and always offered important keynote speakers - in one instance the federal Minister of Agriculture Eugene Whelan.

The Ron Brook Memorial Award was established in 1990 to honour the long-time DAS director who died during a fair in the late 1980s. It is presented annually to a deserving individual or organization which provides notable contributions to DAS and the agriculture industry. As an added bonus this year, on behalf of award recipients, DAS will offer a one-time only $2,000 scholarship to a student entering a post-secondary agriculture related program.

Pictured above are Reg Tarrant, George Richardson, DAS president Teren Stykalo, Rod Fisher, Farm Outlook co-chair Jim Kaleta and Brian Damsgaard.