A new program is set to see those in the agriculture industry help support local food banks across Saskatchewan and Western Canada.

The “AGT Food Bank Crop Exchange Program” is a program in partnership with AGT Food and Ingredients, Food Banks Canada and Drive Away Hunger. The program asks producers to donate a portion of their crop delivery when they deliver a load of pulses, grains and canola to their local AGT Foods delivery location.

The program works by seeing producers commit to an amount and “round down” their delivery. For example, if their delivery to AGT Foods is 40 metric tonnes and they choose to donate one metric tonne, local and provincial food banks will get a dollar-for-dollar food credit with AGT Foods towards pasta, rice, pulses and staple foods.

Murad Al-katib, the CEO of AGT Food and Ingredients, said with people facing a growing list of problems, food insecurity shouldn’t be one of them.

“The world is facing a growing crisis of food scarcity, food security, food inflation, rising populations, climate change, and its impact on the environment. Heat waves, floods, droughts, supply chain disruptions, global pandemics, and economic conditions are tough, and the last thing that people should have to think about is getting enough food to eat,” he said.”

“As the food crisis is upon us, it is not limited to faraway places. We have a food crisis right here at home as well in communities all across our province and across Western Canada. Many families are struggling to put food on the table,” Al-katib continued. “This is especially troubling in this province, where our producers and their output are a vital component to the global food supplies and food security in the rest of the world.”

Al-katib said he hopes the program will aid in alleviating or solving the problem of food insecurity for many families and communities in the province.

“It’s not acceptable, with the agricultural bounty that we produce in Saskatchewan and in Canada as a whole, that people are still going hungry and having a difficult time putting nutritious food on the table.”