About four hundred people gathered in the Lanigan arena [Saskatchewan] to celebrate forty years of history of the Poundmaker Agventures feedlot and ethanol plant, an innovator and industry leader, a community driver and model corporate citizen.
To be an industry leader in the profitable value-added processing of agricultural products in an ethical and environmentally sustainable manner for the benefit of stakeholders.
Red Williams of the University of Saskatchewan said it was a grand evening with dinner, and speeches and dancing. Friends and business associates plus staff and neighbours gathered to pay tribute to a great community adventure and success story.
Formally in the speeches and informally in the camaraderie the history of Poundmaker unfolded; the risks, the problems, and the benefits. It wasn’t stated as such but it was clear that the forty years have made a lot of farmers successful as part of the outreach for grain and forage supplies, as well manure for the fields and a source of jobs.
Poundmaker has been a model ever since it was first established; for neighbouring communities and others from across the prairies and even international visitors. The reason for its uniqueness is twofold: the integration of an ethanol plant into the feeding system of wet distiller’s grains, and the development of a community based operation where shareholders became the owners and the partners. When first proposed this was a very new concept that speaks well of those that gathered the initial investment. As those who were around in those beginning stages will remember grain farmers were reaching out for any enterprise that would provide a market for surplus grain and improve their income.
The infant industry of 2,000 or more cattle in one location was a risky option.
Poundmaker Agventures has always been and continues to be an innovator and industry leader, a community driver and model corporate citizen. Hearty congratulations to all those who took the risk forty years ago and created a major Saskatchewan venture.
About Harry Siemens
Harry's Bio - On the Edge with Siemens Says
Communicator extraordinaire Harry Siemens interacts with his vast agricultural audience through speaking, writing, and commentating. He creates an awareness of what’s happening in agriculture as an advocate of the farmer, and provides a rare edge, never afraid to express his own informed opinion. With his 41 years plus of experience, people respect, and trust him to provide always the most relevant and current farm information.
Harry Siemens comments on the news, motivates, gives his own opinions to the public everyday, as an independent farm communicator and farmer advocate through various media outlets.
As a motivational speaker, Harry can deliver a new speech everyday, taking any information and adapting it to the right situation. He integrates the current farm issues with motivation, and humour. He speaks to audiences ranging from the AGM of the U.S. Grains Council in Montreal to the local Farmers Marketing Club in Plum Coulee, MB or Sunhaven Farms in Kinsella, Alberta and many in between.
Harry Siemens, the journalist, is always on top of things, hearing it first, and then giving the news spiced with personal commentary. Along with his up-to-date website and e-newsletter FarmWatch, he writes for various publications across Western Canada and the U.S., including the AgriPost, Prairie Hog Country, and Western Dairy Farmer.
He also writes for hire, which goes back to adapting any information to any audience or situation.
Harry Siemens, the commentator, gives you more than the story. He provides the story with his own opinion and from a perspective on how it will affect the reader and/or listener directly
In the United States Harry appears regularly with Max Armstrong and Orion Samuelson on ‘This Week in Agribusiness’ seen and heard weekends on the RFD-TV Network giving the Canadian perspective. He works closely with Lynn Ketelson and Linda Brekke to share the issues that face producers in Canada on the Linder Farm Network heard on over 40 radio stations in Minnesota. Ratings show this to be the most listened to half-hour farm broadcast in the United States.
Harry Siemens, the communicator, integrates speaking, writing, and commentating, giving a clear picture of the big and small issues in layman’s terms. He reaches his audience through the ‘Net [SiemensSays.com] print, one on one, or on the radio, able to express his opinion, and keep everything fresh by Staying on the Edge.
