For photos of any of our pre-Congress tour options, please click here.

British Columbia - the province on the Pacific

Two day tour of Southwestern British Columbia, leaving from Vancouver September 11 (approximately - exact dates to be confirmed).

Tour includes stops in the Fraser Valley (famous for livestock, horticulture, greenhouses, blueberries, cranberries), Thompson Okanagan (known for orchards, vineyards, skiing, golf, deserts, mountains, valleys), and Pemberton Valley (known for seed potato industry, vodka and single malt whisky).

For more information: British Columbia Farm Writers' Association,  info [at] bcfwa.ca

Alberta - part of Canada's west

Tours in southern, central and Calgary regions of Alberta can be arranged by request. For more information: Janet Kanters, Alberta Farm Writers' Federation, janetkanters [at] gmail.com.

Southern Alberta

One of the most varied parts of Canada, with spectacular but accessible mountains, foothills where cattle can graze through the winter to the semi-arid plains where cropping is only made possible by the timing of rains and irrigation. It’s the land of the cowboy and trailing cattle to summer pasture and ultramodern producers special crops (beans, sugar beets, potatoes, canola seed, export timothy hay) are produced and processed. Recreation opportunities: Waterton Lakes (hiking, wild flowers, wildlife), Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, trail riding, Writing on Stone (native pictographs) rodeo, Dinosaur Provincial Park. We can custom-design a tour for you in this region.

Central Alberta

Guests will be able to tour the world's largest shopping mall, West Edmonton Mall , before or after an organized tour, which is available by request. Option to stay at theme-hotel, Fantasyland Hotel before / after tour. Potential for a Bed & Breakfast at a farm just outside of Vegreville or in Bashaw. Tour highlights include Enoch Cree Nation, one of the wealthiest First Nations bands in Canada, state of the art dairy, pony chuckwagons, prairie railway excursion with an entertaining "train robbery", Hutterite colony, Elk Island National Park with free roaming herds of bison, moose, deer and elk; biomaterials and biorproducts, oil sands and oil refining. 

Calgary region

This tour, available by request, showcases the diversity of landscape and production in Alberta from the vast open prairies and crops ready to harvest, to the ranching grasslands, foothills and the Rocky Mountains. Experience the real west as a journey from our cowboy history, to today’s diversification and big business of agriculture, and see what the future holds for Alberta.

Manitoba - home of the grain trade

Tours of Manitoba can be arranged for individuals or groups by request. For more information: John Morriss, Manitoba Farm Writers' and Broadcasters' Association, john.morris [at] fbcpublishing.com.

Manitoba, the province directly west of Ontario, where the main Congress will take place, has the smallest agricultural area of the three Prairie provinces in Western Canada, but many of its farms are typical of those across the region. Agriculture in the province is highly diversified, ranging from grain-only farms on some of the world's most productive soil (and flattest landscape) to large cattle operations which take advantage of Manitoba's ability to grow high-quality forage. Manitoba is now Canada's second-largest hog-producing province, and has a large modern hog processing plant in Brandon.

Manitoba farmers grow a range of specialty crops including sunflowers, several varieties of edible beans, forage seed and processing potatoes as well as more traditional crops such as wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola (oilseed rape).

The provincial capital of Winnipeg is the centre of Canada's grain industry, with the head offices of the Canadian Wheat Board, the Canadian Grain Commission, the Canadian International Grains Institute and the offices of several grain-handling companies. The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) trading operations for canola and Canadian feed grains are also based in Winnipeg. It is also home to agricultural manufacturing operations including Versatile tractors and Macdon, a large supplier of harvest equipment for its own and other brands.

Farm Business Communications, Canada's largest publisher of farm newspapers and magazines, is based in Winnipeg.

Like many Canadians, Manitoba farmers like to maintain some of the traditions of their ancestors from other countries. There are communities with Mennonite, Eastern European and Icelandic traditions, in addition to a large French-Canadian population, including in the St. Boniface area of Winnipeg. There are also several Hutterite colonies with a communal farming system, and many welcome visitors.

Winnipeg is about two and a half hours by air from Toronto and has an international airport with good connections to Canadian and U.S. destinations.

Agricultural profiles of the province: www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture/statistics

Province of Manitoba: www.gov.mb.ca

City of Winnipeg: www.destinationwinnipeg.ca

Canadian Wheat Board: www.cwb.ca

Canadian Grain Commission: www.grainscanada.gc.ca

Farm Business Communications: www.agcanada.com

Look for more information to be published in the upcoming weeks and months!