Bolt Seed Farms in Saskatchewan won the conveyor
Among the greens and reds associated with some of the equipment at Bolt Seed Farms near Wynyard, Sask., one piece of machinery with a unique paint job recently arrived.
With a bid of $65,100, Scott Bolt and the Bolt family had the highest bid for Ag Growth International’s (AGI) pink UCX³ U-trough belt conveyor through the company’s Conveyor for a Cause campaign.
AGI launched the campaign to auction off the pink conveyor in October to raise awareness and support for breast cancer and related research, with all proceeds going to the Canadian Cancer Society.
For Bolt, participating in the auction came down to two reasons.
“Of course, we wanted to support the Canadian Cancer Society,” he told Farms.com. “Cancer touches not just the people who are sick but the people around them too. We’ve had people in our family and community go through cancer so we know personally how difficult those times can be. We also like having unique things and one offs, so I think we’ll be the only ones with a pink conveyor.”
The Bolt family raises wheat, barley, oats, canola, and peas on about 18,000 acres.
“Oh, we’ll definitely use it,” he said.
Scott Bolt next to his new pink conveyor (Ryan Campion photo).
Combined with individual donations, the Conveyor for a Cause campaign raised a total of $66,375.
Going through cancer treatment is not only physically challenging, but financially too.
A 2021 report from the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer estimated patients spend an average of $253 per month on out-of-pocket costs associated with cancer treatment and care.
These can include transportation and caregiver costs.
That’s about $284 per month in 2024.
That means the money raised from AGI’s campaign could provide 233 months, or almost 19.5 years of support.
“You can’t escape cancer, but if we can contribute to helping fight it and support the people doing the work to fight it, we will,” Bolt said.
Campaigns like Conveyor for a Cause are important in the battles against cancer.
“AGI's generosity is funding compassionate support programs to make life better for people facing breast cancer today and world-leading research to transform the future of breast cancer forever. Cancer is big – and nothing big gets solved by one person or one organization. To take on cancer, it takes all of us – it takes a society,” Rodger Lohman, a supporter engagement specialist with the Canadian Cancer Society, said in a statement.