Don and Charlotte Payak believe in the community - and the community believes in them.
The Weyburn area couple received proof of that last night at McKenna Hall during the Chamber of Commerce's annual Farmer Appreciation Night when they were named the winners of the 1997 Golden Sheaf Award.
The award, which recognizes excellence in farming achievement, was presented to them on the strength of volunteer work that has encompassed local, provincial and national spheres.
"Being involved in the community is one of the things we enjoy doing," Mr. Payak said upon accepting the honour. "It's something we truly believe in."
Long after taking over his father's grain and cattle farm over 20 years ago, he continues to raise Limousin and commercial cattle in addition to conducting custom crop spraying and managing test plots which study new and different types of grain. Mrs. Payak has been instrumental in the operation of the farm as well as doing volunteer work with her husband, who credited Marshall Culham with getting him started 18 years ago.
It was at that time that he joined what was
to be the forerunner of the District Seven ADD (Agricultural Development
and Diversification) Committee. Since then, Mr. Payak has been
a member of the Farm, Home and Leisure Show board, the local Tree
Cooperative, Saskatchewan Soil and Conservation and the Queen
Elizabeth School Board. He has also served as a weather watcher
for Environment Canada and assisted in establishing the CrimeStoppers
program in the Weyburn area.Most notably, he and his wife have been members of the Weyburn Agricultural Society for 16 years - an experience that has been very rewarding. "I think the community would be far the poorer without it," he said.
Rural-urban cooperation is what keeps Weyburn economically and culturally strong, he said, and working together is a concept that has formed the foundation of their motivation. "I suppose that's what my philosophy is. I really believe in a strong community I think when you grow up in rural Saskatchewan, where people help each other, that's the way things are done."
Extremely high inputs and poor movement are some of the elements presently creating a challenging environment in the agriculture industry, however, and he pointed out that some hard work may lay ahead for many producers as a result.
"We just have to ride it out, sharpen our pencils and produce what we can as cheaply as possible."
