Issue link: http://publications.winnipegfreepress.com/i/1120507
30 The Great Canadian Travel Group at their home base 1349 Portage Ave. PHOTOS BY DARCY FINLEY The iconic image of the farmer, standing alone and coolly surveying his acreage is one that is quickly going by the wayside. That picture has been updated to include women, front and centre, as well as men. And much more progress has been made due to the work of women like Margaret Rempel. A pork producer and crop farmer who takes pride in growing food in a humane and sustainable fashion, Rempel has been a delegate and district advisor on the Manitoba Pork Council since 2008. She received the Council's award of distinction in 2012 for her efforts on behalf of the pork sector, agriculture as a whole and her community, serving on a variety of boards and committees locally, provincially and nationally, including the board of directors for the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute. "I grew up on a mixed dairy farm in Manitoba, so really from first consciousness, I've been quite involved," she says. "Family farming is like that — you take on responsibilities and opportunities as you grow up." She married a farmer, Ron Rempel, in the mid-'70s. They farmed together until his passing in 2003. She was determined to stay on the land and today, together with her oldest son, Jason, she continues to operate Rempelco Acres, a mixed farm consisting of a 500-sow farrow-to-finish hog enterprise and 1,600 acres of cropland. "I always wanted to farm and I don't remember a time when I didn't embrace the excitement of farming," says Rempel. "Meeting a life partner who was just as passionate, or maybe even more passionate, about farming sort of sealed the deal for me." A PORK PRODUCER'S WORK IS NEVER DONE… BUT THIS HOG FARMER WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY MARGARET REMPEL Manitoba Pork