Many thoughts have been posted and touching words written in the emotional outpouring that followed the death of Bettina Schuurmans and the hospitalization of her husband Henk after their tractor was hit in an accident in Saskatchewan.
The Elmira, Ont. dairy farmers left their farm June 21 for a tour to British Columbia and back, riding on their open-station John Deere tractor, with a giant sign offering conversation about dairy farming on the front, and a huge cow statue on a platform on the back of the tractor. They made it to just north of Saskatoon, when a transport truck hit them. Bettina Schuurmans was killed and as of press time, two weeks after the accident, Henk Shuurmans remains in hospital.
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I didn’t know the Schuurmans, but, as happens in an increasingly small industry, had seen them at various dairy events over the years, and had heard and seen reports of the quality of their dairy operation Milky Wave farm.
But I think the real connection they made with people was the joyful nature of their Canadian Milk Tour, shared with many through our modern media distribution systems. What could be better than taking a slow ride across this beautiful country, with the wind (and sun and rain) in your hair, stopping when you felt like it to talk to people about your passion, which you’ve been lucky enough to make your life’s work? They planned to stay with dairy farmers along the way, when they could.
I expect there are others, who like me, thought ‘that would be a pretty darned good way to spend a couple of months.’
Some of the most touching social media posts I saw after the accident were from ordinary Canadians who had met
I expect the Shuurmans Twitter account was followed mostly by farmers, but that’s OK, because farmers need inspiration from one of their own on occasion too, and dairy farmers don’t always get the chance to travel the country. The Shuurmans gave them a chance to travel with them, vicariously, another reason the accident was felt so acutely.
The Schuurmans shared their travels on the @Cdnmilktour Twitter account and it made many of us feel like we were riding along with them. Have a look if you haven’t. It is now more of an obituary than a travelogue, but also a celebration of life. They had visited iconic Canadian locations, with a cow and a calf to put into the photo. It was fun and joyful.
Their family has posted a few times to the account since the accident, in memory of their mother, requesting prayers for their father, along with a picture of the five of them, with a monument they built at the side of the road.
The Schuurmans tour was undertaken by individuals. It wasn’t a farm group, or something with government funding. It was a husband and wife and their family and friends who decided that while fulfilling something they had wanted to do — travel across Canada — they could do their part to create communications opportunities for agriculture. They could help make the world a better place — and they did. It’s a lesson we all can take. Live life, and if you really want to do something, go find a way to do it.
What legacy will the far-too-short Canadian Milk Tour leave? We won’t know yet as legacies are built over time. But first is a reminder to hug your family, as you never know when you won’t see them again. I hope farmers be inspired by the Shuurmans’ tour to continue to talk about what they do. It’s important work. I also hope that people will be inspired as individuals to take action themselves, but do it with joy and hope and have some fun with it too.
