Ron Hewler inducted into Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame

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This article was published 23/11/2023 (719 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon’s Ron Helwer is among seven lifelong Canadian agricultural ambassadors from across the country that have been formally inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Helwer and the other six ambassadors were inducted on Nov. 4 at a ceremony in Charlottetown, P.E.I. At 90 years old, Helwer is still working with Shur-Grow Farm Services, which he began in Brandon as a fuel and crop nutrition dealer in 1968.

“When I think of all the things that I’ve done, I’ve always tried to be forward-looking, looking at new ways of doing things, and agriculture has always had those opportunities,” Helwer told the Sun.

Helwer was born and raised in Libau, Man., 274 kilometres northeast of Brandon, and grew up on a mixed farm that produced and sold a number of crop and dairy products. In 1952, he started a Massey-Harris dealership with his father, and between then and the opening of Shur-Grow, the two men expanded the products and services they offered and sold and repaired appliances and machinery. They also purchased another dealership in Selkirk, Man., located 253 kilometres northeast of Brandon, and operated as bulk fuel agents.

After the bulk fuel business was expanded to three locations, Helwer sold it and began working as an agent for oil industry company Shell Canada, selling fuel crop nutrients and farm supplies before opening Shur-Gro.

By the early 1970s, Shur-Gro was growing, and the business moved twice until securing the property on Douglas Street in Brandon where it’s still located today. During that time, Helwer and his wife raised three children, who helped with the business during their growing-up years.

Since 2008, 40 years after it opened, Shur-Gro has built nine new crop nutrition plants and four new seed plants to accommodate its growth and increase its presence. The third and final phase of the dry fertilizer distribution plant, the Brandon Terminal Ltd., is complete. Shur-Gro now has 13 outlets in Manitoba, and has partnered with Diamond Farm Supplies, who has six outlets in Manitoba and one in Saskatchewan.

Looking back at his long career, Helwer says starting, owning and operating a business isn’t an easy path.

“There were many, many, many times that things weren’t aways going as we wanted them to, but you have to adjust, keep going and be a very positive-thinking person,” he said. “So, when we have challenges, we just work our way through them and think of good things.”

Helwer feels he’s been very lucky in his life and career, which has allowed him to get through the toughest of times, he said.

Helwer was nominated for the hall of fame by his best friend, Ray West. West, who worked as the president of McKenzie Seeds in Brandon, said one of the reasons he nominated Helwer, aside from his sterling reputation at Shur-Gro, is his work ethic.

“He goes to work every morning at 6 a.m., and he works right until 6 p.m.,” West said. “They work Saturdays and Sundays. He’s just a hard-working guy.”

The two men met 70 years ago, when their respective wives graduated teacher training college in Winnipeg in 1954. They have been enjoying their close friendship ever since, West said.

“He’s my absolute best friend, and I’m very pleased to have a friend like that, because he’s just a wonderful person. He’s a very, very good man.”

In addition to his busy career running Shur-Gro, Helwer founded what is today the Canadian Association of Agricultural Retailers, a member-driven non-profit association representing Canada’s ag retailers. His involvement with the group goes back to the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, Helwer said.

“We didn’t have a fertilizer dealer association [in Manitoba], but Alberta did, so I used to go to their meetings. It was really kind of a get-together with a group of dealers to do a bit of meeting, a bit of trade,” he said. “I made a pitch to the Alberta association that we would like to enlarge it to include Manitoba and Saskatchewan.”

Eventually, the Alberta association agreed, and Helwer was elected to its board. ||

“It’s been a push to make it work from the beginning, and that’s why I was a founding member,” he said.

Helwer served as the association’s president from 1979 to 1980, and served as the director of the National Fertilizer Solution Association in the USA from 1977 to 1991.

Shur-Grow’s website states that many of its employees are leaders in their communities, donating their skills to local 4-H groups, youth sports, chambers of commerce, local municipalities, and business groups.

Helwer has also been passionate about giving back to the Westman community, especially it’s agricultural community, and made a $500,000 donation to Assiniboine Community College’s (ACC) campaign to build a leading-edge agricultural training centre, the Prairie Innovation Centre for Sustainable Agriculture in November of 2021.

“I’ve always been involved with ACC for a long time, because we have many graduates from their agricultural program there that worked for Shur-Gro that we employ,” Helwer said. “It’s very important to us.”

West is quick to sing Helwer’s praises for all the ways he’s given back to the community.

“He’s a considerate person. He’s caring, he’s giving, he’s friendly — he’s all the things you’d expect of a good person,” he said.

There’s no doubt in West’s mind that Helwer is very deserving of being inducted into the hall of fame, he said, adding that in addition to building a business from the ground up over the years, the way he’s conducted himself is a testament to the man’s character.

“He has over 150 employees, and he treats them just like family,” West said. “He and his team have built [so much] from just being really attentive to the business and very good people to work with.”

The six other inductees were Garnet Altwasser, John Bragg, Rory Francis, Marcel Groleau, Robert K. Irving, and Ray Robertson.

This year’s lineup of inductees represents the diversity that drives the longstanding success and outstanding reputation of Canadian agriculture, said Ted Menzies, president of the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Currently, Helwer has no plans to retire, saying he enjoys what he does, and work is what keeps him going.

“I go to work every day and I have things to do,” he said. “I often say if we’re not going ahead, we’re going back, so we have to keep looking ahead and changing, and doing things as we evolve. There are always new things coming along.”

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