If you're at the Manitoba Threshermen's Reunion this weekend, you'll likely see demonstrations of a new card game.

Game publisher Trevor Lehmann created an educational game called Crop Cycle, and has pledged $5.00 from each unit sold to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. He feels it's a good fit, with Harvesting Hope happening as well.

"Because the card game's all about the Canadian prairies and agriculture, and also the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and especially the Harvesting Hope event is really very closely tied to that. But also because the Foodgrains Bank has very international reach to it. And when I initially created my game, a little under half of the pre-orders came from international sources, so I wanted something that would benefit both."

Lehmann says he was motivated to create the game by a couple of factors.

"My grandparents are from just on the outskirts of Portage, and though I, myself am not a farmer, I spent a lot of time on family farms, and I wanted to create something reflective of that. Also I have a Bachelor of Education, so during the practicums I was teaching grade 10 geography, which has an agricultural unit, and I was trying to think of another way to make a resource that could also be used to introduce kids to agriculture."

Lehmann spent the last two years developing the game, and has begun to get feedback.

"I actually went to a lot of conventions, and the feedback's been very positive. We have moved over 500 units. One thing that surprised me, though, was when we did the Kickstarters, we expected most of the backers to come from Manitoba, or the prairies, but I got a number of them internationally, particularly Thailand and Singapore, which surprised me."