ASSINIBOIA, Sask. – The farm families who chatted with Prince Charles over saskatoon pie and ice cream here last week came away thinking that he is a farmer just like any one of them.
“He just generally wanted to talk about farming,” said Dwayne Woolhouse after the April 27 royal visit.
“He’s very personable and easy to talk to.”
The prince operates an organic farm at Highgrove, in the Gloucestershire region of England.
Woolhouse said it was great to meet someone with such influence who thinks the same way he does.
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Prince Charles has spoken out against genetically modified organisms, and told farmers in Assiniboia he shares their concerns.
“It makes you feel good,” about being an organic farmer and not a “crank,” Woolhouse said.
The prince was supposed to visit the Woolhouses’ 2,080-acre grain and bison farm, but that plan was cancelled amid concerns about foot-and-mouth disease.
Instead, Woolhouse invited three other families who farm organically for a semi-private meeting at the Assiniboia town hall.
They found the prince down-to-earth and inquisitive.
“He’s very knowledgeable,” said Kevin Beach of Ernfold.
“He asked about our operations and what we do. He was interested in the certification process. He did ask a question in regards to how we are doing financially.”
The four families presented the prince with gifts, including a bouquet of crocuses picked by Kevin and Donna Beach’s daughters, Abbie and Alishia.
Speech at the legislature
In the Saskatchewan legislature a day earlier, the prince offered advice to the province’s farming sector.
“It is true that agriculture now accounts directly for only eight percent of your gross domestic product,” he said.
“But one should not underestimate the enormous cultural, environmental and spiritual influence which farming still has in Saskatchewan.”
