ESTON, Sask.-The work on and off farm that has sustained Ian and Carol Price in recent years will be a necessity for the next generation coming into the business.
“The family farm now is a real business. You have to watch your money more so now than before,” said Ian, who started a grain farm near this western Sask-atchewan community with his wife in 1971.
Additional income for the Prices comes from a backhoe business that Ian operates, digging sewer lines, putting in septic tanks and cisterns and working with oil companies in the area.
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“It saved our bacon many times,” said Ian.
Carol runs a bed and breakfast out of the farm home from May to October. She grew up in the district, which offers a wide range of recreational activities from golfing to hockey.
The Prices will increase their farm size this year from nine to 14 quarters, producing lentils, durum and canaryseed, largely on contract.
Ian said the acres, some of which are rented, are needed to make it attractive for their son Malcolm to join the operation.
Malcolm lives with his young family just down the highway and has always helped on the farm. He has a full-time job in the oil business and also has a bed and breakfast in his home.
The Prices enjoy showcasing farm lifestyles through their B & B, housed in the family’s modest two-storey home created from two buildings pieced together. Rustic cabins and outdoor biffies in the yard were a big hit with a group of hunters that used to come each fall.
Carol promotes her B & B as a typical farm home complete with built-in bench seats in the kitchen nook, homemade quilts and 1980s posters from their days raising teenagers.
“This is an ordinary farm home,” she said.
Carol leafs through an album featuring photographs of many of her guests as she recounts each one’s story.
There was the couple that stayed here on their wedding night, the Americans on a camping vacation and a surprise visit from old friends from England. Carol considers herself “a people person” who likes to chat, cook and visit.
“The nicest time is sitting and visiting and finding out what they do and they find out what we do,” said Carol, who noted she and Ian often take guests to haul water to show them typical rural routines.
Carol stays busy on and off the farm, this week attending dinner theatre, entertaining the grandchildren and attending a women’s conference in Kindersley.
The B & B business is flexible enough that she can refuse guests when the Prices travel or when some of her eight grandchildren visit.
Most guests stay one night while others come for several days, with the majority arriving after supper and leaving in the morning.
Ian was keen on the idea, having seen such operations in England, where he was raised on a dairy farm. The Prices launched the B & B business in the late 1980s after their two daughters had grown and moved away.
At a rate of $60 for a couple and with just 22 visits here last summer, Carol said it is not a business that could support the family. The revenue has helped support special times like Christmas and trips to Ian’s homeland.
In the farm business, Ian watches his dollars by keeping input costs to a minimum, avoiding new equipment purchases and doing much of the repair work himself. This day, he struggles with a broken axle on his grain truck.
“All my equipment is old. If I’m able to keep old stuff going, it’s a lot cheaper.”
He railed against rising input costs and falling returns, noting bread prices do not reflect how little the farmers get for their wheat.
Concerns with programs
Ian also questioned the value of the new Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization program, saying farmers will have to pay into both it and crop insurance.
“I’d like to see one program that could guarantee us a fair price for wheat and a payout,” said Ian.
In order to save on elevation fees, Ian orders and loads producer cars in Eston. That allows buyers the ability to trace the eight carloads of durum back to his farm because the crop is not pooled with others, he said.
Disease is an overriding concern for Ian, who has always raised a variety of animals and produce for the family’s own use.
He said the downside to using producer cars is that they do not always come when wanted and must be loaded within 24 hours.
Now 61, Ian looks forward to stepping up his backhoe business and retreating from his farm duties as Malcolm eases into farming.
Ian’s jobs keep him busy and away from coffee row in town, but he prefers it that way.
“It would drive me crazy to do that,” he said.
