BIGGAR, Sask. – John Bennett hates fall elections.
Farmers like him, who are fully immersed in harvest, are handcuffed from participating in the electoral process.
And this is a particularly bad year to be excluded, with the campaign focusing around an issue he is passionate about – the environment.
“I really believe that virtually every farmer is kind of a closet environmentalist because we really live close to nature all the time,” Bennett said in his workshop while pouring a canola sample into a moisture tester to see if the crop was ready for the combine.
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Bennett is more than a closet-variety environmentalist. He is past president of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, a no-till pioneer, a Canadian No-Till Farmer of the Year award recipient and a carbon sequestration crusader.
It irks him to hear Canadian politicians commit to greenhouse gas emission reductions in 2050 but offer few solutions for the here-and-now.
“One thing we know in our business is unless you get at the job, it doesn’t get done.”
Bennett has been farming near Biggar for more than 30 years.
He and his wife, Shirley, took over the farm in the early 1970s. It had been in Shirley’s family since 1910 but had been abandoned.
For the first five years John and Shirley, who were trained as teachers, taught at the nearby Howard Powell elementary school, one of the last two-room schools in Canada.
Once the farm got on its feet, Shirley stayed at home and raised their two children while John embarked on life as a grain farmer, an occupation he has found to be good for the soul.
Bennett’s hands-on involvement with environmental issues began when he joined the board of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association, a decision prompted by particularly dramatic water erosion on his farm one spring.
“I was wading through mud in my coulees and got thinking, ‘this has got to stop.’ “
Lately, his focus has shifted from soil erosion to carbon sequestration. Bennett doesn’t think farmers should fear Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s carbon tax, despite being big users of fossil fuel.
Instead, they should be pushing to be rewarded for their carbon sequestration activities, something he believes has the potential to deliver billions of dollars into the agricultural community.
He finds it frustrating that farmers spend so much time arguing about “silly things” such as how the Canadian Wheat Board should function while ignoring more pressing issues.
That’s why he enjoys his board work, where he is afforded an opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded farmers interested in making a genuine contribution to agriculture.
“Instead of sitting at the coffee shop bemoaning your lot in life, you’re thinking on a different plane.”
His latest appointments are with the Saskatchewan Research Council and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. About the only thing that will keep him from a meeting is his annual motorcycle trip. He has a collection of about 30 mostly British motorcycles on the farm in various states of repair.
“A good motorcycle on a twisty road – man, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
His latest ride is a Buell.
“I’m not old enough for a Harley.”
Bennett has an affinity for machinery of all sorts, such as his 45-year-old International Harvester grain truck nicknamed Sir Perceville that is still in steady rotation during harvest time.
Fiddling with equipment is one of the many things he likes about farming. Another is the independence.
“I don’t have to be polite to people I don’t like. That just destroys people over time.”
However, it’s living by the seasons and his connection to nature that makes farming a “magical” profession. He considers his office to be the truck and combine cabs.
“I always say, ‘the view from my office window is the best anyone can ask for.’ “
