COLONSAY, Sask. – Terry Boehm has a lot of irons in the fire.
He farms 21 quarters of grain land on his own in addition to helping his 76-year-old dad farm a few kilometres to the west.
He collects antique radios, with several of them in the living room of the 1916 Saskatchewan Grain Growers No. 1 house that he has lived in since 1989.
In his machine shed is a lovingly restored, fully operational 1928 Model A Ford.
Stored at his father’s farm a few kilometres away are pieces of farm machinery he has built from scratch, along with antique farm machinery. He enjoys the outdoors with his partner and six-year-old daughter when they make their annual summer visit from Paris, France, where she works as an academic.
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But all of those jobs, pastimes and hobbies pale in comparison to another of his interests – the seed industry.
Boehm feels multinational companies are taking control of seed resources and making farmers dependent on them for their supplies.
“I call it the new feudalism,” he said.
Boehm, a member of the National Farmers Union, has gained a reputation as an expert in the seed industry, genetically modified crops and the politics and issues that go along with them.
“I’m very passionate about these issues,” he said.
“It would mean a whole production system creating a dependence on the part of farmers, with just a few companies supplying seeds and setting out the conditions under which they can be produced,” he said.
“It’s the kind of system I’m not very interested in farming under and I’ve been spending a lot of time fighting against it.”
Boehm’s interest in public policy issues dates back to his university days in the 1980s when he studied history, politics and economics at the University of Saskatchewan.
The Crow freight rate on grain was under attack from the federal government and Boehm got involved, writing papers, challenging politicians and participating in demonstrations and debates.
After graduation, Boehm travelled the world before returning to his parents’ farm and gradually acquiring his own land.
He has developed an ability to build machinery for himself and at one time had a small custom design business.
He also became active in the NFU, following in his father’s footsteps. After working on the transportation issue for several years, Boehm was diverted by what was happening with the seed industry and genetically modified crops.
He rejects arguments that GM technology is needed to feed the world, saying anything that can be gained using GM technology can be done through conventional plant breeding, without the risks.
He is also concerned about the deregistration of old varieties, which has made it harder to find conventional canola.
Spreading the word
Boehm does not seek the limelight but said the issues are so important that he can’t pass up any opportunities to talk about them on television, radio, in newspapers and at public events.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m banging my head against a wall, but at the same time I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot,” he said.
His farm, seed work and hobbies have been major preoccupations for Boehm.
“If I had four hours off, I’d be at a loss what to do,” he said with a laugh.
That has changed in recent years thanks mainly to the arrival of his daughter, Amanda.
She lives in Paris most of the year with her mother Birgit Muller, who Terry met at a conference 10 years ago.
He spends some time there every winter and Birgit and Amanda spend several weeks in Saskatchewan in July.
It’s not an ideal arrangement, Boehm acknowledged, but sometimes it works out well.
“One thing it has done is that when they come in the summer it makes me take some time off,” he said.
“We go canoeing on the rivers, for example, something I’d never have done before. I guess you could say it’s expanded my horizons a bit.”
