Like most agricultural groups, the Flying Farmers of Saskatchewan is finding that its membership is aging and departing.
Most of the members are in their 60s and 70s, said Don Milne, who was elected president of the flying farmers branch at its 50th anniversary meeting in Humboldt, Sask., on Oct. 22-23.
Of its 100 or so members, about 10 still fly, which has meant a change in the group’s focus.
When the branch was founded in Estevan, Sask., in 1955, one of the goals was to lobby the federal department of transport about civilian air issues. The three prairie branches of the flying farmers association hired a representative in Ottawa, but that position was dropped two years ago. Today, lobbying is done by a younger group, the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association.
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Milne said the flying farmers’ strength remains in its role as a family organization. In its earlier years that meant educating farmers about agricultural techniques used in other provinces or American states, developing leadership skills among rural teenagers at flying farmer weekends or teaching spouses and children how to land their family’s airplane in an emergency.
The main focus now is on the social side.
“Some friends on the farm in Manitoba suggested we join flying farmers,” said Milne’s wife Emerald.
“It sounded like fun, meeting people and travel, which you didn’t get much of with a young family.”
Emerald said they have known some of the flying farmer members for four decades “and you don’t like to give them up, even if you only see them once a year. It’s like a family reunion.”
Two of the guests at the group’s 50th anniversary were at the founding meeting: Maurice Monteyne of Estevan, one of the charter members, and Alberta Brinkman of Kansas, who 50 years ago was the international flying farmers queen.
Alberta’s flying farmers celebrated their 50th anniversary in April and Manitoba’s group will celebrate next year.
Don Milne said he owned two or three planes over the years, but they were a lot smaller and didn’t have radios. Years ago, the government subsidized pilot training and fewer hours were required to receive a licence.
Now, with the higher cost to obtain a pilots licence and fewer farmers generally, the flying farmers have recognized they have dropped from a peak. The Saskatchewan group holds the record for most attendance at an international flying farmers event, when it drew 1,600 to a meeting in 1976.
“My objective for this year is a program of going through the organization,” Milne said.
“What more do we change? What do we need to keep? It’ll be a fade-out.”
