Volker Wyrich sat through three days of Keystone Agricultural Producers
sessions on agricultural policy and came out smiling.
The wide-ranging policy debates didn’t seem irrelevant to the 27 year
old, who farms in Oakbank, Man. They were talking about his future.
“I’m a farmer and I’m concerned about the future of farming,” said
Wyrich, a delegate to the KAP annual convention held Jan. 23-25 in
Winnipeg. “I want to stay in farming.”
Wyrich, who raises pigs and grows grain with his father, said KAP can
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focus on issues that commodity groups just can’t deal with.
“We need an organization where we’re united in a common goal, and
that’s to farm,” Wyrich said.
That’s the message retiring KAP president Don Dewar thinks more
Manitoba farmers are accepting.
“We don’t agree on everything in this organization, but there are
things we share,” said Dewar, who was KAP president for four years
before stepping down at this convention.
KAP is the most broad-based farm lobby organization on the Prairies. It
is supported by a refundable checkoff from farmers’ grain deliveries,
but also gets membership dues from all of Manitoba’s major commodity
groups, making it a true umbrella organization.
KAP’s base recently grew when the Manitoba Canola Growers Association
decided to join.
Dewar said most Manitoba farmers realize that they are better served by
having one main farm voice than dozens of disparate whispers.
Some of the organizations that belong to KAP may dislike some official
KAP policies, Dewar said, but most feel it’s better to be inside the
organization trying to change policies than be outside and have no say.
“They recognize we need one voice,” he said. “If they disagree with
some of our policies, they can get in and express their opinions.”
Since KAP policy votes are passed on a 50 percent plus one basis, it’s
easy to affect the organization’s positions if enough farmers want to
change them, Dewar said.
KAP has a good rapport with the provincial government, which generally
consults the group on major agricultural issues, and also lobbies the
federal government on Manitoba issues, Dewar said.
Alberta and Saskatchewan farmers would benefit from a similarly strong
voice, Dewar added.
In Saskatchewan, the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan
is presently trying to build a broad-based organization like KAP.
In Alberta, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers is a much weaker general
farm group than KAP, Dewar said. That isn’t the fault of its members,
he added, but due to government policy, which supports commodity-based
commissions and organizations instead of an umbrella organization.
“I think the government in Alberta would rather have a bunch of smaller
voices and that way they can do what they want. It’s divide and
conquer.”
Alberta farmers suffer because they lack a strong voice speaking for
all farmers. The commissions and commodity groups can only speak about
their specific commodities, and can’t claim a mandate to represent
farmers’ general interests.
Dewar was pleased to see commodity group representatives go to the
microphone and give their perspectives on various issues.
“We’re a mini-federation. Who else represents that broad a spectrum?”
