FAIRVIEW, Alta. – Nick Parsons, the British Columbia farmer who drove his combine to
Ottawa to protest low grain prices, has inspired another farm protest group.
“He likes his combine and he went to Ottawa. We like our horses and we’re going to Rycroft,” said Lloyd Obrigewitch, a Bluesky, Alta., farmer after the first day of Wagon Trek 2000.
Inspired by Parsons, the farmers were looking for a way to show that they don’t think farming has progressed much in 80 years.
Before the railway came to the north side of the Peace River, local farmers had to haul their grain by horse and wagon on a two-day journey to Spirit River, the closest grain elevator.
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The railway came to Whitelaw, Alta., in 1924 and was extended to Fairview, Alta., in 1928. Farmers no longer had to make the long wagon journey through the Peace River valley.
But the farmers feel as though they’re going backward in time. This spring the last elevator in Fairview was knocked down and RaiLink, the
regional railway that provides service to the area, announced it is abandoning the local rail line this summer.
Once again farmers on the north side of the Peace River will have to haul their grain to the south side of the river and onward to the three high volume concrete grain elevators at Rycroft, Alta.
“We want to make people realize we’re going backwards,” said Obrigewitch.
He said the elevators and railways are gone and the price of grain isn’t much higher than it was in the 1920s. The Fairview history book Heart of Gold, said that in 1928, the year the railway was built, farmers received $1.70 per bushel for wheat and $1.15 per bu. for oats.
It was during a coffee shop chat at the local Chinese restaurant in Fairview that 89-year-old Joe Langelle of Whitelaw said something had to be done to show farming seemed to be regressing.
“I said if I had four horses and a good wagon, I’d take a load to Spirit River and Lloyd (Obrigewitch) said, ‘let’s do it.’ “
Two weeks later during the “first decent day of seeding” in the area, nine wagons and 50 riders left Fairview for the two-and-a-half day ride to Rycroft.
“It’s a good way to get a point across,” said Rick Wald of Sexsmith, who joined the trek to show his support for the protesters and have a memorable horseback ride.
“It’s an enjoyable way to protest,” said Obrigewitch, who hopes the ride will turn into an annual spring event.
Geoff Ludkin, manager of Agricore member relations in Grande Prairie, said he supplied the grain carried on the wagons because he was interested in the contrast. It takes less than an hour to haul grain by truck the same distance that used to take two days by wagon.
“In 80 years we’ve come a quantum leap,” Ludkin said during a supper break at The Maples campground near the historic Hudson’s Bay trading post at Dunvegan.
“My interest was not so much of a protest, but I thought there was a lot of symbolism. Maybe I was romantic a bit just to see how far the West has come. We just thought it would be a neat thing to be associated with.”
