Farm leaders think the Saskatchewan Party’s agriculture platform is misguided and under funded.
When party leader Elwin Hermanson announced his “Let’s get Saskatchewan growing” plan earlier this month, he highlighted three items on the party’s 10-point agriculture agenda.
- Establish a $300 per head low-interest cash advance for cattle producers devastated by the bovine spongiform encephelopathy crisis.
- Cut education property tax on farmland by 15 percent.
- Enhance the Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Program.
Saskatchewan farm leaders have identified problems with all three promises.
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Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan president Terry Hildebrandt said a cash advance is a Band-Aid solution for a severe injury.
“We don’t need another loan, thank you very much.”
Hildebrandt said compensating producers hurt by the BSE crisis is primarily a federal government obligation, but the province should also contribute to a program that would guarantee producers 90 percent of what their American counterparts get when they market their cattle.
Brian Ross, vice-president of the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association, said a cash advance would help producers buy some time, but it fails to address the real problem.
“If the border doesn’t open and we don’t see U.S. prices, I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do in the long run.”
Ross and Hildebrandt were also critical of the party’s education tax plan, which would reduce farmers’ annual tax bills by an estimated $25 million once fully implemented.
Hildebrandt said it doesn’t go far enough. He wants to see the education tax removed from property.
“We need an actual change in the structure of how we fund our children in this province. Currently, we’re funding them on the backs of a big land base and we’re educating them and sending them out of province. I don’t believe a simple 15 percent will make a difference.”
Ross said 15 percent is a start but there needs to be a long-term program that completely removes the tax from land and property over the next five or six years.
The party’s promise to enhance the provincial crop insurance program left both farm leaders perplexed, since there was no money set aside in the Saskatchewan Party plan to address that issue.
“If you’re going to enhance anything it needs more money,” Hildebrandt said.
Ross isn’t sure how the party intends to fulfill that promise.
“If they mean to try to get some more money out of the feds, I’d say good luck. We’ve been trying to do that for a long time.”
Another farm leader found fault with other plans detailed in the Saskatchewan Party’s 10-point agriculture platform.
Terry Boehm, vice-president of the National Farmers Union, said the party’s “standard rhetoric” about encouraging value-added production is an empty promise until the high freight costs associated with shipping out of the province are lowered.
And he said Hermanson’s plan to negotiate a dual market for wheat and barley is downright scary.
“That’s extremely worrisome for those who believe in the market power of the Canadian Wheat Board and the principals behind it.”
Boehm also had a problem with what wasn’t in the platform. He said the party avoided addressing key issues facing the farming community, such as the concentration of market power in the grain and livestock industry and what to do with the production of biotech crops.
Two of the farm leaders were happy to see a commitment to invest in new water and irrigation infrastructure, although once again no money was set aside for that measure in the party’s spending budget.
“I think it’s a wise move to be looking in that direction,” Hildebrandt said.
Ross agreed. He said infrastructure is desperately needed to expand the livestock industry and to grow higher value crops.
“I think that’s probably the start of an excellent plan.”
