Saskatchewan’s general farm organization plans a major push to change Canadian attitudes toward primary production.
A strategy being developed by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan will go to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture table in February.
Terry Hildebrandt, who was returned as APAS president at the group’s recent annual meeting, said farmers and the agriculture industry can no longer be seen as a cost.
The federal bureaucracy thinks farmers are inefficient and programs are designed to cut people out of the industry, he said.
Read Also
Powdery mildew can be combine fire risk
Dust from powdery mildew can cause fires in combines.
As farms get larger, fewer people will be required to do the work and the rural infrastructure could be lost.
“Ten-thousand-acre farms are not a rarity in Saskatchewan anymore,” Hildebrandt said.
“That only takes 5,000 producers. Is that the Saskatchewan or the Canada we want?”
APAS intends to develop advertising campaigns to portray the positives in agriculture. It will undertake economic studies to back up its points about the industry’s value.
Hildebrandt said an attitude adjustment within the federal government is key. He is hoping for a honeymoon period with new prime minister Paul Martin and an agriculture minister with compassion.
He said APAS delegates were cautiously optimistic last week about the future of their three-year-old organization and its ability to be a forceful lobby.
Another focus for the coming year will be to get back to the grassroots. Hildebrandt said the organization fell shy in that respect last year.
“We need to get out and get the people understanding what we’re doing and why.”
APAS membership grew by nine percent last year, he said.
