CARIEVALE, Sask. – Lee and Bryan Stanley believe they have done all they can to make their farm profitable.
Along with their father, they farm 23 quarters of land growing eight different crops and own 100 head of cattle. Until recently, one of them worked two jobs off the farm and one of their spouses works off the farm. The last major machinery purchase was a six-year-old four-wheel drive tractor bought in 1996.
Yet each brother is more than $100,000 in debt.
“I’m in my 11th year of farming,” said Lee Stanley, 29, who is marrying this fall. “I started after high school, and haven’t made minimum wage since. I’ve never made more than $10,000 yet. I could be out pumping gas and make more money.”
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Bryan, 25, said his non-farming friends go to bars or movies to have fun, yet he doesn’t have the time, money or energy at the end of the day to do that with his wife, Janice.
So why do the brothers stay with the farm near Carievale, Sask.?
“We used to say it was the way of life, but with the stress this year, the way of life isn’t much fun,” admitted Bryan. “It’s quite a thing to ask the girls to come into this mess. We promise every day it’ll get better, but every day it gets worse.”
History is one of the strong ties. The brothers talk proudly of their grandfather surviving on three quarters of land, and are determined to do it themselves.
“We were raised on it (farming),” said Lee. He talked about “living in the same house my dad raised his family, and his dad raised his family.”
It’s in that house that the family works hard to handle stress.
“We handle stress by a lot of talking. You gotta learn to take things in stride, or you’re going to drive yourself (crazy)… . We have our bad days, but we all work good together,” said Bryan.
Lee said the challenges have brought the family closer together.
Meanwhile, Bryan and Janice, married last year, live in a 20-year-old trailer they’re struggling to pay off. Finances are tight. “If we split (buying) a combine, it would break me.”
The young men share farm costs with their father. Each owns land, and a third of the cattle, while the machinery is bought together.
“There’s no way we could be farming without our parents helping us brothers. There’s no way. We’re probably dragging them down. They’re trying to look after us, and it’s hurting them,” said Lee, as he glanced at his mother, Laura Stanley, leaning on a nearby truck.
She laughed.”That’s what Moms and Dads are supposed to do.”
Bryan added: “If we could get decent prices (for grain), they could retire and we could buy them out.”
Lee nodded. “We look at the farm as a place to hopefully be a good place for kids someday, and keep the kids on the farm instead of in day care, so the girls don’t have to worry about working off the farm. We’d like to buy our parents out so they can retire comfortably.”
“But things have to change,” added Bryan.
Lee said other options must be considered: “We might have to rent the land out, allow them (their parents) to semi-retire. Plus Dad’s not one to quit.”
This year might make him reconsider. Usually they seed 2,500 acres, but excessive moisture restricted them to 1,500 acres of canola, wheat, durum and barley. The weather has also caused lower yields than expected.
The majority of their crop – 1,000 acres – was fall rye. It gave them a crop, but last year’s rye price of $5 per bushel has plummeted to 96 cents per bushel.
Canola has also dropped about a third from last year.
“The price of commodities is hurting us more than the weather. If we got a decent return, we would have rode this year out,” said Lee.
“Look at those combines. The first is on its 19th crop. The second is on its 14th. The truck is 24 years old… . We’re not getting enough grain to pay for repairs at the end of the day.”
Meanwhile, there are breakdowns almost daily. They struggle with crops damaged by weather.
They didn’t get crop insurance because the premiums covered little of the crop value. While all applied for help under the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance program, Lee didn’t qualify for support and Bryan and Bob have been “fighting tooth and nail for the last three months” for their share. The delay is the inventory of the cow-calf operation as administrators attempt to figure out “how to split a calf one-third.”
In recent months, the family has tried another strategy to deal with their problems. They have begun to attend farm meetings, rallies and highway demonstrations in Saskat-chewan and Manitoba.
Laura Stanley said: “Generally, you don’t see farmers riled up… . It’s so hard to organize farmers. Farmers don’t have time or money to run around to meetings.”
But she understands the frustration – and sees it in her family.
“When we first got married, we bought a new tractor and never thought anything about it. Now, we have to. It used to be a cheque. Now it’s on credit.”
It’s necessary to attend these events and get politicians involved, the brothers said.
Bryan said: “We’re trying to do all we can. We grow eight different crops, we diversified into cattle, my wife’s working in town. I don’t know how much more we can do and still we are not getting paid.”
