A few years of raising cattle showed Deb Higgins how tough agriculture can be.
The Moose Jaw NDP leadership candidate and her husband ran a few head on 80 acres as part of a larger family operation in the Spring Valley Hills south of the city.
“We got a small taste of how difficult it is,” said the self-described city slicker who worked for Canada Safeway for more than 25 years. “But we just loved it.”
It got to the point where they considered building a house on the property to go along with the corrals and chutes they had already erected.
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In the end, they decided to stay in the city. The economics of the beef industry also put an end to that venture.
Higgins’ appreciation for agriculture and the rural lifestyle carries on and she distinguishes between the two when it comes to policy.
She pans the recent announcement of federal loans for farmers, saying they only treat symptoms of problems within the industry.
“We don’t have national programs that really address food security,” she said.
Crop insurance is still dealing with averages, not cost of production.
“Are we actually looking to meet the needs that are out there?” she asked of last year’s review of the insurance program.
Fuel and fertilizer prices continue to climb but aren’t addressed in the program.
Higgins is a proponent of an organic farming transition fund to help smaller farmers in particular get through the three-year period until they can be certified.
Higgins said the provincial NDP should have paid more attention to towns, villages and small cities.
“Some regions are pretty void of services people rely on,” she observed.
Higgins said stepping back and reconnecting with rural residents is critical as the NDP looks to the future under a new leader.
During the leadership race, which culminates June 6, she said some of the larger turnouts have been at rural events. Once the leader is chosen, the real debate on policy can begin.
Higgins, who has extensive involvement in the labour movement, was first elected to the legislature in 1999 and held a number of cabinet posts in the Lorne Calvert government.
She is the only sitting MLA, and the only female candidate, seeking the top job.
