The (Brad) Wall government’s recent announcement of a Saskatchewan rebate program for livestock traceability equipment is nothing but a drop in the bucket.
In an age when agricultural producers stand on the precarious brink of failure, purchasing extremely expensive equipment is simply not an option.
The cheapest RFID (radio frequency identification) readers cost $900, not including the software, computer, scales or other additional equipment to be purchased along with it.
Even if the rebate program covers a part of the cost, it’s still up to the producer to pay the up-front cost.
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Additionally, the program makes no mention of the ear tags, which cost nearly $3 each.
For my family’s herd of 120 calves, that means $360 each year, not to mention the replacement costs.
If the Saskatchewan Party government wants to seriously support the agriculture industry, they will have to do a whole lot more than re-announce existing funds.
Nothing is being done to seriously address the central issue here: the inability for livestock producers in Saskatchewan to make a decent income.
The price of our products remains abysmally low, and if the minister of agriculture thinks that new equipment will help that, he is sorely mistaken.
