SOUTHEY, Sask. – Allan, Lynn and Trevor Berkan don’t pretend to have all the answers. They say they are just an ordinary farm family.
The Berkans are grappling with the same issues every farmer does – What do I grow this year? Can I afford to buy more land or machinery? Will my children want the farm when I’m ready to retire?
The last question hits home because in 1995 Lynn and Allan bought the farm from Allan’s father and have hired their son Trevor to help.
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“It’s the first year my dad has not seeded with us,” said Allan.
Lynn said they looked at using a new program from the Farm Credit Corporation to assist the transfer. It offers the older generation a portion of money up front and doesn’t saddle the younger farmers with a big debt right away. It may be something they look at doing if their son decides to stay farming.
Trevor, who has had a year of college since his high school graduation, is working with his parents. They’re paying him a wage because, “it gives him an opportunity to decide if he wants to farm,” said Lynn.
Trevor said he wants to farm but he’d also like to go to Kelsey Institute in Saskatoon to take a farm machinery repair course to help on the farm and for winter work.
His sister Juliane is finishing accountancy classes and is working in the Yukon this summer since she couldn’t find any jobs at home. Lynn said her daughter likes the farm lifestyle but is probably too interested in travel and adventure to settle on a farm. But Lynn laughs her daughter may fall into the same trap she did of vowing to never marry a farmer and “Mom ate her words.”
On a warm breezy June afternoon, the day after they’d put away the seeding equipment, the Berkans talked about the farm where they’ve been the past 23 years.
This year, they used an air seeder for the first time.
“It took a while to get onto but it’s simpler than the drill … the air seeder can go longer,” said Allan. “Once we got started seeding it went quickly. We finished up the same time as last year.”
They are growing mainly wheat this year “to cash in on the price.” But they also have canola, flax and some high-erucic acid rapeseed under contract to CanAmera in Nipawin, Sask.
“I’ve been after him for a few years to grow flax because I’ve been reading about it,” said Trevor.
Allan said he used to grow other crops when they first started farming to get cash, and he tried lentils, but has settled on wheat and canola. He also gained some income by selling a gravel pit on their land to the government. The 2,220 acres they have includes some fallow land with a creek running through a pasture area below the hill on which their house stands. They have no animals.
“We got out of cattle 15 years ago. I just didn’t seem to care for it,” said Allan. “But Trevor may have to get into it later.”
This winter they experimented with a program on their home computer plugging in various crops, rotations and prices to come up with their plan. Allan and Lynn took a marketing course together but have not joined the local marketing club.
“Right now I don’t feel we need all that. We get the prices from the elevator; it’s a decision of which day to haul. It’s still a gamble,” said Lynn.
The Berkans are involved in their community. Allan is on the local committee of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and sits on an advisory group for the local credit union. The family is active in their church and Trevor was part of a committee set up by the RCMP to convey information to the community and high school. Lynn helps out with a music festival and often drives seniors to appointments in Regina, half an hour away.
But they have some concerns about rural depopulation and the closure of the nearest hospital. If there was an accident they would have to take the person to Regina, although there is a First Responders group and the Berkans all attended a recent course on first aid for farmers. They also took a course on farm chemicals and Allan says he, like most farmers, is more environmentally aware. What to do with the 400 litres of used oil their machinery runs through each year is a concern. In the old days they dumped it on the driveway.
But they wouldn’t trade their set of problems for an urban setting. Allan said a lot of city people are getting laid off their jobs and they are as vulnerable as the farmers nowadays.
Lynn said the farm is definitely the better place to raise children. Trevor said he preferred the farm lifestyle as a child because he could wander off exploring the land or be snowmobiling and tobogganing.
