It is one government program farmers say they are going to miss.
The Green Plan received provincial and federal dollars for farm-based research projects dealing with local soil and water quality problems. That program ends March 31 and it doesn’t appear more government money is coming.
“Hopefully all the work we’ve started in the last three years won’t be left to wither on the vine,” said David Acaster, chair of the projects committee for Saskatchewan’s northwest.
He was speaking on a producer panel at a sustainable agriculture conference held last week in Saskatoon.
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His colleague, Dave Ehman of Craik, Sask., had the same concern.
“People are just (getting used to) working together and the power goes out. … It’s like we got to read the first three chapters of a book.”
Blaine Kirwin of the southwest region committee said the loss of such farm-based, common-sense projects would be a backward step.
He said when farmers are told about research ideas borne out in actual farm conditions, they are more likely to believe another farmer than to accept the advice of a government agrologist.
“It’s different if you drive up in a government vehicle or a farm half-ton,” Kirwin said.
For the past six years, farmers have been able to get funding for environmentally based projects to test what works in their region. The projects ranged from agroforestry in the northwest to fixing eroded dugouts in the southwest.
The first phase was the Save Our Soils program, followed in the last three years by the Canada-Saskatchewan Agriculture Green Plan Agreement.
Preserving prairie agriculture doesn’t mean wrapping it up in cotton like a museum piece, said the former head of the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration.
In a speech to the conference, Harry Hill said for farming to be sustainable, two factors are necessary.
“Sustainable industry must, in the long run, be profitable. Sustainability (also) requires adjustment – the ability to change for new factors. Sustainability does not mean stability.”
Hill pointed to the continual improvements in crop varieties and animal breeds as examples of the change necessary to keep farmers working.
More marketing programs
He also noted the development of government programs and institutions to teach farmers not only how to produce but also how to market and add value to their products.
Whether such processes and policies are required in the future will be a decision made then, but to date, “I think we’re doing well,” said Hill.
