LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. – It wasn’t hard to convince Bob Nielsen to drive his tractor in a prairie-wide protest rally Aug. 17.
Farmers like Nielsen have been stopping their harvest and pre-harvest work to join slow-moving tractor rallies across the West in an effort to raise awareness of poor farm prices.
“I’ve got a good crop. I just wish it was worth something,” said Nielsen, who drove his tractor through the main streets of this border city.
“The prices aren’t much different than they were 30 years ago when I started farming.”
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Only about seven farmers turned out for the Lloydminster protest. Timing was poor for some farmers busy with pre-harvest preparation or making silage, he said.
But Wayne Golinowski of Kitscoty thinks most farmers are too embarrassed to let others know how financially strapped they are.
“Some guys are scared. They don’t want the neighbors down the road to know how bad they are. It’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
Marty Hatchard was disappointed with the turnout. He said some people don’t agree with protest rallies, but he is willing to try anything to let non-farmers and politicians know that times are hard.
“We have to let people know we’re starving out here. It’s the best crop we’ve had in years and we’ll be lucky to meet our commitments.”
More than 200 farmers in Alberta’s Peace River region recently slowed traffic along a highway with their 100 vehicle-long rally near Donnelley Corner.
“We were driving down the highway to make a statement,” said Roch Bremont of Falher.
“We don’t have a big Whyte Avenue like they do in Edmonton to plug, but we hoped we could do a little damage by slowing down traffic.”
Farmers in the Peace are suffering from their fourth poor crop. The area was plagued by excess moisture for two years and there has been virtually no rain for the past two years.
“We’re just trying to do something to raise awareness.”
Bob Semashkewich of Grassland in northeastern Alberta said farmers drove about 48 slow-moving vehicles in that rally.
“We wanted to prove a point that we need higher prices.”
The northern Alberta farmer said if they don’t hear about a government aid plan in the next two weeks, they will resume protests after harvest.
