SASKATOON – The federal government should put some of the $300 million Crow adjustment fund into farmer-owned inland terminals, say promoters of a terminal in southern Saskatchewan.
Farmers from Crossroads Inland Terminal Ltd. met with agriculture minister Ralph Goodale in Regina last week to make a pitch for federal funds.
“We think a good place for them to invest their money is helping farmers along this path,” said Crossroads spokesman Greg Kvisle. “I think it’s important for the government to take a stand and say, ‘we think you’re right, farmers’, and help out a little bit.”
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Goodale could not be reached for comment on the proposal. However press aide Vern Greenshields noted there have been many requests for some of the $300 million.
The 24 farmers who currently make up the Crossroads group want to build a terminal at Corinne, 45 kilometres south of Regina. They hope to do a feasibility study this summer, and if all goes according to plan, start construction in the spring of 1996.
The Crossroads project brings to 10 the number of inland terminal projects in various stages of development, all in Saskatchewan. Another six or seven are in the early discussion stage.
So far the terminals have been locally financed, with some investment from existing grain companies. But Kvisle said there’s an argument to be made for some federal financing.
“We would like to see something done, not just for our terminal, but because we think it’s the way of the future,” he said. “I don’t want to see the (Crow) money be spent propping up a decaying and antiquated system.”
Kvisle doesn’t expect Ottawa would give outright grants to the terminals, but he thinks the government could provide subsidized mortgage rates through Farm Credit Corp.
Unwise investment
At least one other inland terminal group doesn’t like the idea much. Gord Stueck of Great Sandhills Terminal at Leader, Sask., said it would be unwise to use federal money to compete directly with existing companies.
Besides, he said, the people who get involved in these kind of projects generally don’t want the government involved in their business. “These farmers want to control their own destiny,” he said, and there would almost certainly be strings attached to any federal investment.
Ray Howe, vice-president of Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, said government money shouldn’t be spent to support business ventures that wouldn’t be viable without the government assistance.
“We go through a planning pro-cess as to where we put our facilities, as does every other grain company, and a private group like this should go through exactly the same process and not seek that kind of assistance,” he said.
If money is forthcoming, it must be available to everybody in the business, Howe said. He noted that the pool has made use of such programs in some of its value-added ventures.
