Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Sask. – Mervyn Arcand has found his calling, but he’s afraid a younger generation of Indians won’t follow in his footsteps. That’s because the voice that lured him into farming has disappeared.
Arcand said he would never have become a farmer if it weren’t for the province’s Saskatchewan Indian Agriculture Program.
Twenty years ago he leaned on SIAP for help to start farming. Now he’s part of an effort to resurrect the program, which died in 1995.
Arcand farms on the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation reserve west of Leask in central Saskatchewan. He seeded his 21st crop this spring. The operation has gradually grown over the years from 900 to 2,900 cultivated acres.
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“For one person, I think I’m probably maxed out,” said the 47-year-old farmer during an interview in his log home perched on a hill overlooking the reserve.
Despite poor commodity prices that have plagued producers for the last decade, Arcand feels the farm has provided a good life for him and his family.
Between it and the income his wife Patricia earns working as a computer network technician at the band office, the couple have been able to provide a solid foundation for their two daughters.
Twenty-year-old Melissa is in the second year of the environmental science program at the University of Guelph and 18-year-old Joi is studying arts and science at the University of Saskatchewan.
His daughters won’t likely take up farming but Arcand wants to ensure that younger members of the Muskeg Lake band have the same opportunity he had to make a good life tilling the soil.
They need a program like SIAP to assist in raising capital, to provide technical expertise and to give Indian farmers a unified voice, he said.
Twenty-five years ago there were about 40 Indian farmers in Saskatchewan. During SIAP’s heyday the number blossomed to about 600. There are no estimates now.
Without SIAP Arcand could not have raised the capital he needed to farm the land that the Muskeg Lake band gave to his father as recognition for serving in the Second World War.
His father died in a car accident when Arcand was 16. Shortly after that, he graduated from high school and got a job as a journeyman carpenter. The family rented out the farm to his uncle, Dave Lafond.
Arcand worked on big construction projects such as the Prairie Malt plant in Biggar, Sask., Cargill’s inland terminal in Rosetown, Sask., and the expansion of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
When he was in his mid-20s, Arcand decided to try farming because SIAP was helping Indian farmers secure loans to get started. He needed a loan guarantee from SIAP because the 630 acres he inherited from his father was useless as collateral. Commercial lending institutions can’t take reserve land as security.
The difficulty getting bank loans is one of many barriers and inequities that Indian farmers face, said Arcand.
For instance, farm aid programs are not designed with Indian farmers in mind. The Net Income Stabilization Account and the Agricultural Income Disaster Assistance programs are based on income tax returns, but income earned on reserves is non-taxable.
Arcand said this has made it difficult for him and the other five band members who farm on the Muskeg Lake reserve to qualify for government aid.
“Some bureaucrat in Ottawa thought that was the easiest way to check incomes for farmers, which I guess it is for the majority of farmers, but not for us.”
He said it took nine years of phone calls and negotiations to qualify for the NISA program.
“Two years ago we finally qualified for NISA. That was after we threatened to sue the federal government.”
Rather than fight those battles as individuals, Arcand would like to see Indian farmers speak together through an organization like SIAP.
Last week, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations organized a meeting to discuss the formation of such a group. Arcand is willing to devote his time to an organization for Indian farmers as long as it doesn’t go the way of its predecessor.
“That last program got really political and if it’s going to be like that, I don’t want to be too involved with it. But if it’s going to be more to help the farmers, I will be involved with it.”
In the meantime, he busies himself with winter chores like hauling malt barley, shifting milling quality oats from an old bin to an aerated bin and attending Crop Production Week in Saskatoon.
It has been 10 years since he spent a winter working in the construction business. His last project was the oil upgrader in Lloydminster, Sask. Arcand said there are no large construction projects to work on in Saskatchewan and he’s too old to chase jobs out of province. Besides, his kids are grown up and he’s got other things to occupy his time.
“Since I expanded the farm you can’t go away too far too long at a time.”
The farm has tripled in size since he took over. In addition to farming his father’s land, he rents land from other band members and the band.
Other than the amount of land he farms, things haven’t changed much in 20 years. Arcand still grows the traditional crop – wheat, barley, oats and canola.
“I’m not going to change too much. Grow what you know how to grow.”
It is too far north for some of the new high-value pulse crops like chickpeas and there’s not much value-added activity in the area.
One thing that has changed is his status with the local credit union. He no longer has to rely on a loan guarantee to get an operating loan.
“Now they use my own money for security.”
But when Arcand wants to sell the farm, he wonders who is going to be able to buy it. How are they going to get the financing to put a crop in the ground? And who will speak up for Indian farmers when they are excluded from government programs?
“They need something out there.”
