No word from Ottawa | Farmers have not received answers to questions on finances or operations
MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Southwestern Saskatchewan farmers who will take over federal irrigation works by 2017 hope to know in January if their financial terms have been accepted.
Darren Steinley, a member of the producer negotiation committee representing the six flood irrigation projects, said the producers submitted a proposal to Agriculture Canada in May but still haven’t heard back.
He declined to say how much the producers want to help them maintain and operate the projects.
“They indicated they were willing to invest to divest, which means they were willing to give the producers some money to carry on with the projects,” Steinley said of the federal government.
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Ottawa said in 2007 it wanted users to take over the projects. If not, they would be decommissioned. It also said it would eventually sell its 33 dams and water control structures in the province.
About 250 producers irrigate 20,000 acres through intensive flood irrigation in the six projects. Steinley said the result is 60,000 tonnes of hay each year in the form of 100,000 round bales.
There are two projects near Val Marie and one each at Consul, Eastend, Maple Creek and Rush Lake.
In 2009, four groups were already doing some of the work involved in operating the projects. During the last two years, a consultant has helped them plan for the takeover.
Steinley said that process was useful in terms of getting the users talking and planning, but “we didn’t get any real financial answers or any clear understanding of how to run the project.”
The proposal is based on the costs the users determined, he said.
“We’re pretty confident as producers that we can take the projects over and we can run them, and we can probably run them more efficiently and effectively than governments in the past have run them,” he said.
Steinley said there are still issues that need to be clarified.
The projects are supposed to be turned over in good working condition, and an engineer has assessed them and rated them from one to four — one being in poor condition and four being in good condition.
“The AESB (Agriculture Canada’s agri-environmental services branch) has promised us that when we take over the projects in 2017, all structures will be at a three and four,” he said.
However, a weir at Maple Creek that was destroyed during recent flooding will not be replaced. Users might get works in good condition, he added, but they might not get everything they are expecting.
As well, there are seepage issues with one of the projects on the lower Frenchman River, which could damage soil and result in improper irrigation, and the Rush Lake group has an outstanding concern about drainage into Reed Lake, where a landowner doesn’t want water to accumulate.
Reed Lake is the natural drainage collection point for the area, and water from irrigation also ends up in the basin.
“The province says we can put our water there, but we’d be more comfortable with a licence that says we can do that,” Steinley said.
Other concerns include working with rural municipalities and what happens to the water if users don’t take over and the irrigation works aren’t used.
He said the 10-year negotiation and divestiture process is too long for producers who typically make quick decisions based on what’s best for their operations
“It’s tough to plan crop rotations, hay rotations, what you’re going to buy for land, how many more cows you’re going to buy, different things like that when you’re trying to plan for 10 years down the road.”
Ottawa previously tried to sell its Saskatchewan infrastructure in 1961, 1967, 1986 and 1994.
