Manitoba’s deputy premier has taken a birds’-eye view of farming changes on the Prairies and decided his province is flying faster toward diversification than others.
Jim Downey, minister of industry, trade and tourism, told farmers at Manitoba Pool Elevators’ annual meeting they are “way out in front” of Saskatchewan farmers.
He saw the rate of change while flying above the provinces in a commercial airplane this summer.
“What I saw in the bigger picture going across Saskatchewan was: one field of summerfallow, one field of wheat, one field of summerfallow, one field of wheat,” said Downey.
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“I can tell you, they aren’t changing very rapidly,” he told the delegates, “… even though Sask Wheat Pool are out there in a big way.”
Manitoba farmers continuously crop, said Downey, and grow many special crops, including potatoes.
Downey did not say whether he has flown over Alberta lately, but said in an interview he thought farmers there were well-diversified into irrigated crops and cattle.
“Alberta, I would say, is not quite as diversified as Manitoba, but I don’t have any statistics on that,” he said.
Potato, hog and oat processors are doing well in Manitoba, and a flour mill and strawboard plant are soon to start production, said Downey, a farmer and auctioneer from Melita in the southwest corner of the province.
Downey announced his government will soon introduce new legislation making it easier for farmers to form closed co-operatives.
Downey said the “new generation” co-ops in the American northern plains states have helped farmers improve bottom lines by adding value to their raw products.
Manitoba is close to central trucking routes, but far from export ports, noted Downey.
“When it costs over $75 per tonne (of grain) to go east or $53 per tonne to go west, including handling and transportation, the farm books with today’s grain prices don’t look very good,” he told delegates.
Projects important
Downey stressed the importance of research and development to agriculture, prompting delegate Dennis Persoage, a farmer from Arborg, to tell about spending a few days traveling through Saskatchewan by car.
“It seemed that there were so many research and development projects going on there that you could find them sooner than you could find a gas station,” said Persoage.
Downey said his government is working on starting an agriculture research fund to be run by farmers.
