LETHBRIDGE – The people of the Blood reserve have decided to take back their southern Alberta land and run Canada’s largest farm on their own.
Working through the Blood Tribe agriculture sector created in 1991, the band council hired consultant Shawn Stang as chief executive officer to help the band put their land to work in primary agricultural production and value-added ventures. It is a multimillion-dollar project aimed at bringing revenue and employment to Canada’s largest reserve.
Located south of Lethbridge, the land was first broken in the 1950s when the leadership of the day decided that was the best use for it. Livestock was grazed before that and some farming took place on a small scale.
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“It was the best and most productive land in southern Alberta,” said Stang, a former consultant with Meyers Norris Penny.
At 1,425 sq. kilometres, the agriculture project includes 18,000 acres of irrigated land, 240,000 acres of dryland and 125,000 acres of grass.
About 10 years ago all land was rented to about 30 non-native farmers but that management philosophy changed and the band wants its own members to farm. There are about seven non-native farming tenants remaining.
Led by chief Charlie Weasel Head, the band council is focused on economic development for the reserve. There are some oil and gas reserves but the 13 councillors see agriculture as a renewable resource with longer term benefits.
There are about 10,000 people living on the reserve and half are under the age of 30, providing a large labour pool. A program for 20 students per session is teaching them core farming skills because a whole generation has not worked the land and those skills have been lost, said Stang.
Training will emphasize working the land with cultural and environmental sensitivity because the Bloods have decided the land must be treated well enough to last for 10,000 years.
About $4 million has been spent on farm equipment, a million bushel grain storage facility is up and a maintenance shop was built.
The band started a Black Angus herd with about 400 cows and plans to expand to 2,000 head.
It plans to farm up to 14,000 acres this spring and is ready to start calving cows.
There is already a timothy hay plant on the reserve and about 20,000 tonnes of condensed hay are shipped annually to Japan. In 2003, the tribe received a Canada Export award for its forage processing business.
It is also looking at growing ceremonial grasses, vegetable and other greenhouse crops as well as organic products.
No government assistance has been received for this venture.
“They are taking that first step on their own,” said Stang.
A sore point for the band members is their exclusion from the federal government’s agriculture policy framework. First Nations can qualify for the Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization program but were excluded from other farm support programs in the past.
“First Nations people are the largest landholders but they have no voice at the policy table,” said Stang.
The government needs to be more sensitive to their lifestyle and appreciate they do not have to file income tax forms, so getting information for a program like CAIS is often difficult, he said.
