REGINA – The relationship between Saskatchewan farmers and the oil and gas industry is a good one and both benefit from it, said an industry official last week.
Glenn Newhouse, chair of the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, said the oil and gas industry has helped many farmers continue farming.
He recalled a farm equipment dealer in southeast Saskatchewan once telling him of selling 17 combines that year – 15 to farmers with oil wells on their property. He also knows of farmers who have signed their surface leases over to lenders like Farm Credit Corporation in order to stay on their land.
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“(The industry has) been of tremendous benefit to farmers, particularly those who have four to six wells generating $12,000 to $15,000 a year,” said Newhouse.
Respect for rights
“We conduct virtually all our business on somebody else’s property, and we have since about 1950 with very little problem. We have an immense appreciation for their rights and their position and with that comes an awareness of the environment.”
Newhouse, speaking at an industry round table during Petroleum Awareness Week, said it’s impossible to know how many farmers have off-farm jobs in the oil and gas sector. One farmer’s job could be as simple as plowing the snow on the road to a well site, he said. Others are driving trucks, checking wells or working as rig hands.
“Saskatchewan has always been a very good place for small oil companies to do business,” he said. “We seem to be able to go about our business here.”
The industry paid about $60 million in property taxes to Saskatchewan rural municipalities last year. Newhouse noted RMs including Gull Lake and Browning receive more than 70 percent of their property taxes from oil companies.
