Ryan Meili spends more time in rural Saskatchewan than most city dwellers.
And what the NDP leadership candidate, Saskatoon resident and physician sees in his travels as a rural relief locum tells him things have to change.
“It doesn’t make any sense, what we do now,” he said.
Meili cited the practice of exporting what is grown but importing most of what is eaten. He likes the idea of “closing the loop” to encourage more local consumption and jobs and increase prices for producers.
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His agriculture and rural policy, released last week with the support of former leadership candidate and former National Farmers Union president Nettie Wiebe, calls for the implementation of local marketing boards to connect producers and consumers.
The boards would help farmers supply food to restaurants, retailers and others.
Community Supported Agriculture networks would provide a more direct connection between farmers and consumers.
“We would introduce a Saskatchewan-made procurement policy,” Meili said, which would require institutions such as hospitals, government-owned cafeterias and other facilities to serve food grown in the province.
“We have to look at some creative solutions,” Meili said.
He also promotes improved support for organic production, support for the livestock sector including producers and processors, expansion of environmental farm stewardship programs and exploration of ecological goods and services compensation.
Meili admits the NDP hasn’t done a good job recently of addressing rural and agriculture concerns.
“We stopped listening to farmers the way we should,” said the candidate who grew up on a farm near Courval, Sask.
Rural revitalization begins with listening and extends to supporting communities in all aspects of life, including health, social services, education, arts and culture.
It also means creating opportunities like helping communities invest in solar, wind or small-scale hydro projects.
Meili said feed-in tariffs for small-scale, renewable energy production would allow communities to sell power into the provincial grid at a profit.
“Nobody controls the wind and the sun,” he said.
Wind turbines could replace grain elevators as the iconic prairie image, Meili said. He supports rural people shaping their own future.
