The Saskatchewan government’s decision to close nearly three-quarters of the province’s rural agricultural extension offices has sparked a grassroots protest aimed at reversing the controversial move.
But the province’s agriculture minister says the decision is final.
“This is a pretty necessary direction and I can’t see us being able to afford going back to the other way of operating,” Mark Wartman said.
In its March 31 budget, the province said it was closing 22 of 31 rural service centres and laying off 119 full- and part-time extension staff effective April 30.
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Nine regional service centres will remain open and a new call centre will be set up in Moose Jaw to deal with telephone, fax, e-mail and internet inquiries.
A coalition of community-based farm producer groups is circulating a petition asking the government to reverse its decision and was to hold a public meeting in Saskatoon April 21.
The group says extension agrologists are a crucial source of unbiased information and advice for farmers, agribusiness and the general public.
“They provide a direct financial benefit to producers,” said Tim Korol of the Meacham Hills Forage Club, one of the groups behind the campaign.
The government said the consolidation will save about $2 million that will be redirected to the new federal-provincial safety net program. As well, the government said 71 percent of the contact between farmers and the extension service was by phone, fax, e-mail or internet.
Government officials say nothing will change for that 71 percent except their calls or e-mails will go to the new Agriculture Knowledge Centre. Farmers may even get better service by being able to speak directly to specialists in different areas.
Things will change for the 29 percent of personal contacts conducted through office meetings, on-farm visits or seminars, but the government said it had to make difficult choices.
“There is no way we can justify providing that level of service for the little uptake that there has been overall,” said Wartman, adding the nine regional centres will fit well with the strategy of regional agricultural development.
Korol said the 71 percent figure doesn’t ease his concerns about the closures, insisting local agrologists provide a valuable service by meeting with local groups, alerting them to developing issues and providing timely advice, in addition to providing much-needed jobs and families to rural communities.
“Whoever has provided that number has not painted a true picture because that doesn’t reflect their true value,” he said.
The government said information can also be obtained from agribusinesses and private consulting agrologists.
The changes in Saskatchewan’s extension service are similar to what Alberta did several years ago, which also generated a grassroots backlash.
Rod Scarlett, executive director of Wild Rose Agriculture Producers, said one result has been a big increase in the number of private agrologists working in small towns in Alberta.
“What the government used to provide, farmers now pay for,” he said.
Scarlett said it’s difficult to generalize as to whether farmers are any better or worse off in terms of access to information, but the changes did represent a transfer of costs to farmers.
