A journey can be a wasteful thing if there is no destination in mind.
There are some in Saskatchewan’s agriculture sector who believe their industry lacks a destination or even agreement about which direction to take. To try to identify a goal and how to get there, a new organization has been formed.
The Saskatchewan Agribusiness Task Force was announced last week during an agri-business conference sponsored by the Saskatoon and District Chamber of Commerce.
Acting chair Red Williams, professor emeritus of animal science at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, said the province is in danger of falling behind other jurisdictions, such as Alberta, which has created a blueprint for agricultural growth and development.
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That blueprint contains a goal of $10 billion in primary agriculture sales and $20 billion in value-added business by 2005.
Establish a vision
Saskatchewan needs a similar road map to success, Williams said.
“The first issue, unquestionably, is going to have to be establish a vision. It has to be more than simply we’d like to see more value-added in Saskatchewan. It has to quantify that and give direction, commodity by commodity, and to identify the limitations about why it isn’t happening,” Williams said.
In the past, an umbrella organization representing all commodities, such as the Saskatchewan Federation of Agriculture, might have provided such direction, but it broke up over disagreements about grain transportation subsidies.
“It is a credit to the chamber that they see the need and are willing to play mother hen for a time,” said Williams.
The council is in its formative stage. It includes representatives from all three levels of government, the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and private business people.
Williams expects producer and commodity groups will want to become involved.
“The problem is we’ve had commodity groups who ship raw materials somewhere and we’ve had agri-business, which has drawn raw material from somewhere.
“But what some of us are saying is that they have to be linked. … Producers have to get part of the action.”
Although the committee will have to decide the structure and direction it wants to take, he said the organization might want to follow the lead of AgWest Biotech, the organization credited with helping to build Saskatoon into a recognized centre of agricultural research.
