Q: What does The Western Producer have in common with a drilling rig in northern Russia?
A: Saskatchewan farmer Cameron MacDonald.
It has been a pleasure of late to correspond with MacDonald, a subscriber who farms 10 to 12 quarters of land with his family near Rabbit Lake, Sask.
But when he isn’t home for seeding or harvest, MacDonald has an off-farm job. A really far away off-farm job.
He works in northeastern Russia, “straight west of Alaska and north of Japan,” as he describes it, and somewhere near Kamchatka.
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He’s a drill supervisor with Bertram Drilling Corp. and has been working in the region, along with his brother Murray, for the last three years. They’ll be home shortly, if they aren’t already, to pitch in for harvest and discover the yields on their wheat, canola, oats and peas.
Farming might well be MacDonald’s’ first love, because he is an avid reader of this newspaper even when he’s surrounded by Russian ice, snow and seismic equipment. Spotty internet connections allow him some access to www.producer.com but he reports that he has to take turns with other crew members to check the website and read his e-mail.
Winter conditions in Russia might be enough to make one appreciate Saskatchewan weather. This past winter saw him working in three to four feet of snow. Winds can be fierce on the seashore – the Sea of Okhotsk – and -40 C temperatures are not uncommon.
On the other hand, things can get a little hot. There are several live volcanoes in the area, MacDonald reports, and thermal springs keep some of the rivers open all winter. The nearest town is a 90-minute helicopter ride away from camp
Back at home, the farm labour pool consists of MacDonald’s wife Christine, Murray’s wife Veronica, their mother, Mary, teenagers Brodie and Jayden, several other relatives and some very good neighbours.
Custom sprayers and harvesters are called upon when necessary but Cam says the family manages to do 90 percent of the farm work themselves.
Aside from the remote location and harsh conditions of his off-farm job, Cam’s story probably isn’t so different from that of many farm boys who work in the oil patch to earn money that will eventually be plowed back into the farm.
They all have something in common with Cam and The Western Producer too: the fervent hope that farming can pay its people enough to eventually eliminate the need for off-farm jobs.
