Bottom line wins
Eric Musekamp called for fairness and compassion for the employees of the Tyson meat packing plant at Brooks, Alta. (Open Forum, Sept. 8.)
Alberta, Canadians, and particularly Canadian farmers are among the most compassionate people in the world. We, as Canadians, have much for which to be proud as a result of our caring and community-minded values.
But our society values a bargain a bit more. We usually don’t think twice about bypassing our local merchants to drive to a Wal-Mart or a Superstore to get a better deal. Farmers are among the best negotiators for whittling down the profit margins of their farm supply dealers to practically nothing.
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Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
Corporations are no different. They also strive to get the best bargains they can. If the laws of supply-and-demand allow them to hire their labour at a lower cost, they will certainly try to do so.
They owe it to their shareholders and to their bottom-line profitability, as do all of us who participate in a competitive business environment.
– Greg Popove,
Olds, Alta.
Rivers flow
I read with interest your article on the first page of the Sept. 15 Western Producer asking, “Will prairie rivers keep flowing?”
I have learned a great deal about the operation of the Gardiner Dam forming Lake Diefenbaker since the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority flooded our property in June 2005.
The question of whether the rivers will keep flowing will depend on the season being considered. It must be understood that most of the income that the SWA makes each year is from the sale of water to Sask Power to generate hydro-electricity.
The income from power generated in the summer is very low, and power prices are low. The highest price for electrical power is during the coldest part of the winter. That is why the dam is kept as full as possible to capitalize on high power profits in the winter. During the winter the rivers will flow.
During the spring and summer the water would also keep flowing if farmers and other users were willing to pay the same amount for the water during that time of the year that SWA can get for the water in the winter.
Unfortunately most of the crops that farmers could grow and afford to pay these prices for water are illegal.
I empathize with Murray Purcell, who is concerned with low river levels during the irrigation season. We also have a market garden that we water from the South Saskatchewan River below the Gardiner Dam. I can start the pump in the morning, noting that there is lots of water today for irrigating our crops, but in an hour when I come back to put fuel in the pump, I can see that in a short period of time the suction would have been out of the water. …
Since the flooding of my property, I have learned that the prime objective of the Gardiner Dam is to save as much water as possible for maximizing profits for power generation in the winter. If less water comes into the dam, and there is some chance the dam may not be filled to capacity by summer, the spillway is throttled down to a trickle to save the water. Farmers wanting to irrigate from the river should invest in irrigation equipment that can chase the water level up and down the bank.
In some jurisdictions flood protection is accomplished by keeping some space in the dam. In the case of the Gardiner Dam all available space is used. …
Ideally irrigation possibilities below the Gardiner Dam would be limitless if farmers could only grow crops and irrigate them during the coldest months of the year.
Why worry about crops resistant to poisons, locusts, etc., when the real demand is for a crop to grow in the outdoors at -45 C, and irrigation equipment that does not freeze at this temperature.
Whether this crop is found or not, the rivers in Saskatchewan will continue to flow during the wintertime when the power profits are at their highest level.
– Bill Lemisko,
Saskatoon, Sask.
Disaster here
A letter to Lorne Calvert, premier of Saskatchewan:…: I would like to (praise) the quick response to aid your government has offered to the Gulf Coast disaster. That’s great.
You obviously haven’t looked out your back door lately. Another disaster is looming in our province. I watched a TV interview this morning on Canada AM. You stated that we have crop insurance and our CAIS (Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization) program, hurrah.
Do you realize that crop insurance has been decreasing their coverage the past years? The coverage I have won’t pay the high costs of inputs…
The best and most efficient program I have been involved in is going to Alberta to work for the winter months.
In a quote from my local paper you stated, “this centennial year has afforded Saskatchewan people with so many positives.”
We need some of that vigour … directed to agriculture. The most determined and vigorous thing I have in my crop this fall is my dog Ruby. She’s the only one that makes me smile because if I think about the rest, it’s bleak. …
My grandfather settled here before 1910. Today I think I will check on his gravesite. I think he might have just rolled over and cracked the ground. …
– Darrell Kerpan,
Kenaston, Sask.
Democracy fails
For our government and politicians, a history lesson, June 15, 1215, Runnymede, England.
The cornerstone of English liberty was set this day and the beginning of democracy was born. The magna carta, now recognized as the great charter, was endorsed.
Under the charter enforcement, if the king (in our now modern day, the government) disregarded the warnings of the people, a selected group had the right to assemble an army to force the ruler(s) to obedience. This article was designed to ensure that governments maintain accountability and live up to their ethical responsibilities of office and to the commitment of taking care of the people.
Charges of treason would not be laid for such actions, for under the charter, it was their duty. Neither was this action construed as being disloyal to the crown.
Now, 800 years later, residents, especially those living in rural towns and surrounding farming communities of Manitoba and also in several other provinces, are worried and frightened. They are worried about democracy and voicing their concerns about its degradation and actions of a bad government. They realize and are frightened that they are being abused for the sake of corporations and the hog factories….
The governments and our politicians have failed the people. They have chosen to dishonour and violate the principles of democracy for their own devious agenda(s). Elected democracy has become a mockery of elected dictatorship…
– John Fefchak,
Virden, Man.
Unity & purpose
I am writing with regard to the article on page 1 of the Western Producer, Sept. 22, “Hog producers oppose corn duty.”
Several questions come to mind upon reading that article. Has it occurred to the hog producers that their opposition to the corn duty is an effort to download the low profitability of their business to grain growers?
After all, profitability can be gained by low inputs as well as higher prices for your product. Has it occurred to the hog producers that there may be more involved than corn duty, that perhaps a corn duty could be a statement to the Americans that their duties on Canadian wheat and softwood lumber, as well as the “inspection fees” on beef, are not appreciated?
Is it possible that the hog producers don’t see themselves as part of an industry that needs to have unity of purpose i.e. profitability for all segments of the production chain? Do they really believe that the reason corn is so cheap is not because of subsidies?
Can it be that the hog producers consider themselves a separate industry from the rest of agriculture and therefore need have no consideration of that fact? Will they be surprised when the “cheap corn” runs out and there is no replacement?
Grain farmers also work on a spread, as do all farmers, and it would be nice if there was recognition by more farm leaders of the fact that for an industry to be successful and sustainable, all of its branches must be profitable.
– Horst Schreiber,
Ohaton, Alta.
Fuel solution?
In Saskatchewan we have cold winters and need to travel great distances to move product to market or get through life as we are accustomed to. The high fuel costs have the potential to hurt our economy. Farmers may have trouble paying for fuel and fertilizer. Less wealthy people may find it difficult to heat their homes.
The increased cost of operation may have an inflationary effect. Some business people and workers will be able to raise their prices or income in accordance with these increased costs while some others will have to absorb these costs themselves.
I would like to see every person … try to find a solution to this problem. This is my contribution.
According to the British North America Act of 1867, the provinces have exclusive ownership of the resources such as oil. It is illegal for the federal government to even have a GST. Very possibly, our provincial governments were out of line in allowing the federal government to include oil in the free trade agreement.
My idea: Saskatchewan residents are given opportunity to purchase oil products from 100 percent Saskatchewan owned companies which are getting their oil royalty free for use within the province. Any oil exported out of the province would have the same royalty structure as we now have.
This would allow all the profits to be reinvested in the province rather than going to an international oil company. This would give more security for smaller oil companies in our province.
I suggest that the fairest system is where many small competitors are in a market and where as many people as possible are allowed into a market to compete.
The lower oil prices would give Saskatchewan a competitive edge on the world scene….
If we are complacent and leave it up to others to get involved, there may not be enough steam to push a solution through.
– Laverne Isaac,
Medstead, Sask.
