LABOUR SHORTAGE
The issue of finding labour in Alberta’s fast-paced economy is a challenge faced by many agricultural producers. This is further intensified as it is commonly known that agricultural producers are unable to compete with the high wages in Alberta’s oil and gas industry.
My family has traditionally had a hired man on our cow-calf and grain farming operation. However, in recent years it has become increasingly difficult to find employees. This has, in turn, factored into the decision to rent our cropland out, as the workload for both enterprises was too much for one person. I know of countless other farms in the area that are seeking employees but are unable to find them, and if they do they can’t offer a lucrative enough deal to retain workers.
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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?
I am unaware of any government programs that specifically find employees or offer incentives to hire employees for an agricultural business. The recruitment company C.A.E.P (Communicating for Agriculture Education Programs) recently sent out a letter explaining the hardships they face in recruiting trainees from other countries to fill the labour void in our industry. They are having trouble attracting people, and they are professionals.
What other options are out there to attract labourers to the industry? How much can we depend on machinery, innovation and technology? I don’t have the answers right now, but this industry is made of resilient people who can hopefully find a solution to this problem.
Danica Wiechnik,
Consort, Alta.
ACHIEVING SUSTAINABILITY
Barb Glen’s article (WP Feb. 28) “How do you convince consumers to buy local?” gives a report on the sustainable food panel and reception and the frustrations associated with the lack of local food interest. Emphasis is on consumer decisions, but what about our agricultural producers?
The family farm is not profitable today. Productivist modes of agriculture have come to dominate the industry, leaving the “buy local” and organic producers scrounging to meet their input costs.
Like the panelists in the article said, local food sustainability is possible when consumers are willing to pay the extra dollar. Local food will never be sustainable if consumers have the choice between the expensive organic product or the cheap product produced by a factory farm. There needs to be a change in agricultural production.
Every sector in the agri-food chain is controlled by transnational corporations, except for farming. Processors, manufacturers, and packers are reaping the profits of agricultural production. Take a look at the National Farmer Union’s 2005 report, which outlines the causes and solutions of the farm crisis.
Targeting the consumers is definitely part of the solution, but restoring and restructuring agricultural production is the long-term answer to low profitability in local and organic farming. Organic farming will not be sustainable until it is profitable to do so.
Local food will not be on the shelves until our farmers are receiving what they deserve. The only way this will happen is if we pressure our government to limit or even ban corporate farming. It is possible. Nine states have succeeded in banning or limiting corporate farm operations.
Scott Proudfoot,
Sherwood Park, Alta.
DEMOCRATIC CREDIBILITY
Over the years, I have voted in many elections in Canada as a private citizen … I have seen and been a part of democracy in action as it was meant to be, without interference from special interest groups.
I am convinced that was why other countries asked people from Canada to come to oversee their elections.
All of a sudden, we see a vote for a world-renowned and respected farmer marketing organization scrapped, the board of directors who were elected fired, even though a vote was mandatory by legislation before any changes could be made.
I was elected by a large area in southern Saskatchewan to the farmer advisory committee of the Canadian Wheat Board and became chair of the group.
I have seen first-hand the many advantages, price-wise and otherwise, of farmers selling jointly and not competing with one another for a more available market.
It also gave me an opportunity to talk to many of our customers and so I heard first-hand the respect they had for the CWB and Canada, in our ability to deliver what they needed and in the service they received ….
As a result, I wrote a number of letters to the Editor making my point, but that didn’t seem to agree with what was happening.
Then one day on my computer, I received an email from “JP Private Investigators, Now it’s your move: I’m a private investigator hired to monitor you. I have some info you might not be aware of. Do not bother to reply to this email. It goes to a dump mail account that is never monitored. If you wish to reach me in concern of your file, grab my sig at bottom.”
I could never reach this outfit at all, so I took it to the police. They had no record of them at all, but said it seems someone is trying to shut you down.
How widespread is this? Now we have robocalls, bobocalls, push polls and who knows what else.
Maybe the time has come for some outside assistance in this area interested in democracy. Canada has lost credibility in so many other areas as well.
Avery Sahl,
Mossbank, Sask.
MAIL CUTS
In reply to my concerns about recently proposed cuts to service at the Elrose, Sask., post office, Conservative member of Parliament David Anderson’s office stated: “It appears they (Canada Post) are proposing to reduce the hours by 30 minutes, which would affect the lunch hour.…”
Stated that way, it doesn’t sound like much. But in reality it’s a 6.25 percent reduction. It works out to 130 hours, or a full 16.25 days per year. That’s one big cut.
Elrose is a vibrant community with a thriving farm sector and new and expanding businesses that retain and attract young families. We depend on our post office. It’s an essential cornerstone in the function of our local small businesses and the social well being of the community.
Cutting postal service would be equivalent to allowing the deterioration of any other crucial part of our infrastructure, such as electrical service, roads or bridges.
Would we accept having our electricity being shut off for an hour and a half a day, or stop filling 6.25 percent of the potholes in our highways? We either have a fully functioning post office — or road system, or power grid — or we don’t.
How can cuts to infrastructure possibly contribute to Canada’s Economic Action Plan?
Neglect of infrastructure inevitably leads to a downward spiral for any community.
On March 22, 2011, honourable Jim Flaherty stated in the House of Commons: “Our government will continue to improve the quality of life in rural Canada.” Now is the time to call on our government to prove the worth of those words.
To voice concerns about the erosion of Canada’s public sector or neglect of rural infrastructure, you can contact your local MP at House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa Ont. K1A 0A6.
Canada Post will not charge you for the postage.
Doug Bone,
Elrose, Sask.
STUDY UNCONVINCING
The article, “Study counters reports of seed treatment-bee link” (WP Feb. 28) left me completely unconvinced.
First, let me say that I am not a beekeeper and I do use some of the seed treatments in question on my farm — so I don’t have a hidden agenda. However, I think it is an important issue that deserves serious effort to uncover the truth.
From what I read in the article, it appears that the study was designed to minimize risk to the bees.
Putting bees in a blooming field of canola for two weeks in June is not the same as putting bees in a cornfield at planting time when it seems that risk of exposure to seed treatment dust is the highest and suspicious bee deaths have been the most acute.
Are these deaths caused by the neonicotinoids? I don’t know. But testing bees exposed to treated crops for a short period of time well after planting when there is much less risk, and then isolating them from further exposure for the rest of the season, hardly seems like a vigorous test of the potential dangers.
James Korvemaker,
Wyoming, Ont.
