In a recent meeting of farmers, some very interesting points came out. Many are scared about this year due to moisture and whether provincial coffers will be able to cover the projected loses. Others were concerned over several other valid points.
The price of fuel is front and foremost in the discussions and farmers are mad at the fuel companies for raising the fuel in May, July and September, times when farmers use the most for seeding, haying and harvest. How would the oil companies like it if those farmers with oil wells on their land all of a sudden demanded 10 times the mineral or surface rights? It would really hurt.
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Here we are in one of the most productive provinces in the oil industry and we pay the highest price. Why are we being gouged?
Of course, discussions about fertilizer and chemicals came up. Again, when spring comes, up goes the price. With some forms of farming we have become totally dependent on these inputs. We have no choice and the average farmer is getting tired of getting gouged.
The third but very interesting factor was the price of parts and services by machinery dealers. In one case a 14-inch flex pipe for an exhaust for a tractor was $140 from the manufacturer. The dealer was able to get the same pipe from a supplier for about $11. The farmer went to a semi-trailer place and got it for $6.50….
For old established farmers, who can afford new and not need many repairs, that’s OK. But for the small or young farmers, we are killing the very people who will carry this industry into the future.
Ten years from now the older farmer may not be with us, but that younger farmer will. I believe that we had better rethink our priorities and look after this commodity, for he or she is more valuable than any of the others….
In closing, we now have a majority government in Ottawa which came from the West.
May I remind the honourable prime minister that it was the rural people of Western Canada that got him to where he is today – the very people who embraced the Reform party who evolved it into the new Conservative party. You need to address the needs of the farming world today and not study it for months or years.
As we saw an interesting swing in voting, if you forget your old friends in the West, they may just turn on you in the next election. New saying for government: think before you sink.
Bob Thomas,
Regina Beach, Sask.
