Community members from all walks of life are hoping to give politicians some possible solutions to the farm-income crisis, including Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Judy Bradley and Agriculture Minister Eric Upshall, at a farm rally to be held tonight in Bengough.
The rally will be held at the town hall starting at 7 p.m., and was set up by a group of people from the Bengough area including farmers, business people and civic politicians, said organizer Bob Thomas.
"The rally will be different from other rallies, where they brought in farmers to list their problems. What we're doing is we're not only bringing in farmers, but businessmen, implement dealers, and a representative of the Canadian Taxpayers Association," said Thomas.
For now, the organizers felt they wanted to start at the provincial level, so only provincial politicians were invited, with the exception of the federal minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board, Ralph Goodale, who hasn't confirmed if he's attending. Opposition politicians Gerald Aldridge of the Liberals and Elwin Hermanson, leader of the Saskatchewan Party, will also attend.
Thomas said the organizers have set strict rules for this rally, with set time limits for people to speak, and a time slot set at the end of the evening for the politicians to respond to the concerns and solutions presented. Upshall has requested a separate time slot, fuelling speculation that the agriculture minister may be announcing what the province will be doing in relation to the farm-income program established by the federal government.
Among the solutions the group wants to put forward is a suggestion for making cuts to government programs that would allow for funding for the farmers without adding any extra costs to the taxpayer, said Thomas.
"That's the challenge, to find a solution that won't cost taxpayers more money," he said, adding one solution is a return of the farm-fuel program, which would provide lower-cost fuel for use only in field operations, similar to the purple gas and diesel programs of a few years ago.
A re-grass program, which would return unproductive farm land into pasture and hay land, is another suggestion, along with a guaranteed price for wheat set by the government.
"This will give a farmer a guaranteed level of income, and return him to what he was hypothetically making in the 1970s," said Thomas, adding one other solution they will suggest is a complete make-over of Saskatchewan's Crop Insurance program.
The reason for many of these suggested solutions is to address the main problem faced by the agriculture industry today, said Thomas, that of young people leaving farming altogether after seeing what their parents have had to go through.
"I'm 46 and I'm one of the youngest farmers in my community," he said, adding that the government and financial institutions need to make it easier for first-time farmers to get established and be able to stay in farming.
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