By Alice McFarlane

Saskatchewan farm group outlines election concerns

Sep 18, 2020 | 4:23 PM

SASKATCHEWAN – The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) have released its election priorities.

APAS wants the six registered parties to address several issues ranging from infrastructure, environmental stewardship, business risk management and changing demographics in advance of next month’s Saskatchewan election.

President Todd Lewis said the group wants political parties to start thinking about how best to support Saskatchewan’s most important sector.

“Agriculture has ended up being a major driver of the economy during COVID-19,” Lewis said. “While many other sectors have slowed, agriculture has actually performed better. But farmers can’t be the backbone of the economy without the right government policy.”

The first item on the list is improving rural internet and cell phone service. Lewis said providing reliable, high speed internet to rural areas is necessary for business and education.

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“We have instances of university aged young people having to move off the farm because there’s not good enough internet service to take their classes this year,” Lewis said. “That’s a perfect example of how it’s affecting the ability to live in rural Saskatchewan.”

Lewis said Agri-Stability needs to be improved which could include additional federal and provincial funding.

“We haven’t even seen, in many cases, business risk management programs keeping up with the rate of inflation,” Lewis said. “There’s never a better time to talk about this programming then during an election cycle.”

Lewis also wants to hear what the provincial parties have to say about developing training programs for the next generation of agricultural workers.

“Things like sprayer application or to run a GPS, even semi-truck training that a farm labourer could take to a producer and say they have certification so a producer would know they have some experience.”

APAS has posted a summary of all the proposals on its website. The replies of the registered political parties would be used in a provincial election forum that will be broadcast and available on the internet during the week of Oct. 19 to 25. A farmer panel will also provide reaction to each party’s proposals and statements.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF