The presidents of the three major farm groups across the Prairies met in Edmonton to discuss important issues affecting agriculture in 2011.
Humphrey Banack, president of the Wild Rose Agricultural Producers (WRAP), Greg Marshall, president of Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) and Rob Brunel, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) highlighted three major areas of concern including Agricultural Recovery programs, the federal railway service review and unseeded acreage due to excess moisture.
The leaders also reiterated the need for more predictable Agricultural Recovery programs with well-defined triggers and processes in order to help sustain producers through difficult economic times or challenges beyond a producer’s control.
Concerning the Railway Service Review, the leaders anticipate the final release of the review and are in favour of a full rail costing review being implemented in a timely manner. The Prairie Farm Leaders also support the position that there must be clear requirements for service improvements in the areas of rail car reporting, independent measurement of service and car supply across the Prairies and Canada.
A top priority for the leaders of WRAP, APAS and KAP will be to continue to monitor excess moisture and flooding concerns into the next season. The leaders recognize the possibility that there may be a large number of unseeded acres in the 2011 crop year and they encourage producers to utilize existing safety net programs in order to mitigate the risk of unseeded acres or other production issues.
