After spending some time talking with farmers at this year's field days, a couple of things are evident. The mood of farmers is generally, and understandably, pessimistic and, some guys just don't believe in soil conservation practices like direct seeding. I guess we shouldn't feel disillusioned. If promoting soil conservation was that easy we would be witnessing a much faster adoption rate and by now we would have moved onto other issues. (Some people in lofty places think this is the case already).
Upon further reflection of the above-mentioned observations there are a couple of suggestions that, I feel, should be considered. First, the federal government should print special "farmer" dollars that can be given in large quantities to farmers to be used in purchasing farm related goods such as; inputs, machinery, repaying loans etc. They will not be legal for purchasing things like motorhomes, boats, vacations in Fiji, or Lear jets. This program will not affect the Canadian treasury. All dollars will be entirely circulated. We all know that if a farmer has a dollar he will spend it. The suggested program will not throw the Canadian buck into peril as farmer dollars will only be used for inputs and keeping the farm going. You people in Canada's ivory tower lands can relax knowing that farmers will not threaten your lists of the rich and powerful. We won't keep any money; it will be used to pump the economy. Farmer dollars could only be used by non-farmers to purchase food from grocery stores or goods from farmers. Grocery stores could only use the farmer bucks to buy food or food products directly from farmers thereby eliminating the middlemen. This will ensure food processing gets developed at the farm level. Purchasing a farmer vacation would be allowed, however, so that urbanites can see first hand the luxury of most farmers' operations. Maybe farmer bucks could be used to fund a show called lifestyles of the poor and infamous. We'll ask Kevin Hursch if he will be the moderator.
The other option would be to allow as much nitrous oxide into the atmosphere as possible. Nitrous oxide is laughing gas right? If we get concentrations up high enough maybe we'll all feel so much better that the feds will lighten up and kick some cash this way and the Americans will forget about free trade when our goods are flowing more freely south than are expected. Nitrous oxide is a pretty dangerous greenhouse gas so the first option is probably the best.
I don't know if I could get elected on this platform but would these ideas be any worse than those dreamed up for farmers to this point? Well I won't spend a lot of time developing those ideas. What we are going to spend some time on is developing a program to address the issue of how to get more farmers interested in adopting sustainable farming practices. We have done a pretty good job of reaching the innovators. But by nature these guys are quite adept at latching onto a concept and then figuring out how to make it work for themselves. The later adopters require a more hands on approach. They are quicker to revert back to conventional practices if there is any indication the new system is not immediately better. Several farmers with whom we have spoken this spring at field days indicated they tried direct seeding and quit because of problems like; dandelions, the field was too rough, residues were too hard to handle, the yield didn't seem to be as good, etc. These problems can be addressed with tech transfer programs but with limited resources available it will take a large effort and more time to get the results with this group that have been experienced to date.
With that in mind we have been working with representatives from Saskatchewan Ag & Food and PFRA to develop a strategy that will address soil conservation issues from 2000 onward. If all goes as planned we will be spending more time monitoring and evaluating successful conservation operations and developing a process by which other farmers can learn from these successes and be more interested in adopting sustainable practices on their farms. It could involve the SSCA moving into applied research and public outreach programs on climate change.
It will be a large challenge that will require the resources of SSCA, provincial and federal governments and industry. If successful, however, we should be able to reach higher levels of sustainability with a broader base of farmers. We should also be able to do it without the farmer bucks and the laughing gas!