A Few Farmers Speak Up -- October 16, 1997

Letters Wanted! -- October 15, 1997

One Man's Plea -- October 14, 1997

Farmer's Ready to Pack It In -- October 9, 1997

Farming Snowed Under --October 24, 1996

Rain delays grain harvest --Sept. 17, 1996

 

 

 

 

A Few Farmers Speak Up

By Jamie Dirom
Daily News Staff

For many farmers, this year's problems are just last year's carried over. Several producers at Tuesday's meeting in Farmington have only been able to harvest a small portion of what they planted this spring. Others, who have had more success this year didn't manage to seed the amount of land they had intended to this year due to last year's problems. Peter Bailey of Farmington said he lost almost all of his crop last year. This year he hasn't fared much better. "I've got five machines to use, but I was only using one of them (for harvest)." Bailey noted it's frustrating to put so much work into a crop only to see it sit when it's ready for harvest. Joe Weingart, a farmer from Sunset Prairie had a bad year last year, which carried over into his operations this year. "Last year we only got about 10 per cent of our crop," Weingart said. "This year we got 80 per cent, but we only managed to plant 25 per cent." Many farmers faced similar problems, having to spend much of their spring clearing the previous year's crops from the land. Another farmer, who didn't want to be named had similar problems. He managed 80 per cent of his harvest, but "a lot of it is so poor that we would have been better off if we didn't have it seeded." Both agreed that the past two years have been difficult, especially in the face of increasing costs. Weingart said the situation in Dawson Creek is similar to the Red River flood in Manitoba. "We had the flood problem, but because it didn't come at once, it came over a number of months, nobody recognizes it." "I'm fortunate that we have another income," Weingart said. "My wife is working." Weingart said that a lot of farmers are moving into hay and livestock production, adding that "it's probably a safer bet" than growing crops now. Which isn't to say that livestock producers aren't feeling the problems weather has caused. One mentioned that he will have to get feed from another source, since he can't get his equipment out into the field to bring in hay bales. Some of the farmers at Tuesday's meeting weren't among the hardest hit, coming to offer their support for the farmers who were. There was even a group from Bonanza, Alberta. "Where we are, we're not really in the same boat as these farmers are," Audrey Chapman said. Chapman and her husband have a small piece of land near Farmington. "The bottom line is just to get the government to recognize there's a problem." "They don't even know where we are," Jack Chapman said. "We could be in Russia."

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Letters Wanted!

October 15, 1997

By Cees Mond
Daily News Staff

Farmington farmer Nick Parsons is serious about driving a couple of combines and tractors to Victoria to get bureaucrats and politicians listen to the Peace farmers' plight after seeing another year's crop lost. Parsons says he's not prepared to just sit idly by and watch his farm disappear and he and his family pay of debts for the rest of his life. "I've got nothing to lose. I lost my farm in England; I'm not going to lose it here," said Parsons who moved to Canada six years ago. But Parsons needs help. "A lot of farmers are just sitting by, waiting for other people to help them out," he says. "Some of the Canadian farmers are very complacent. They don't think this kind of action and letters will do any good," he said. The farmer says he was disappointed to learn there are only about 10 letters of farmers that came into the Peace River Regional District office in the past couple of months. "We need another 200 letters. Ten is no good. Ten's not a disaster. People have got to stop being complacent," he said. "I want personal letters of torment, grief, hardship; how it affects their farm; how it affects their family." In addition to farmers, everybody in the Peace should write as soon as possible to support the farmers, he said, individuals, companies, organizations. "I want a combine hopper full of letters to present to the government." Parsons said he has experienced in the past few days, since he parked his combine at the traffic circle on Sunday, that the community is supporting the farmers 100 per cent. "The spirit here is marvelous. People support farming," he said, citing a talk he had with the RCMP after parking his combine. "The RCMP had no problem with the combine. "You farmers are number one in this community,'" he was told. Send letters of support, possibly outlining the impact of the agricultural disaster for your family or business to the Peace River Regional District, P.O Box 810, Dawson Creek, V1G 4H8; or to Nick Parsons, P.O Box 15, Farmington, V0C 1N0. You can also call Faye Salisbury at the regional district at 784-3200, or Parsons at 843-7617.

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One Man's Plea

October 14, 1997

By Jamie Dirom
Daily News Staff

It's one man's plea to the community and his fellow farmers. Since Sunday, Nick Parsons' combine has been sitting on the northwest corner of the traffic circle. The sign on it reads: "Crisis in the country - It is all over - Another harvest - lost." Parsons says the display is intended to make both farmers and the general public more aware of the farming crisis. He says that not enough people are taking action and that the current "best case" solution--low interest loans to farmers, is unacceptable. "At most, we're getting a loan, and that's no good, because it's tied to your farm. "Your land is virtually worthless at the moment." Parsons says that many farmers are just talking about the crop disaster over coffee, and doing nothing else about it. "I wish there was a little less complacency and more drive." He says that the regional district has indicated that the best action to take is to send personal letters about the situation. He is asking people to write letters and send them to either him or the regional district office. "A lot of farmers don't like to write letters, and I hope they'll call me--I have no problem writing letters." Parsons' harvest has been poor this year, with a yield of about 25 percent. He struggled to harvest 40 acres a day. In a normal year, he would have been harvesting 70, but the soggy conditions made that impossible, and caused costly equipment problems as well. If his letter writing campaign doesn't yield any results, Parsons' next protest will be to drive down to Victoria with other farmers in farm equipment. If that doesn't produce any results, he says he will go to Ottawa to make the government pay attention. "I've got nothing to lose but my farm--and I'm not going to lose it. "That combine should be in the field at work."

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Farmer's Ready to Pack It In

October 9, 1997

By Cees Mond
Daily News Staff

Two consecutive failed harvests is more than what a lot of farmers can take, Peace area farmers say, and they expect themselves or many of their colleagues to pack it in this winter. "It's the second year we're running at a deficit. You can only do it so long," said Doe River farmer Calvin Rousell. "This one will do a lot of people in. It's a matter of hanging on until your creditors kick you off the land, that's what it amounts to." Rousell said he can't foresee himself putting a crop in next spring. "I just don't have the money. I really don't know what's going to happen without some sort of government support, and it's got to be major, it can't be a token." Jarvis Taylor, manager of the seed cleaning plant of the South Peace Grain Cleaning Co-op agrees. He's been talking to a lot of farmers this fall. In 1995, the plant cleaned 720,000 bushels of grain. Last year that was 250,000. This year probably turns out to be even less, Taylor said. "I'm gone with the farmers," Taylor explains the ripple effect of broke farmers throughout the area, "and so is the (Alberta) Wheat Pool, so is Cargill, so are the fuel dealers, the equipment dealers and tractor tire dealers." The closing of farm-related businesses means less employment and families that will move away, causing further hardship to other businesses such as grocery stores, specialty stores and virtually every business in town. Jim Forbes, district agriculturalist at the Dawson Creek Ministry of Agriculture said cattle farmers are equally hurt. Many still have the hay sitting in the fields. Yields are lower than normal. Many of them will be forced to buy extra food or sell off cattle. "I don't know the answer," Taylor said, "all I know is, this is going to be it for a lot of people." Farming is big business. Farmers are used to moving hundreds of thousands of dollars across their fields. "It's not your old horse and cart operation anymore," Taylor said. Investments can easily amount to half a million dollars for an average farmer. He gives an example: "In 1964, a farmer bought a 110 horsepower tractor for $9,240. Now, that same type of tractor, you couldn't get it for $100,000. Many costs have climbed even higher than ten-fold. In 1963, Taylor said, the co-op build a seed plant for $60,000. A couple of years ago the operation moved to a more modern plant to keep up with larger equipment in the industry. Taylor points at the building. "This one cost $1.2 million to build." In comparison, a bushel of wheat sold in 1964 for $3.03. In 33 years, that same bushel of wheat increased 47 cents in value and now sells for $3.50. During the three decades, farmers increased efficiency by 30 to 40 per cent, but there's no doubt the profit margins have gotten smaller, Rousell said. Normally, it all pays off during harvest time. For two years in a row now, harvest profits didn't even come close to cover the cost of production during the year. Farmers are broke, said Brian Haddow, president of the B.C. Grain Producers Association. A lot of farmers are working with an operating loan of $200,000. Then there are equipment payments, land payments, and suppliers who have extended their lines of credit beyond the normal level. Most equipment dealers have introduced an Agricard, a credit card that doesn't wait until the crop is in the bin. If the monthly payments aren't met, there will be no parts sold and no repairs done. "I could be in the middle of combining a bumper crop on my fields. If the combine breaks down, I can't get it repaired because I can't get the parts," Haddow said. He said the experience of most farmers this spring is that banks are closing the doors for farmers. With the debt load farmers already have, they've become a bad risk. Next year, that will be even worse, and a lot of farmers won't even get that far. They're calling it quits this winter, he predicts. At All Peace Auctions in Grande Prairie, manager Kevin Tink is less pessimistic. Tink is expecting a slight in crease in the amount of farm auctions in the spring, but not in huge numbers. "Certainly there are going to be more farm sales this spring than normal, but it's not going to be double or triple," Tink said. "I expect we'll see maybe a 10, or on the extreme a 15 per cent increase." Tink dispelled rumors that All Peace Auctions was fully booked for the next 18 months and stopped taking bookings. That's all rumors," he said. "We're not fully booked yet. I don't anticipate we'll be fully booked until towards the end of February." Harvest numbers in the B.C. Peace contradict Tink's prediction, farmers say. Haddow, for instance, only managed to seed 1,600 of his 2,100 acres this spring, above the average of about 50 to 60 per cent region-wide. Up until the snow started falling this week, he managed to have 350 acres combined, about 22 per cent. If there will be no more chance to get the remainder off the fields, Haddow said he will have harvested less than 17 per cent of what he could have harvested in an average year. "That's not going to pay my bills." Other farmers are doing equally bad. Rod Strasky in Farmington said he's done about 20 per cent. Ross Ravelli, farming right around Dawson Creek, said he's one of the lucky ones, he's done about 70 per cent. Again this year, the average completion rate of harvest in Rolla seems to be higher than surrounding areas. Farmington and Doe River are performing below average. The fields there are covered in five inches of snow. Farmers are not yet giving up though. On Wednesday afternoon, Dennis Meier was combining in the snow, until the moist wheat and snow broke down his combine and he had to pack it in for the day. Meier holds a second job as a fire fighter in Dawson Creek. Haddow said he's going to be looking for a paying job this winter to help pay the household bills. Said Meier's wife: "If you didn't work at another job, you sure couldn't afford to farm."

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Farming Snowed Under

By Cees Mond

Daily News Staff

"I still have about half my crop on the fields," says Gene Vipond, Dawson Creek area farmer, as we drive in his truck with unrecognizable color towards some of his fields in the Farmington area Thursday.

Vipond's truck is covered in mud, after weeks of work in what used to be grain fields, but now often more resembles the biggest mud-wrestling arena in the world, without the scarcely clothed ladies.

Vipond shows me the signs of a winter that came too early, left and right of the road.

Right, rows of swathed wheat, covered with the white stuff. Left, bales of hay are still laying in the field. Right, peat crop, bowing under the pressure of still falling snow. Left, a field of alfalfa, only mowed once. Right, an untouched parcel of rye.

Though the snow came as early as last year, says Vipond, at least last year most of the crop was harvested when the first snowflakes touched the good old Peace Country soil on Oct. 16.

This year, because of the heavy rainfall this summer, farmers have by no means been able to get their crops in dry bins.

Wednesday, Vipond was out on the fields with his crew, combining what he could, leaving knee-deep ruts in the equipment's wake.

The ruts soon filled with water that turned into ice this morning. Field-long curling slates.

Vipond says he used to play a lot of sports. Managing a big farm restricted that to curling in winter sometimes and the occasional game of golf in the summer.

Trucks with other farmers pass by. Vipond greets them with a wave of his hand. They're all having the same problems.

Just as the Vipond's truck approaches, a snow plough turns left, sliding away in the curve.

"That was quite a power skid," says Vipond.

On the no-through-road mud lane to his Farmington field, a truck approaches with three of Vipond's crew.

The trucks stop, windows open.

"Good day," the men great each other ironically with a painful smile.

It's quiet for five seconds. A sigh.

Some technical instructions follow. At least they're able to process the grain that was combined the day before.

Not much else to do today, though the grain is still on the fields, waiting to come off.

"Let's hope we can find it back in spring," Vipond says. Laughter from the crew breaks the tension.

Three combines stand idle on the small work yard beside the field, plus a tractor with double tires.

"We brought that in to pull the combines out of the mud in case they got stuck," Vipond explains.

He points at a shed. "We built that over the summer for the fescue," he says. It's nearly full now. "Luckily we got all the fescue in. Just," says Vipond. "Except for a 10-acre parcel that was so wet, we sort of gave up on that for now. We couldn't get within 100 yards of it with a combine."

On the way back to Dawson Creek, the truck has more problems staying on the road than before. It's definitely thawing, but it's also snowing harder.

Vipond says he needs another good 10 to 14 days to get all his crop in. It's probably too late to get the fields dry, so his only hope is that the snow melts and the ground freezes, so he can get the equipment on the remainder of his 15,000 acres.

"With six combines, we can work 600 acres a day," he says.

For fertilizing it's probably too late, he says. That will have to wait until spring, adding to the already heavy workload then.

How does he feel, when he looks at his fields?

"It's pretty sad, makes you panic a little."

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Rain delays grain harvest

Sept. 17, 1996

By Gwendolyn Richards

Daily News Staff

There’s a very simple answer to how the grain harvest is going this year.

"It’s not," said Bruce Brolley, field extension agrologist for the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture.

And it’s not as if Brolley is being pessimistic. This summer’s wet weather has put the grain harvest on hold for the time being. Little of the grain has been taken off and few fields have been harvested due to the rain.

"This summer’s weather has put the crops behind schedule by three growing weeks," said Brolley.

Brain Haddow, president of B.C. Grain Producers, agrees.

"This year’s crops have been extremely slow maturing - and I don’t use the word ‘extremely’ lightly. They’ve been slower this year than in the past 25," said Haddow.

Normally, farmers would have been combining their fields by now, but instead are being forced to make important decisions regarding their crops.

"Farmers are making management choices," said Brolley, "and each choice has its downside."

While farmers may choose to swath their fields and hope that the ground between the wind rows dries up, this has some potential negative side effects. Swathing, which piles the cut grain into rows, is more likely to create water damage to the crops, resulting in quality losses. On the other hand, without swathing, farmers can’t combine their fields because their combines are likely get stuck in the mud.

Many dislike the thought of swathing their fields. It’s an extra operation that would, under normal circumstances, be unnecessary. Even with swathing farmers must face the wrath of wet fields. According to Brain Haddow, president of the B.C. Grain Producers, some farmers have gotten their swathers stuck in the mud.

Only one farmer that Haddow knows of has tried to combine part of his fields. The grain that was brought in is showing nine per cent more moisture than normal, says Haddow, meaning quality losses for farmers.

East of Dawson Creek towards Grande Prairie, farmers have already been able to take off ten times as much as farmers here. Prairie farmers have not only had bumper yields, but have already harvested their crops. In fact, says Haddow, it seems to be only the Peace Region having these problems with too much wet.

Other consequences are abounding from all this rain also. Water damage from too much rain is affecting the quality of the crops. According to Brolley, what could have been top grade grain this year will likely be #3 feed wheat on the market.

On the other hand, Haddow points out that despite quality losses, the quantity of grain is high.

"Like Alberta, we too have bumper crops. The volume of this year’s crops is very good - better than average, unlike last year," said Haddow. "The quality may not be there, but the quantity is excellent and Dawson Creek traders could do well this year."

Brolley does not have high hopes for the canola or pea harvests either.

"Canola is producing a lot of green seed meaning a lower money return per bushel. Peas are splitting in the fields," he said. "Both of these crops will face quality losses."

No one can predict when the harvest will actually take place. Haddow predicts that with three to four days of drying weather farmers will be able to swath their fields.

For now, farmers are forced to play the waiting game.

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