The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan is calling on the federal parties to make agriculture a key priority and to make commitments to fix the issue of poor cellular and inadequate high-speed internet access in rural Saskatchewan
APAS Vice President Bill Prybylski says they have a number of key issues they want to see addressed.
"In talking to producers, one of the big issues that comes up at every meeting is the lack of reliable, affordable high speed internet on farms. It's now becoming not really a luxury but a necessity on farms for a whole bunch of different reasons. Programs for young producers and new entrants into the farming business ...there needs to be some incentives and some help for these young producers to get going. And as we all know, it's a very, very tough industry to get started into. Anybody that does want to start is going to need some assistance. Market transparency and real world costing reviews have been promised, but we're gonna keep pushing to see that these things come to fruition. We need to know what it actually costs to get our grain to port position, because we pay that bill, and we need to know what that cost is. Then there's market transparency. We know that our grain is moving all over the world, and we know what we get for it. But we don't really know how much and where the grain is actually ending up. So, those kinds of issues are pretty important."
He says they also want to see a government that supports and recognizes all the good work producers are doing and have done to address climate change.
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