Those at Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) have their work cut our for them, following their fall general meeting held Thursday at the PCU Centre in Portage la Prairie. President Doug Chorney says after the meeting, the message from members was loud and clear.
"There were almost a million acres that had gone unseeded, 600,000 acres flooded out, and there were a lot of quality issues in the crop that we did produce. Producers are concerned not just with crop insurance issues, but also the business management tools that include Agristability. Those programs are likely not going to be giving the same level of support to farmers that they did under Growing Forward 1."
Despite the many concerns discussed during the meeting, Chorney says he's pleased with how the day went.
"I think it was a good meeting. We had an excellent turnout and farmers are clearly bringing forward all the issues that are top of mind at this time. We're going to work hard as an organization to deliver results for them."
One issue that was commonly brought up by those in attendance was the challenge of shipping grain on the railway. Many expressed frustration with the delays, sometimes lasting for weeks or even months. Chorney describes the situation as unfair.
"The railways know that they can come and get our grain next month or the month after that and it's still going to be waiting from them, whereas other time sensitive freight may not be. They make decisions on that basis that we believe discriminates against agriculture and we know that agriculture's critical to the economy of our country, not just Manitoba. We need to have good, reliable and consistent rail service."