The Rural Voice, 1981-02, Page 12example, they no longer take their
garbage to the dump, but to the
"nuisance ground." Neighbours, they
discovered, don't snowmobile or skidoo.
although that's what we'd call the
machines - they toboggan. And snow-
mobiles are know as motorized tobog-
gans.
Alex and Gail and their children, who
drove back to spend Christmas with their
families in Huron County, don't regret
their move to the West. But they do have
one solid piece of advice for anyone else
contemplating the move.
Gail said since the Farm Credit
Corporation is a federal organization,
they discovered they could have transfer -
ed the Farm Credit mortgage on their
Walton farm to their new farm - which
would have meant a considerable savings
in interest rates. Unfortunately, they
learned this too late.
The Glanvilles have also learned they
aren't the only transplanted easterners
near Melfort. Neighbours George Hewitt
and his son-in-law Ken Fraser, also cash
croppers, moved from Embro, Ontario
and after four crops on the good Melfort
topsoil, "they would never move back,"
they assured the Glanvilles.
The Glanvilles, who didn't really have
time to get homesick this summer,
between planting, entertaining over 50
friends and relatives who visited their
new home, and harvest, plan to stay in
Saskatchewan too.
Melfort, which is "a big farm machin-
ery town," appreciates the farm trade
and Alex Glanville said the attitude is "if
.the farmer has a good year, then
everybody has a good year." The
Glanvilles also discovered even the
agricultural fairs are held with the farmer
in mind - in Saskatchewan they're
summer events so they won't interfere
with the harvest. The province offers
either the Federation of Agriculture or
the National Farmers' Union, stronger in
the West than here, to farmers who want
to get involved in agricultural organiz-
ations.
Also, in addition to their helpful
neighbours, a government agricultural
research station in Melfort has staff who
provide additonal advice on cropping
practices and problems for the asking.
If there's any cloud on the horizon, the
Glanvilles have discovered it's the con-
stitutional debate and energy standoff
between the federal government and
Western premiers. That's a subject
they've found, as transplanted easterner
that's sometimes best avoided.
Saskatchewan, as a "farmer's pro-
vince" and the residents - "a great bunch
of people, all and all" have obviously won
five converts among the Glanvilles.
They've gone West and found they love
the new challenges.
Saskatchewan says no to absentee ownership
Saskatchewan, a farmer's province?
Gordon MacMurchy, Saskatchewan's
minister of agriculture, who spoke at the
Huron County Federation of
Agriculture's annual meeting last fall,
would agree it's just that.
The minister was invited to tell the
Huron County federation how
Saskatchewan has handled non-resident
ownership of farmland and to speak about
some of the province's other agricultural
assistance programs.
In 1973, Saskatchewan passed the
Farm Ownership Act, which restricted
non-resident buyers to owning a
maximum of $15,000 value assessed land,
and limited non-agricultural corporations
to the purchase of one-quarter section of
the province's farmland. A three-man
Farm Ownership Board was set up to
administer the act.
However, despite the tough legislation,
the farm communit)s soon realized "the
land was still being bought out from
beneath the act by non-residents,"
MacMurchy said. Even in his own
constituency, the Minister said German
interests were buying large amounts of
land and offering as much as $400 an
acre, in a period when $150 an acre was
the going price. Eventually 34 quarter
sections of land were owned by absentee
German buyers, but each parcel of land
was in the name of a different corporation
registered by Toronto lawyers.
After farm organizations lobbied for
tighter absentee ownership controls, the
government in 1978 approved stricter
legistlation on non-resident ownership of
land, limiting purchases by individuals or
non-agricultural corporations to one
quarter section.
But even this failed to curtail absentee
ownership. MacMurchy said buyers and
investors were willing to live with the new
restrictions, "it just took more names."
Young farmers trying to compete with
non-resident buyers for the land found
they couldn't match the higher prices
which meant "the young farmer was
squeezed from the market."
In May, 1980, the legislature passed
another Act which limited purchases of
land by non-residents to 10 acres.
Effective immediately, no non-resident or
non-agricutlural corporation could own
more than 10 acres of land in the
province. Also, the legislation made it an
offence for someone within the province
to buy land on behalf of a non-resident or
on behalf of a corporation from outside
the province.
The act did allow certain exemptions.
For example,. if a person living in
Brussels. Ontario wanted to come to
Saskatchewan to farm, and it took him
three or four years to get there. the Farm
Ownership Board granted an exemption
for the time it took him to become a
Saskatchewan resident.
Also, on the corporate side, if a potash
mine needed more than 10 acres of
agricultural land in order to expand, the
board could also authorize this.
MacMurchy said while several
provinces now have legislation governing
the sale of farm land, only Saskatchewan
and Prince Edward Island have laws
against non-resident ownership.
"Saskatchewan feels pretty strongly
that it is indeed residency that is
important. We know our land has been
good to us in the past. and will be good to
us in the future. But we feel it can only be
properly cared for by people who are
actually there," MacMurchy concluded.
At a luncheon -press conference the
next day, MacMurchy outlined two
programs to assist younger farmers in the
province.
Under the Land Bank program, a
three-member independent commission
buys farmland to lease back to young
farmers so they can get a start. A farmer
approaching retirement age can sell his
farm to the Land Bank Commission to be
eventually transferred to his son or to be
put on the market for lease.
MacMurchy told federation members a
young farmer can lease land for five
years, with an option to purchase it, or
can continue to re -lease the land every
five years until he reaches retirement
age.
Currently about 2800 farmers are
leasing land in the province through this
program.
Farmstart, the government's second
program, provides capital for a young
farmer wanting to diversify his operation.
Farmers with net incomes of $18,000
annually and lower can qualify for loans
of up to $150,000. These loans have a
repayment schedule of up to 15 years.
MacMurchy said programs like the
Land Bank and Farmstart have helped
reduce the decline in farmers in
Saskatchewan from a two per cent annual
rate in the 1966-71 period to a .6 per cent
decline in the 1976-78 period.
PG. 10 THE RURAL VOICE/FEBRUARY