Farming in Alberta

A large farm in Alberta is over 20 square miles or 12,800 acres, a small farm is 5 square miles; a quarter-section is 4-40 acre fields a standard farming unit here. A small combine has a 20-25-ft cutter bar and a large one costs more than most people will earn in their lifetimes. Small wonder most farms not owned by the fabulously wealthy or agribusiness operate on bank debt. Consequently it is not uncommon for farmers to supplement their farm income with work of some kind off the farm. Farming is a dedication, a way of life, not necessarily a means of making a living.

The stories of mental collapse, marriage break-down and suicide I’ve heard give a lie to the fantasy city folk have of faming being a laid-back, stress-free lifestyle. Even if drought prevents your crop from growing the weeds always seem to thrive and if the locust strike they’ll eat everything green in sight. The hazards inherent in using much of the machinery of modern farming are manifold, witness the eighty-year-old who spent 18 hours suspended upside-down in his combine when he attempted a repair. The amount of equipment needed to manage even a small-scale farm is astounding and the maintenance and repairs it requires call for a remarkable set of skills. The number of chemicals used on modern farms and the casualness with which they are handled makes me shake my head. Even the most innocuous are frought with perils. The amount of hydraulic fluids, transmission oils, and motor oils that get spilled and permanently polute the soil frightens me.

The road apples that were the by-product of a horse’s fuel consumption actually fertilized the soil, the black soot that spews out of a diesel tractor’s pipe is another matter and the operator sits in an air-conditioned cab lest the noise impair his hearing and dust get in his eyes. The chemicals sprayed on crops to fight weeds and insect pests render the soil incapable of self-fertilizing. The marketing of grains and seed crops by large-scale feed and grain elevators has become as capricious and unstable as the stock market. The owners of these operations owe their allegiance to the stockholders not the farmers who provide their product. The price offered the farmer often does not cover the cost of seeding, spraying, and harvesting that crop. There is an irony in the fact that pony oats--race horse oats--has greater value than that for human consumption.

Oil is king and the law is written so that land owners do not have control over the oil rights under the soil they farm. So-called land men negotiate lease arrangements with these landowners but in the end the law is stacked in favour of the oil barons. I wouldn’t want an oil well and the disruption it brings on my farm. The threat posed by sour gas wells adds an entirely extra dimension of risk to the equation. Even in the fertile Peace River District moisture or its lack can be a problem. Even the location of a lake can influence whether your field or one 10 miles down the road gets rain.

Cattle here are still grazed on Community Pasture with large herds managed by summer wranglers; in the fall they are brought in to be sorted and hauled in cattle trailers 50 to a two storey load. Coyotes and wolves pose dangers to young cattle along with any number of diseases and ailments. Even the angle of the sun at this northern latitude poses a risk of eye cancer.

Going to town here for anything not stocked in a local store means a 60 mile drive to Grand Prairie, the major market town for the entire district. Where you take your grain to market depends on where the rail lines were situated. Grain samples are tendered to various agencies to see how it tests and who will offer the best price and decisions have to be made, do I sell my grain now and pay off the bank or do I wait til later in hopes that the price will rise. Do I sell now or play the futures market. The price we pay for food does not reflect the cost of actually growing it and the various support programs offered by government are fraught with forms, paperwork, and deadlines. Should I buy crop insurance, drought insurance, hale insurance; will the pay-off or risk justify the cost.

Grains stored in large bins need to have an ideal moisture content or they will generate heat, spoil, and even spontaneously combust. Therefore combining may not commence until the field is sufficiently ripe and mature and the morning dew has dried. Accordingly operations rarely begin before noon and may continue well after midnight if the fields remain dry by floodlight. Picking up rocks, startling resting geese, or sleeping deer or elk are all harvesting hazards. Keeping combines and augers operational is a matter of constant diligence and maintenance and still breakdowns occur. What makes an oil filter worth $70 on a tractor that needs 3 hydraulic filters? And I thought $100 was a lot for my RV’s oil change. I was shocked to learn that even rotting wheat is processed for feed pellets.