Members of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) elected a new president during this week’s Annual General Meeting at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina.
Bill Prybylski, who farms west of Yorkton and was the Vice-President of APAS for six years, takes over from Ian Boxall, who decided not to seek another term. Joining Prybylski in the executive as Vice-Presidents are Chris Procyk and Jeremy Welter. Prybylski is looking forward to the new challenge.
“I was obviously very humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the President of APAS for the coming year,” he said. “I’m very much looking forward to the opportunities and the challenges that lay ahead and looking forward to all the industry folks and government and doing what I can for the betterment of the ag sector.”
Prybylski would like to enhance collaboration with other farm groups, including crop development commissions and Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM), as well as with the SaskParty government and Opposition NDP. “That’s going to be my focus for the near-term anyways,” Prybylski added.
Leader of the NDP and Shadow Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Carla Beck was at the AGM, where she acknowledged the importance of agriculture to the provincial economy and expressed a willingness to listen to farmers’ concerns from the federal carbon tax – which Beck said the Provincial NDP is opposed to – to potential tariffs from the incoming Trump Administration.
“The fact that she made herself the Ag Critic for the New Democratic Party of Saskatchewan…they understand the importance of agriculture and their willing to step up to the plate and they want to work with the organizations as well,” Prybylski said of Beck.
“It was good to hear her say they are opposed to (the carbon tax), obviously it’s a province-wide opposition to the carbon tax so that was good to hear,” he said of the NDP being against carbon pricing. “Obviously other issues like the U.S. tariffs and the need for improvements to the BRM programs, so she understands how those are affecting or potentially affecting our producers so again just awesome to see they understand that and they’re going to be on our side when it comes to advocating for those types of issues.”
Provincial Agriculture Minister Daryl Harrison also made an appearance at the AGM and Prybylski said the message from Harrison was also collaboration-focused like Beck’s.
“Heard a similar message from him that it’s time that we are able to collaborate and work together to get the job done, so we were very pleased that he was able to take time out of his busy schedule to come and share some thoughts with our organization and definitely look forward to working with Minister Harrison in the future.”
Two presentations at the AGM stood out to Prybylski – one was related to the railways, which he noted APAS has been an advocate for a full-costing review of the railroads and for the removal of carbon surcharges that CPKC and CN Rail charge. APAS had released a document outlining preliminary costs of carbon pricing on Saskatchewan Agriculture.
Another presentation was related to farmland ownership – which he said was “very relevant” considering the Provincial Auditor released a report on foreign ownership of farmland and the performance of the Farmland Security Board administering the Saskatchewan Farm Safety Act. When asked for comment on the Auditor’s report about the Board, Prybylski says there needs to be “closer scrutiny of the whole process” to see if “there are some loopholes that are being taken advantage of “.
“The sentiment out in the country is that there is foreign money coming in to buy land. We don’t have proof obviously but that is a general feeling out there,” Prybylski said. “We look forward to the opportunity to dive into that area a little bit closer and maybe make some recommendations as to how things can be fixed.”
Recommendations from the auditor include speeding up the review process for the Board, having more enforcement tools to address non-compliance, setting performance indicators to allow for effective assessment and public reporting on enforcement activities, and working with the Ministry of Agriculture to determine how to effectively regulate and enforce non-Canadian farmland leases.
The full report can be found at www.auditor.sk.ca.