Yvonne Rideout is the General Manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers and as much as she concedes that farmers don’t want more rules, they are a part of life.
Rideout looks back at the past year’s activities for Manitoba’s general farm group and cites involvement in labor regulations and workmen’s compensation as some of the major issues the group was involved in.
“There are changes coming to the labor standard and they are a part of the industry,” says Rideout. “The industry is best to become familiar with them and work within them.”
KAP was also involved with joint meetings of the other prairie farm groups and has expanded to include BC producers group.
“It has become the Western Canadian Farm Leaders group and they will continue to meet three times a year to discuss the issues that affect all of the producers in Western Canada.”
Rideout agrees with President Ian Wishart that the areas of food safety and traceability are going to move to the forefront in the new year.
“The area of food safety is going to continue to gain importance in 2009,” says Rideout, “and farmers are going to have to be more involved with the traceability.”
“The environment is going to stay a top issue as it was in 2008,” she says. “There is going to be more done with the carbon trade offs, and the Federal government’s initiative of Turning the Corner.”
Provincially, she says that KAP will continue its programs to raise the issues of agriculture to an urban audience and have them understand the challenges facing the industry.
“That will continue on a consumer basis and also in the legislature, where we have to educate the MLA’s from urban areas about the issues facing agriculture,” she says.
KAP has also established an Agri Energy initiative that is being headed by Selkirk farmer Doug Chorney and KAP staffer James Battershill.
