Sask Irrigation project

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Personally governments should stay out of consumer subsidies.Farmers buy and sell on supply and demand and subsides just puts an artificial price on things.What they propose is just flat out unfair to the majority of Sask farmers. Moe math at its best.4 billion spent and thousands of new jobs they say.But where will all these people get health care and education I say.

I'm confused. In your previous post, you want government to invest in making fertilizer cheaper.
In this post you want governments to stay out of subsidies and putting artificial prices on things.
Wouldn't governments making fertilizer cheaper be a subsidy and create an artificial price?
Aren't these two ideas contradictory?

[newguy]

I'm confused. In your previous post, you want government to invest in making fertilizer cheaper.
In this post you want governments to stay out of subsidies and putting artificial prices on things.
Wouldn't governments making fertilizer cheaper be a subsidy and create an artificial price?
Aren't these two ideas contradictory?

Ideally zero subsidies .But if they are going to stick their nose in it be fair.

[WiltonRanch]

Ideally zero subsidies .But if they are going to stick their nose in it be fair.

It is only fair isn’t it. ????

[helmsdale]

I should have known this would light bucket up. He's not wrong.

Things everyone thinks about with regards to irrigation:
1) the ability to just turn the water on! Droughts are a thing of the past!
2) the VERY sizable increase to the asset side of their balance sheet.
3) the ability to grow HIGH$/ac crops

Things everyone forgets:
1) The cost of a pivot
1b) The costs to maintain those pivots!
1c) The cost of the water!
1d) The costs to physically operate those pivots! Natural gas used to be a cheap pump option... You're no longer allowed to even go that route AFAIK. All electric! Is your land serviced by 3ph power?
2) The cost to get water and power to the center of your 1/4 for said pivot
3) The costs of maintenance for the I.D.
4) The costs required to make the lay of the land irrigable
5) The fact that most of the high value products are limited not by production but by processing ability.
6) Canola rather than being a cash crop... becomes a carry crop. It's the low value garbage you reluctantly produce to carry yourself to the next cash crop. And are you anywhere near a processing facility for a cash crop?
7) There's no guarantee you can just "turn on the water" when you want to! Low snow pack in the mountains this year, has many within established I.D's concerned that they wont get the water that they're supposed to be guaranteed this year.

[newguy]

# 1 question .Who will bennifit the most in the end? This looks like a bypass times 2 with scandals.

[WiltonRanch]

With this expansion of irrigation I would hope there is some planning for drainage and nutrient runoff mitigation. Some years the pivots would never be needed and excess rains create more problems than too little with poor drainage. Has there been any work done to encourage processors or feedlots packing houses etc? Build it and they will come didn’t exactly work with the last irrigation expansion. You could see this as being beneficial for the province as a whole but you need to identify potential spinoffs and work to get them going before a shovel hits. There is potential but so many other issues need to be addressed or it’s another spudco boondoggle.

[bucket]

Wiltonranch

Sask ag in Outlook quote.

"The solution to pollution is dilution. "

[newguy]

Nothing wrong with building an economy to be bigger but health care and education needs to catch up .It is all about where should 4 billion be spend to most help the people of Sask.

[bucket]

No sense in building an industry that can't sustain itself. The irrigation industry is a government tit sucker in saskatchewan and so unbalanced in its funding

[newguy]

No sense in building an industry that can't sustain itself. The irrigation industry is a government tit sucker in saskatchewan and so unbalanced in its funding

And Moe has preached the last few months about the federal government giving breaks to some and not others.Unfortunately Moe can do whatever he wants and get elected cause too many in sask were born to think politics is like a family religion.
.

[shtferbrains]

And Moe has preached the last few months about the federal government giving breaks to some and not others.Unfortunately Moe can do whatever he wants and get elected cause too many in sask were born to think politics is like a family religion.
.

Also widespread "anybody but the NDP" vote possibly brought on by all those suitcase for grad present years?

Grant Devine initiated the Ammonia plant at Belle Plaine.

He was widely chastized for making a deal with the evil Cargill for doing it.

[newguy]

Grant Devine put Rafferty in place also.But unfortunately so crooked that the PC party had to join the liberals to form the Sask Party to ditch their reputation.

[sumdumguy]

Why any government would prioritize a ‘likely loss blood sucker project’ and not health care is beyond me. There is so much needed in our health regime here, we are shipping people to Alberta and US to get treatment when we should be training nurses/doctors right here. Come On Moe, use your head.

[bucket]

One would think governments would learn their lessons about using taxpayer money on these types of projects.

At the very least they should be subscription based where the people benefitting put up some money and X amount of years to infill , or at least the government is allowed the capital gain on their land when sold if the benefitting landowners put no money in.

The project will take at least 5 years to infill. The existing projects took 30 years to infill to the point where government has to start funding them again for expansion as they can't afford it on their own. (surprised yet )

[bucket]

I have learnt there are different types of farmer's opinions and backgrounds on a project like this.

1. The cheerleaders rah rah because the Saskparty did it. No understanding of the history.
2. Those that benefit and will spend their money until it's gone.
3. Young farmers that built a farm by themselves and realize how phucked this is.
4. Generational farmers that can look at it objectively but pay little attention.
5. The lobbyists that wouldn't do it on their own or spend their own money. ( closet socialists) pretending to be capitalists. I met one at an open house and he couldn't do the math on this.