What is your Local Government doing for you?

[ValueChainFX]

Has anyone contacted their local county offices to find out what positive steps they are taking to assist the local primary producers and agriculture in their area? I would be interested to know how some of your communities are handeling the challenges we have today and what they may be doing about the future?

[dalek]

Mostly our local governments are choosing to believe that the only "agriculture" worth bothering with is the agri-tourism kind, while trying to place roadblocks in the way of any farmer trying to expand to the point where they can actually continue making a living producing food. Case in point the local township that is trying to stop a small hog farm by refusing to allow the farmer to pay to upgrade TOWNSHIP bridges so that he can actually get construction equipment to the farm, then they have him charged under the existing load limits.

[cowman]

Well my municipality delayed collecting the taxes for two months, which was a good thing. In those two months things stabilized a bit and the price of calves and yearlings increased. They also try to keep people informed and I guess that is about all they can do.
Municipalities are there to build and maintain the infrastructure not to solve international trade wars!
The county in which I live is rapidly changing. A good part of it is becoming industrialized and residential(the ranchette thing). We don't need any new pig barns or feedlots. And maybe soon we won't need any old cows or grain farms. When someone lays out a million dollars for a few acres they sure don't want to have to put up with flies, stink, and dust! The farm land pays less than 20% of the taxes! All farmland and residential taxes combined pay 31%!!!
Who pays the other 69%? Industry(read that as mainly the oil and gas companies)!
I guess this sort of underscores how important oil and gas are to Alberta? And how agriculture is only a minor player here?