Rural issues, agriculture pretty low on election radar

Opinion

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This article was published 16/04/2016 (3459 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Farm groups and rural municipalities are valiantly trying to get rural and agricultural issues on the election agenda. But it’s a tough sell in a province where three-quarters of the population lives in Winnipeg.

The reality is that parties of all political stripes must focus on issues most important to those city ridings if they hope to win the election April 19. So the best hope for those pushing the rural agenda is making sure their issues are on the political radar in the years that follow.

The burning issue for the farm community is the 80 per cent or $5,000-per-farm cap on the Manitoba farmland school tax-rebate program, which farm organizations say saddles farmers with a disproportionate share of education costs.

The province’s largest farm group, Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), says the policy places an unfair burden on farmers, particularly in light of the continued rise in farmland values. A Farm Credit Corp. report released earlier this month shows growth in Manitoba farmland values rose 12.4 per cent in 2015 and doubled over the past four years.

Although a rise in farmland value increases farmers’ net worth, that doesn’t correlate with higher incomes. In fact, farm incomes are expected to be lower this year due to a drop in commodity prices. Yet farmers’ property tax bills continue to rise with each new assessment.

KAP wants the province to scrap its reliance on property taxes for education and take what it needs for teaching kids from general revenue.

The parties gave a mixed response when asked by a Manitoba Co-operator survey about how they would address this issue.

The NDP defended the current policy, which it says saves farmers $35 million annually. It says the $5,000 cap only affects eight per cent of rebate applicants.

The Liberals promised to scrap it, saving farmers another $8 million in taxes.

In their response, the Progressive Conservatives pointed out that applying the rebate cap to the farm, versus individuals, hurts spouses who own smaller plots of land, because they become ineligible for a rebate. But the party didn’t promise to make any changes. Instead, the party committed to a “value-for-money review” to identify the true state of Manitoba’s economic situation and to reduce the provincial sales tax.

It’s an unusual response, as farmers don’t pay PST on most production-related purchases.

Another issue KAP raised is the high cost of entry for young farmers due to those rising land costs, plus operating costs that are more than three times higher than in the mid-1980s. There’s no doubt the cost of getting into farming has risen, but so have the rewards. Asking cash-strapped governments to mitigate those costs for a selected few is a long shot.

KAP also flagged the cost of post-secondary education for rural youth who must live away from home while they study, in addition to paying tuition. But it limited its call for financial assistance to only those youth pursuing agriculture. It’s been shown that the people most likely to settle in rural communities are those who were raised in one. Whether a young person is studying agriculture, nursing, teaching or business, they are a potential asset to rural areas.

Farm groups and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities can claim some success in their bid to raise the profile of the deplorable state of rural infrastructure such as roads, bridges and turtle-like Internet speeds. They might have also added sporadic cellphone access to the list. The Liberals and the PCs have committed to giving rural leaders more say in setting priorities for infrastructure spending.

Once again, however, it comes down to a numbers game. Urban areas get more attention because they have more people. If governments can’t or won’t commit to providing, maintaining and renewing even these most basic of infrastructure needs, the continued decline of rural communities is all but guaranteed.

Laura Rance is editor of the Manitoba Co-operator and editorial director for Farm Business Communications. She can be reached at laura@fbcpublishing.com or 204-792-4382.

Laura Rance
Columnist

Laura Rance is editorial director at Farm Business Communications.

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