Young Farmer Summit looks to train next generation of producers

Farm Credit Canada brought young producers to Regina to learn how to start a farm business and manage the pressures of the industry. Damian Smith has more.

As Saskatchewan producers prepare for the upcoming growing season, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) is looking to recruit the next generation at the Young Farmer Summit.

“The real point of today’s summit is to bring together that next generation and arm them with knowledge and how they can run the business,” Joel Beaurivage, manager of business development for the FCC, said on Tuesday.

A second-year student in Agriculture and Food Production at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Kennedy MacNeil is seeing younger generations take over the family farms. She grew up on a ranch near Spring Valley, Sask., about an hour south of Moose Jaw.

She said she is seeing younger generations take over the family farms.

“You’re always hearing ‘We need more agricultural people, we need competent people, we need them to understand what’s going on,’ but know that it’s a financial risk for someone to be in a $1 million combine when they don’t know what they’re doing or if they’re not confident enough,” she explained.

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In the 2021 Census of Agriculture, three of five farmers (60.5 per cent) are noted to be over the age of 55. Meanwhile, one in 10 farmers (8.6 per cent) are under the age of 35. This signals that the industry is tending to skew towards the older age.

“This generation has different aspirations, and they have different dreams and stuff that maybe don’t involve the farm,” Beaurivage said.

“If my own dad and my mom keep saying to me, ‘You don’t want to be in agriculture, it’s so stressful,” MacNeil said. “So, I understand those farmers’ kids were told that it’s probably so stressful, and they don’t understand the debt you’re in.”

The summit also focused on entrepreneurship, as well as mental health.

Cynthia Beck, a lifelong rancher and grain farmer, says that agriculture producers are“dealing with a lot right now.”

She’s also a co-founder of SaskAgMatters, a non-for-profit that helps agricultural workers with their mental health.

“A lot of times when people are reaching out for help, they have reached a point where they are feeling hopeless, and they feel ineffective in finding solutions to help themselves for the betterment of their farm.”

SaskAgMatters was officially launched in late 2022.