Members of the North Pine Farmers’ Institute (NPFI) enthusiastically announced Thursday, that their newly acquired grain elevator will be opening soon. They hope it will be a step in the direction of sustaining agriculture in the region, as the elevator has railhead access.

“We have a failing agriculture infrastructure in the North Peace and our hope and intent is to secure some infrastructure that is left here so that agriculture can continue in this community,” said NPFI vice president Wade Cusack.

“Agriculture is where our food comes from – for the world,” he continued.

“The importance of food is becoming headline news these days. People might not understand the importance of agriculture in Canada and around the world but this elevator is going to keep the door open for opportunities for producers in the North Peace and other areas - and agriculture will be able to continue.”

The NPFI was developed in 1930. Its main mandate was to enhance farm communities and rural life, and support for rural development from an economic and social point of view, explained Arthur Hadland, a long-time member.

“One of the projects they brought to the government was the rural roads taskforce for the improvement of all of the rural roads. The North Peace Economic Development Commission carried on with that, and then the Peace River Regional District. We ended up getting $86 million into the area for the improvement of our rural roads. That may give you an idea of some of the projects the institute takes on,” he said.

More recently the institute saw a need for better transportation of agricultural products, NPFI president Larry Houley added.

“It was about a year ago in June that the best elevator in town was scheduled for demolition. That concern was brought to us and we got involved in it. The community support was great. The regional district sent letters off to the proponent of the demolition, Cargill, to postpone it. The institute got involved to see if they could acquire the elevator, Cargill was willing to sell it, but there were some issues with the land,” Houley said.

“The North Peace Economic Development Commission helped us put the application together for the Northern Initiative Development Trust. We received the support of the regional district and the mayor of Fort St. John, which is a requirement of an application. Once that was done, we had to show a business plan – a viable business – plan for this.

The financing was approved and on Dec. 13 the land and elevator, located off the Elevator Road and East Bypass Road, was acquired by the institute.

“We have now accomplished five acres of land, 1,600 feet of siding on the track, and that is looking down the road, but it is a key link in the transportation for farm communities to have railhead access. There are always challenges with projects like this, but I would like to say thank you to the institute members, the regional district and the NDI board. They all have been very supportive of the project and that is how it came about,” Houley said.

“And the volunteers in the community, they are right behind us on it.”

Hadland explained some of the history of elevators in the area.

“They started constructing elevators here in 1957 and this became the largest grain delivery point in Canada for the period 1958 to the last 1960’s. They always brag, ‘it was a million bushels each year’, which at that time was pretty significant here. There were seven elevators functioning at the time with different line companies. They started tearing them down in the 1970’s,” he said.

Including the one acquired by the institute, there are now three remaining elevators in the area, although one is scheduled for demolition this fall and the other has an estimated two-year remaining life span.

The elevator and land cost about $800,000 to purchase with another $800,000 for repairs and upgrades, Houley said.

“The Regional District was vital in putting this project together. The North Peace Economic Development Commission also helped with the seed money for consulting services to come up with a business plan and the Regional District contributed greatly to the repairs of the facility,” he added.

The institute will be holding three community meetings in November, including one in Alberta, to share the benefits of the newly acquired elevator.

Hadland said that the ability to transport food locally will go a long way towards improving food self-sufficiency.

“There was a report done by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2006 and they identified that food self-sufficiency in the Province has declined to 48 per cent. It was 73 per cent in 1985, so over a period of 25 years it has dropped significantly. What we are putting together here is package that will allow us to recapture some of that for our region and for the province. We need to start looking at achieving greater self-sufficiency in agriculture and this is part of that,” he said.

With railhead access, reducing road traffic will be another benefit, Cusack said.

“In Fort St. John a lot of products are getting transported by truck to Dawson Creek and further from there. Our goal is to keep things local and get it back on the rail system and off the roads.”

Community awareness is key, Hadland said.

“Farmers traditionally are not great communicators on a large scale, we are good on the one-to-one – across the fence – but we need to reach out to the larger regional community that we are inviting to use this facility once we get it up and running.”

With renovations wrapping up, the elevator is scheduled to open Sept. 16.

Stay tuned to the Alaska Highway News for further information.