Outreach project attracting producers to Saskatchewan

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

What started out as coffee shop talk grew into a co-ordinated – and rather successful – effort to sell farm families from outside the province on the benefits of relocating to east central Saskatchewan.

The innovative “Last Cattle Frontier” (LCF) project recently celebrated its fifth anniversary of holding seminars and conducting presentations on the merits of farming in the province.

Naomi Paley, a livestock development specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food (SAF), remembers well the early beginnings of the initiative back in 2002.

“The initial plan of action was to attract Alberta> ranchers to east central Saskatchewan,” she said. “It all began with a small group of individuals traveling in vans to Red Deer to conduct a seminar for cattle producers in the area.”

Paley says that representatives of SAF, Ducks Unlimited, local rural municipalities and area farmers comprised the original group that headed west, although there was a great deal of support for the concept back home.

Over the years, the LCF has conducted 11 seminars and made presentations to over 200 producers. The outreach is geared toward cattle producers thinking of expanding or relocating their operations. Its goal is to promote the benefits of beef farming in east central Saskatchewan, to leave all attendees with good information, and to establish contacts for them throughout the region.

“In many areas of Alberta and other jurisdictions, there’s a lack of available land, and what is available can be rather costly. Some regions have also struggled through some pretty dry years that have really impacted area ranchers,” Paley said.

“We want to impress on them that they can find good land that is well-suited to cattle production in east central Saskatchewan, and it’s probably quite reasonably priced compared to what they’re used to.”

An important part of the outreach is a testimonial by local producers who moved to Saskatchewan from elsewhere. They provide an overview of their experiences relocating to the east central region, enabling those who are contemplating such a move to hear from others who have successfully made the transition.

The area has not only attracted Alberta cattle producers but also producers from British Columbia and even the United Kingdom. “When it comes to marketing Saskatchewan beyond the borders of Alberta, word-of-mouth has been one of our best tools,” said Paley. “When producers come looking for land on which to relocate their ranching operations, Saskatchewanis one of the first places they look. We’ve had producers from all over Western Canada come through here, many of them saying ‘We’ve always heard about Saskatchewan, so we’ve come to check it out.’”

Paley says that attendance at the seminars ranges from “first time lookers” to ranchers who have already been checking into the potential of moving or establishing their livestock operations in Saskatchewan. The audiences have consisted of people of all ages – families with young children, couples ready to retire, and everyone in between.

“The families attending these seminars may not make a decision to move right then and there, but the information gets delivered and the seed is planted,” she noted.

While it’s impossible to attribute all the positive activity to the LCF project, a recent phone survey of rural municipalities in the east central region showed that, over the past seven years, approximately 150 farm families have moved into the area from out of province. Most of these families have been younger farmers, many with young children, who have delivered a welcome boost to the region in terms of increasing the rural population and economy, as well as bringing in new ideas and vitality.

“The LCF project tries to make this incredible decision and transition as easy as possible for farm families by providing them soil maps, aerial photography, pasture assessments, information on schools, hospitals and recreation, and anything else they might require,” Paley stated.

The key to it all, she says, is having a lot of supportive partners involved in the project. Today, the LCF initiative has grown to encompass four Regional Economic Development Authorities, SAF, Ducks Unlimited, the City of Yorkton, and the City of Melville as full project partners.

Numerous other businesses and agencies from all across the region have contributed tremendous financial and marketing support. Real estate companies, the media, local producers, area residents and municipalities have been key allies.

“I think anyone associated with the initiative would tell you that its success has been because of the partners involved and their willingness to share and think from a regional perspective instead of an individual one,” Paley said. “It’s also due to the open-mindedness and big picture view of the benefits that a project like this can have.”

Anyone interested in learning more about the Last Cattle Frontier initiative can visit the project’s website at www.lastcattlefrontier.com or call 1-866-800-2676.

For more information, contact:
Naomi Paley, Livestock Development Specialist
Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food
Phone: (306) 786-1686
E-mail: npaley@agr.gov.sk.ca