FORT MACLEOD, Alta. – Alberta farmers already grappling with rising production costs and unpredictable weather could face new challenges if the province separates from Canada, with questions surrounding access to export markets, transportation routes and international trade agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe agricultural sector is highly integrated. We have animals and products coming to Alberta from other provinces, and leaving Alberta. So, potential separation will have a massive impact,\u201d said Manuel Ju\u00e1rez Davila, director of the Simpson Centre for Food and Agricultural Policy at the University of Calgary.<\/p>\n
Albertans are preparing to vote Oct. 19 on whether the province should remain in Canada or take the next step toward a possible separation referendum.<\/p>\n
Landlocked province creates obstacles<\/p>\n
Fourth-generation farmer Stephen Vandervalk grows malt barley, durum wheat and canola near Fort Macleod, Alta., and worries about how his crops would reach international markets if Alberta separated from Canada.<\/p>\n
While most of his malt barley is sold domestically, his durum wheat and canola are exported.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn general in Western Canada, a vast majority of it is put on a train and is exported out of Vancouver on a boat,\u201d Vandervalk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlberta is landlocked, so we do need access to ports,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vandervalk questions whether British Columbia would co-operate with an independent Alberta and whether alternative routes through the United States could accommodate the volume of agricultural exports.<\/p>\n
Ju\u00e1rez Davila says billions of dollars in agricultural products move between Alberta and the rest of Canada each year, highlighting the industry\u2019s reliance on interprovincial trade.<\/p>\n
He says separation would require new agreements governing the movement of agricultural goods and livestock across provincial borders, as well as renegotiating international trade agreements.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will have to renegotiate all those agreements with the European Union, with Latin America, with Asian countries. So we will start from scratch,\u201d Ju\u00e1rez Davila said.<\/p>\n
A plan for independence <\/p>\n
An independence plan released by the Alberta Transition Council, co-led by lawyer Keith Wilson, proposes negotiating agreements with Canada regarding rail transportation, port access and trade relationships if Alberta separates.<\/p>\n
However, a recent economic report by University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe warns separation could introduce additional border controls, trade barriers and higher costs for businesses.<\/p>\n
Those potential complications come as farmers continue to face mounting financial pressures.<\/p>\n
\u201cFertilizer prices have doubled and in some cases tripled in the last five years,\u201d Vandervalk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDiesel is almost up two and a half times from a year ago,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Alberta\u2019s political future, Vandervalk isn\u2019t convinced separation will become a reality.<\/p>\n
While he doesn\u2019t support breaking away from Canada, he understands the frustrations driving the independence movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do send far too much to Ottawa and see very little in return.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT MACLEOD, Alta. – Alberta farmers already grappling with rising production costs and unpredictable weather could face new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[712,45,49,48,46],"class_list":["post-929306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-apple-news","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}