LAKELAND - A nationally-recognized advocate for beef producers and cow-calf operators is calling ‘bull-s#*t’ on a recent decision made by Lac La Biche County council to part ways with an association offering agricultural programming to farmers and ranchers across Alberta’s northeast.
Without the assistance of the Bonnyville-based Lakeland Agricultural Research Association (LARA), many farmers and producers will be left “high and dry” says George L’Heureux, a northeastern Alberta delegate with the Alberta Beef Producers, and the chairperson of the Feeder Associations of Alberta. L’Heureux, a former Lac La Biche County councillor, has also recently been selected as chairperson of the LARA board.
“I think a decision like this shows that the agriculture industry is being snubbed in this county,” he told Lakeland Today following council’s decision to cut ties and its current $60,000-a-year funding agreement with LARA. Councillors have instead voted to explore the creation of a municipal department to do the same kind of work.
That work, according to LARA officials, includes research, studies and demonstrations on a wide-range of agricultural topics across the Lakeland region from Cold Lake and Bonnyville to St. Paul and Lac La Biche. The association also offers the assistance of agrologists and scientists, while administrative officers assist people in the partner communities with grant applications, planning and research projects.
L’Heureux says the annual fee paid by the municipality has meant that hundreds of local farmers and ranchers have had access to the services at no cost. Without LARA — and without an alternative — those costs are back with the producers in Lac La Biche County.
“Some of these programs that our agriculture sector is looking for need an agrologist’s signature to get things going … LARA was doing it for the producers of the county,” he said. “For a producer here to get an agrologist signature now costs $2,000 … and that’s just one of many, many savings because of LARA.”
One reason several members of Lac La Biche County council voted against continuing with LARA was a feeling it was centred in the Bonnyville area, where its main office is located, and didn’t do enough for Lac La Biche County clients.
Current Lac La Biche County councillor Darlene Beniuk has spent several recent council meetings expressing her displeasure with the service and questioning why municipal funds continue to be paid. During those same meetings, representatives from area farms have been part of delegations to express concerns with the association, including Beniuk’s own sister who has been a member of the LARA board on three separate occasions over the years.
“Sitting in a meeting a year before I quit the last time, I told them that as a cattle producer I get nothing from them,” said Linda Lauzon, a farmer from the Normandeau area, who is a current director on the Lac La Biche Agriculture Service Board.
Lawrence Gingras, a Hylo-area farmer has also sat in front of council to express his concerns. He says most of LARA’s resources can be found by anyone with internet access. He also said the $60,000 going to LARA each year could be put towards other projects for local farmers.
“Taxpayers’ money could be better spent,” he said.
Jolene Yakimec with Sand Springs Ranch, who also sits on the Lac La Biche Agricultural Services Board, is another producer in favour of cutting the LARA ties.
“I’d like to push for a ‘County-led’ program,” she said. “I’m not alone when I say we can do better.”
Admitting there is ‘some’ value to local farmers from LARA, Yakimec said it is not the constant assistance, however, that is needed.
“Paying $60,000 a year, I’d compare it to paying for a sport channel on a satellite TV package that you only watch two times a year because you like the Masters golf and the Superbowl,” she said, calling then association “stagnant.”
Councillor Beniuk said she has been hearing similar concerns for a long time. Voting against the funding, based on a recommendation from the Lac La Biche Ag Service Board, Beniuk said it’s been a one-sided conversation.
“I have talked to no one that accessed LARA and said it was a useful tool,” she said.
That’s not what L’Heureux has been hearing. According to him, in the first three months of 2024, there have already been 64 producers in Lac La Biche County that have benefited from LARA’s services.
“We have 240 or so producers in total in Lac La Biche County, so that’s 64 is a quarter of the agricultural sector in the first three months. That’s a pretty big number,” he said, defending the local buy-in to the services.
L’Heureux isn’t completely opposed to exploring an in-house replacement option for LARA, but says the downside is the months — or years — it will take to explore that option. He’s also pretty sure the costs will add up to far more than the current $60,000 a year the municipality pays LARA for its services.
“They cut the ties and left people high and dry until they figure it out. It’s going to take 18 months for a decent cost analysis, then another year to actually get a program in place, to hire an agronomist, to get office space and equipment … and the cost is going to be horrendous,” he said. “I can see it being half a million dollars versus the $60,000 they just cut from LARA.”
He said simply cutting the partnership without attempting to make it better, is a mistake. “Are there improvements to be made? Absolutely… All we had to do is ask,” he said. “I think LARA was comfortable, and probably needed a nudge, absolutely —but it’s a good base that could have been built on and improved as we went along. There’s nothing that can’t be improved.”
Tie vote
The vote that saw the end of the partnership with LARA was actually a vote to provide this year’s $60,000 funding allotment. That decision, however, was defeated in a tie-vote, with four councillors voting to continue the agreement and four councils voting against. One councillor wasn’t in the meeting for the vote.
Lac La Biche County has been in a partnership with the Bonnyville-based agricultural research association since 1999. In those 25 years, through various funding arrangements — including the current $60,000 a year commitment that has been in place since 2020 — the municipality has contributed just over a million dollars to LARA.
L’Heureux is disappointed with the decision of council. He says it’s not so much about hurting established farmers, but it will have a big effect on new farmers trying new technologies and new techniques. LARA, he said, can help plant the right seeds for a new generation of farmers.
“It’s for my kids, for grandkids of these guys who are complaining … for those who are not established … but want to learn how to be. It’s for the future of the agricultural industry.”
L’Heureux hopes farmers and others from the community will urge councillors to reconsider their decision. He said people can either go to a council meeting, call their elected official —or do it next October at election time.
“Perhaps we need to ask voters of Lac La Biche County to take a close look at the ballots to see if candidates are supporting agriculture next time around,” he said.
