The Community Pasture Patrons Association (CPPAS) is calling on the federal government to grant an option of a one-year delay in the transfer of the first 10 federal community pastures to patron controlled operations for the 2014 grazing season.

Ian McCreary, chair of CPPAS, said pasture patrons groups looking to develop business plans to take control of the pastures are not able to do so due to inadequate business information that is being provided to them. He said patrons groups do not know if the federal non-reversionary land on the pastures will be part of the pastures in the future, whether non-fixed assets including bulls and machinery should be included in the patrons business plans and if it would be the patrons responsibility to cover the costs of invasive and noxious weeds.

“Put yourself in our shoes,” said McCreary Your being asked to go into business with 30 to 50 other people depending upon which pasture you’re in to take on the lease of some land (and) it’s not clear how much land, it’s not clear whether or not you get the headquarters, it’s not clear whether or not you should be building the bulls into your business plan and you have to have it done by the end of October and this is your busiest time of the year. That’s not reasonable.”

The first 10 federal community pastures scheduled to transfer to patron operation for the 2014 grazing season are: Estevan-Cambria, Excel, Fairview, Ituna-Bon Accord, Keywest, Lone Tree, McCraney, Newcombe, Park and Wolverine.

McCreary said it is the federal government that has the capacity to put this transition in a delay, as it was the federal government that initiated the process. He said the government must recognize that their time frame for the transition of these first 10 pastures is unreasonable.

“If the federal government continues to be completely unreasonable then it puts an unreasonable pressure on the province and then we have to try and work with the province to try and find a way to bridge the difference,” he said. “That becomes more complicated (and) certainly not very fair to the province. Certainly we would try and work with the province to make that happen if the (federal community pastures) remain in transition.”

To read more please see the July 15 print edition of The Davidson Leader.