CO-OPERATIVE FARM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 77, 24 January 1947, Page 8

CO-OPERATIVE FARM

EX-SERVICEMEN IN SASKATCHEWAN

RENTS VARY WITH CROPS

Saskatchewan, Canada’s co-opera-tive minded province, has begun the settlement of ex-servicemen on cooperative farms. Last spring 19 veterans of World War II made the first step in a project which is planned to rehabilitate men on to Crown land.

There are at least seven other cooperative farms in the province, but this is the first time in Canada that veterans have made the venture. Plans were made more than a year ago by a committee of agricultural experts and Government officials, the details being worked out with the settlers themselves. The site chosen was ranch country untouched by the plough and used as pasture land by roaming herds of cattle.

In an official report of the undertaking issued by the Canadian Information Service progress to date is reviewed as follows: “The veterans’ first sight of the land, when they broke a trail to it by jeep last April, showed how much there was to be accomplished. “The soil was rich and water accessible. But obviously the venture would be no picnic. There was no road within five miles of the location selected for living quarters, and the nearest farmhouse was six miles away.

Three Working Crews

“Dividing into three working crews, they attacked the immediate tasks of building houses and ploughing the virgin soil. Former air force barracks obtained from the Government were sawed into sections, trucked 40 miles and floated across the Saskatchewan River, to be reassembled into four houses for the married men, a dormitory for the single men and a combined work-shop-storehouse. “Meanwhile the ploughing was going ahead in double shifts. By the end of the summer, the families of the married men moved in, 2500 acres of land had been ploughed and 340 acres sown to flax. “This first crop, it is expected, will bring in* at least 10,000 dollars, most of which is already earmarked for wheat and flax seed with which they plan to sow the whole ploughed acreage next spring. “By fall three of the veterans had quit, but the remainder are now well established.

“The community owns collectively farm equipment and livestock purchased with loans on members’ rehabilitation credits. The veterans have applied to the Dominion Government for land grants, but so far these have not been paid because the Department of Veterans’ Affairs insist that title to land be held by individual veterans.

“Meanwhile the provincial Government has borne the initial expenses and paid the veterans a daily wage. It has leased them more than 10,000 acres of land for 33 years.

“Rent will be fixed at 1-6 to 1-3 of the value of the crop.