Rural land assessment – collect the tax...neglect the land?

Non-Peer ReviewedTaxation of property has been a revenue source for government, particularly local government. The system of property taxation in Saskatchewan has evolved from a flat land tax in early years to the current tax system which employs an assessment system to more accurately reflect variations in the productive value of different parcels of land. A new assessment system has been proposed under which the taxation of rural land in Saskatchewan would be largely based on recent land market prices. Is the singular purpose of an assessment system to collect taxes, or should other implications be considered? What impact have past assessment systems had on land use? Soil conservation? Enterprise mix? or the rural community? This paper examines some of the features of various assessment systems and the current proposal for a new assessment system in Saskatchewan with a focus on these questions

Federal government relief programs for grain farmers: rewards for the late adjusters?

Non-Peer ReviewedThe Canadian Federal Government has introduced several major ad hoc relief programs for prairie farmers in the last fifty years, in response to various agricultural crises. Each of these programs has rewarded late adjusters – farmers who contributed to the crises by not responding appropriately to market or environmental conditions. Early adjusters who quickly and innovatively responded have been treated indifferently or penalized by the programs. The 1941 Wheat Acreage Reduction (WAR) program and 1970 Lower Inventory for Tomorrow (LIFT) favoured farmers who grew large acreages of wheat in the preceding years despite high levels of Canadian and world wheat stocks. Farmers who had cut production or diversified received less program money than the late adjusters. The Special Canadian Grains Program (SCGP) of 1986, introduced to offset low world prices in traditional crops, made no payments to special crop producers in its first year. Producers who cultivated below average quality land in a township or who planted traditional rotations regardless of, sometimes in spite of, climatic conditions in 1988 received much of the benefit of the Canadian Crop Drought Assistance Program (CCDAP). The 1989 Permanent Cover Program of the Canada-Saskatchewan Agreement on Soil Conservation will reward, at least in part, late adjusters who brought marginal land under cultivation, some as recently as July 1987, without regard for environmental consequences. Throughout the last fifty years, the delivery quota system, based on the number of acres farmed, has encouraged extensive farming techniques and the cultivation of marginal land. Farmers who practiced annual cultivation of export crops may have maximized short run economic returns given the combined economic and policy signals which were received. Farmers who have tried to farm according to the best long-term agronomic practices have not been rewarded through policy initiatives. Ad hoc programs which have tried to move producers away from traditional prairie crops and cultivation methods, especially wheat production, often have been poorly designed, underfunded and limited in scope. Fundamental federal government policies for Prairie agriculture, including the Homestead Act, the Land Survey, and the Crow Rate/Western Grain Transportation Act (WGTA) have consistently pushed Prairie land use in a single direction, encouraging annual cultivation and the production of grain, especially wheat, for export at the expense of most other types of agricultural production. A precarious cyclical economy has been one result, especially in Saskatchewan. Deterioration of a significant portion of the land base has been another. The provincial land assessment and property taxation system may have institutionalized this land degradation. The "Wheat is King" tradition is still alive and well on the prairies and in the minds of policy planners. Wheat will remain a major crop. However, governments which are serious about diversification in Prairie agriculture must begin to reward early adjusters – those who innovate and respond appropriately to markets and the physical environment. Federal Government legislation for the prairie region should be enabling, not disabling legislation

Video Education and Behavior Contract to Improve Outcomes After Renal Transplantation (VECTOR): A Randomized Controlled Trial

Holly Mansell,1 Nicola Rosaasen,2 Jenny Wichart,3 Patricia West-Thielke,4 David Blackburn,1 Juxin Liu,5 Rahul Mainra,6 Ahmed Shoker,6 Brianna Groot,7 Kevin Wen,8 Anita Wong,9 Bita Bateni,10 Cindy Luo,11 Paraag Trivedi12 1College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 2Saskatchewan Transplant Program, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 3Department of Pharmacy, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada; 4University of Illinois Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL, USA; 5Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 6Saskatchewan Transplant Program; Department of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 7Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada; 8Division of Nephrology and Transplant Immunology, Department of Medicine University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; 9Department of Pharmacy, University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton, AB, Canada; 10St. Paul’s Hospital, and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 11Vancouver General Hospital; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; 12Transplant Recipient/Patient Advisor, Regina, SK, CanadaCorrespondence: Holly Mansell, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, Health Sciences Building (E3208), 107 Wiggins Road, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5, Canada, Email [email protected]: Sub-optimal adherence to immunosuppressant medications reduces graft survival for kidney transplant recipients and adherence-enhancing interventions are resource and time intensive. We performed a multi-center randomized controlled trial to investigate the impact of an electronically delivered intervention on adherence. Of 203 adult kidney transplant recipients who received a de novo kidney transplant n = 173 agreed to participate (intent-to-treat population) and were randomized to the intervention (video education plus behavior contract n = 91) or the control (standard education, n = 82). No significant differences were found between the groups for medication adherence measured by the Basel Assessment of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Medications Scale, intrapatient variability in tacrolimus levels, time in therapeutic range for any immunosuppressant, knowledge, self-efficacy, QOL, or hospitalizations. Among a subgroup of 64 participants randomized to the intervention group who completed a post-intervention questionnaire, two-thirds (67%, n = 43) reported watching at least 80% of the videos and 58% (n = 37) completed the electronic goal setting exercise and adherence contract. An autonomous goal setting exercise and electronic behavioural contract added to standard of care did not improve any outcomes. Our findings reiterate that nonadherence in transplantation is a difficult multifactorial problem that simple solutions will not solve. Trial registration number NCT03540121.Keywords: kidney transplant, solid organ transplant, medication adherence, immunosuppressio

Comparison Of Dry Pea And Lentil Production, Marketing, Transportation And Institutions For Saskatchewan And The Palouse (Washington And Idaho)

This report: i) outlines the important players in world production and trade in peas and lentils, ii) examines the production levels of peas and lentils in the Canadian Prairies and the Palouse and some factors that influenced change, iii) describes the typical agronomic practices in each area, iv) compares the published cost and returns estimates for the two areas, v) compares the price of selected farm input costs and transportation costs, and vi) outlines some common problems and challenges for these industries

Holy crow, what should I grow: crop enterprise planning in the post-CROW world

Non-Peer Reviewe