‘All we can do is hope for the best’: B.C. floods another blow for Sask. farmers

Whether it’s oil, agricultural products or potash, transportation is the key to the success of Saskatchewan’s economy.

This week, the main link to key Pacific Ocean export markets was shut down by the catastrophic floods in British Columbia’s lower mainland.

“Railroad beds (are) under feet of water. (Those are) rail lines that carry Saskatchewan grain,” said Todd Lewis, the president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.

“When the words are used like ‘unprecedented’ and so on, when we’ve been transporting grain for 100 years through those passes and on those rail lines, it really is sobering to see the damage that has been done.”

According to Lewis, more than 80 per cent of Saskatchewan crops are carried on those rail lines to the Port of Vancouver.

Without those transportation links, Lewis says backlogs are imminent.

“Trains sit, railroads won’t be able to fill cars and the elevator system does get plugged up full of grain and farmers won’t be able to haul,” Lewis said.

“There are contracts that have been signed both with customers abroad as well as with producers to deliver. Those contracts won’t be delivered in a timely fashion. At the end of the day, farmers’ cash flow will be affected.”

It’s yet another blow to Prairie farmers who are still reeling from drought last season.

Known for their toughness, farmers will have to be resilient again as they await news from Canadian National and Canadian Pacific about the extent of damage to their infrastructure.

In the meantime, Lewis wants to see collaboration between the rail companies and governments to keep grain moving.

“Traffic has to be moved from one line to the other or sharing of infrastructure until other infrastructure is repaired. I think that is going to be important and internationally too we’ll be looking to the United States,” said Lewis.

“All we can do is hope for the best.”

The provincial government estimates $12 billion worth of Saskatchewan exports flows through the Port of Vancouver each year.