APAS and FNA announce strategic partnership to benefit APAS members across Saskatchewan.
August 16, 2010 (For Immediate Release)
(Humboldt) The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) and the Farmers of North America-Strategic Ag Institute (FNA-STAG) are pleased to announce a strategic partnership between the two organizations that will benefit APAS members across the province. The agreement was signed this morning by APAS President Greg Marshall and FNA-STAG CEO Bob Friesen in Regina. Details of the program were publically announced at a joint District Four and District Five APAS meeting in Humboldt this afternoon.
“We focus our efforts on farmer empowerment through lobbying and policy development, but we recognize and celebrate that there are additional organizations that can offer our farmers with a different type of empowerment,” said Greg Marshall this afternoon in Humboldt. “A partnership of this type will definitely and immediately benefit every APAS member. And of course, FNA is a strong and vocal supporter of general and commodity specific organizations across Canada so having them at our side is an excellent opportunity for the both our members and the organization.”
APAS is Saskatchewan’s general farm organization formed to provide farmers and ranchers with a democratically elected, grassroots, non-partisan, producer organization based on rural municipal boundaries. As the united voice of thousands of agricultural producers in Saskatchewan, we strive to represent the views of a wide variety of agricultural stakeholders in order to form comprehensive policies that can benefit all sectors of society.
The Mission of Farmers of North America is to improve farm profitability. This is the sole reason FNA exists, and to this end all their efforts, every position, every expenditure of money, resources and time must somehow link back to and be measured by the mission. FNA aims to achieve this mission through reducing costs for member farmers (the input costs side); improving revenue earned on outputs (the marketing side), and whenever necessary, to advocate for regulatory change where existing regulations suppress farmers' ability to make profit.
“FNA offers all Canadian farmers a different type of farm empowerment. We are focused on leveraging the strength of a farmers’ business alliance to provide lower cost inputs to improve farm profitability,” said Bob Friesen earlier today. “As FNA grows, so will our strength as a profitability tool, to ensure that farmers can again “call the shots” in an industry where they face a highly concentrated upstream industry.”All rural ratepayers in APAS Member RMs will immediately receive a discount on new memberships in FNA and will be able to fully participate in all FNA programs, discounts, and activities. Details and forms will be available on the APAS website (www.apas.ca) later this week.
For more information, please call:
Greg Marshall, APAS President
Phone: 306-789-7774 ext 151 (home) or 306-746-7747 (cell)
or
Bob Freisen, FNA-STAG CEO & President
Phone: 613-230-2222 (office) or 613-852-9711 (cell)