Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame

Roy Atkinson

Roy Atkinson is an activist farmer who has devoted a major part of his life in lobbying governments and giving leadership in the farm movement. He was born February 17, 1924, in the Springwater-Landis area on a farm his grandfather had homesteaded in 1905.

As a young man he became interested in the United Farmers of Canada, Saskatchewan section. When it became the Saskatchewan Farmers Union he was elected a district director. He served as vice-president and then was elected SFU president in 1962, a position he held for seven years. In 1969 the Canada-wide National Farmers Union was born and Roy Atkinson was its first president.

Roy Atkinson brought a new dimension to farm lobbying, using public demonstrations to attract wide attention to the causes he was advancing. His objective was to improve the economics of farming.

During his term he also served on the Economic Council of Canada in 1966-67, for eight years as a member of the Canadian Council for Rural Development and on the board of directors of Federated Co-operatives Ltd. He retired as NFU president in 1978 but not from his active role of speaking on behalf of farmers.

He was elected to the Canadian Wheat Board Advisory Council in 1975 and became its chairman in 1978. He chaired the committee seven years. He was elected a delegate of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in 1983.

Roy Atkinson won respect as a capable debater and a tireless worker for the causes he espoused.

Nominated for the Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame 1990
by the National Farmers Union.

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