Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen made a number of announcements in support of the beef industry on Friday.
“The last few years have been challenging for livestock producers, with dry conditions and new financial pressures,” Pedersen said. “I’m pleased to announce that our government is introducing a number of measures to support beef producers in our province, which will build on other investments that recognize the importance of this sector to Manitoba’s economy.”
Very dry conditions resulted in 18 municipalities declaring a local state of agricultural emergency in 2019. Drier than normal conditions continued in 2020. In response, the province will provide a one-time, 20 per cent rent credit to producers who held a forage lease or renewable permit on agricultural Crown lands (ACL) in these municipalities in 2019 and will continue to hold it in 2021. This 20 per cent account credit will deliver more than $530,000 to producers, based on their 2021 rental rate. On average, each client will receive more than $430 in rent credits, which will be applied to their ACL rental rate in 2021.
The minister also noted several new improvements will be made to Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation programs including:
- a new pilot project to evaluate the potential of index-based forage insurance products, in partnership with the governments of Canada, Alberta and Saskatchewan;
- changes for the 2021 AgriInsurance contract to introduce individual productivity indexing for silage corn and increasing the transportation allowance within the forage insurance dollar value and Hay Disaster Benefit for the Forage Insurance Program; and
- working with industry to reduce the impact of disaster years on insurance coverage, reduce participant burden and increase awareness of forage insurance options.
The province will provide a mechanism for in-family renewals at the end of each 15-year lease term on any leases that were in place prior to Oct. 1, 2019. Producers and stakeholders can continue to provide input on agricultural Crown land leases and permits as part of an online regulatory consultation.
The federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership is investing $2.85 million over five years with the Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives, a partnership between Manitoba Beef Producers, Ducks Unlimited Canada and the Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association to enhance productivity, profitability, sustainability and public trust of the beef industry in Manitoba.
In addition, the province is providing $300,000 over three years to support an industry-led pilot project to reduce wildlife predation of cattle and sheep in Manitoba. The Livestock Predation Pilot Project will help producers most affected by predation to develop individual risk management plans, while also supporting broader industry-wide efforts to test a variety of risk management approaches and share knowledge and best practices to reduce losses.
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