Manitoba throne speech pleases Keystone Agricultural Producers, Ducks Unlimited

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Agriculture and the closely tied issue of watershed conservation were both cited as priorities in the Manitoba government’s third throne speech earlier this week.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/11/2017 (2316 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Agriculture and the closely tied issue of watershed conservation were both cited as priorities in the Manitoba government’s third throne speech earlier this week.

As with any throne speech, government commitments were clouded in ambiguity that won’t be clarified until the budget drops early next year, but some stewards working in these areas are enthused by what they’ve read.

Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier said that with Manitoba “pretty stagnant as it relates to agricultural research” compared with Saskatchewan during recent years, he hopes to see the throne speech enthusiasm translate into funding dollars come budget 2018-19.

Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun)
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier, seen addressing Brandon Chamber of Commerce members on at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre on Nov. 16, says he hopes provincial throne speech enthusiasm will translate into agricultural research dollars in the next budget.
Matt Goerzen/The Brandon Sun) Keystone Agricultural Producers president Dan Mazier, seen addressing Brandon Chamber of Commerce members on at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre on Nov. 16, says he hopes provincial throne speech enthusiasm will translate into agricultural research dollars in the next budget.

In the throne speech, it’s noted that the provincial and federal governments have committed $176 million during the next five years through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

This is the exact same amount that was provided in the previous five-year joint agreement, called Growing Forward 2, and Mazier said it remains unclear as to how much of this funding will be devoted toward research.

The fund covers a wide swath of agricultural efforts that includes research, crop insurance, business risk management, growing agriculture and various other related things.

Since the province has indicated that it wants to grow agriculture and work more with those in the sector, Mazier said that he remains optimistic.

Closely tied to agriculture is the province’s green plan, which the throne speech highlighted briefly in a passage that included a commitment to “introducing legislation to strengthen conservation at the watershed level, creating a new licensing regime for water management and working with private landowners to conserve wetlands and natural habitats.”

Ducks Unlimited manager of provincial operations Rick Andrews said he was “very pleased to see the mention of wetlands in the throne speech.”

He said that Ducks Unlimited partners with farmers through various programs in order to help preserve wetlands in as mutually beneficial a manner as possible, which includes a handful of incentive programs.

“Some of these wetlands need to be preserved and that might come with legislation … but we also recognize that landowners need to make a living,” he said.

While he said that certain “nuisance wetlands” can, and probably should, be drained for the benefit of the agricultural industry, class three, four and five wetlands —those that are of the greatest ecological importance —can and should be protected.

The province continues to lose approximately nine acres of wetlands per day, he said, adding, “We need to look at a way to stem this loss.”

If the provincial government is looking for organizations to take on watershed conservation efforts, they should look no further than the province’s 18 conservation districts, Ryan Canart said.

Manager of the Upper Assiniboine River Conservation District, Canart said that these frontline community-based organizations are already set up to tackle these issues, already boast low overhead and high ambition and are keen to expand operations as needed.

Much needs to be done as it relates to mitigating the impact of agricultural drainage, he said, adding that those in the agricultural sector —particularly those just starting off —tend to drain wetlands in order to get as much as they can out of their land.

“When faced with $1-million debt, can you blame them?” he said, adding that with the price of land trending upward, “it might just be heavy-handed regulation that protects this las remaining portion of wetland.”

While Canart said that both the latest throne speech and the recently released Climate and Green Plan have included promising words related to conservation, he said he wants to see something come of it.

“Just make this happen, guys,” Canart said, directing his comments to the provincial government. “You keep talking about it and it feels like it’s been forever.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB

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