The federal and Manitoba governments officially launched Growing Forward 2 in Winnipeg today, unveiling details of the agricultural program at a news conference at the provincial legislature.
The five-year federal-provincial agreement features $176 million in strategic initiatives, a 50 percent increase in cost-shared funding and $1 billion for federal-only strategic initiatives.
The federal government has devised three new programs, AgriInnovation, AgriCompetiveness and AgriMarketing, with the goal of spurring economic growth.
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney said the deal includes 50 percent more money for non-business risk management programs.
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For instance, more federal and provincial funding will be dedicated to Environmental Farm Plans and beneficial management practices.
“The Growing Assurance program is where the Environmental Farm Plan program is mentioned,” Chorney said.
“They rolled that out today and they have, on the MAFRI (Manitoba Agriculture) website … all of the beneficial management practices that are going to be offered under Growing Forward 2.”
As an example, the Manitoba Agriculture website lists the amount of money available if a producer moves livestock paddocks and shelters away from areas with a high risk of ground water contamination.
However, the website now lists only eligible BMPs for livestock producers. No programs for grain growers are mentioned.
The Manitoba-Canada deal also has an ecological goods and services program for producers, Chorney said.
“We were really looking for ALUS programming, or ecological goods and services, and that’s also mentioned in the Growing Assurance part of the program. But there are no details about how that will be rolled out or what that really means.”
More information on Growing Forward 2 programs in Manitoba can be found at www.manitoba/ca.agriculture.
