After helping 5,600 producers develop environmental farm plans
across the province, the Farm Stewardship Association of Manitoba
(FSAM) is no more.
The associations’ board of directors voted to disband FSAM earlier
this year after Manitoba Agriculture decided it would take over
delivery of farm plans as part of Growing Forward, a joint program of
federal and provincial governments.
The initiative officially came to an end March 31, 2009, but during
its six years of existence, the program paid out $38 million in
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incentives to more than 8,400 projects across the province.
Although FSAM was a success, there remains a feeling of loss for
Herb Goulden and Terry Johnson, two Manitobans who helped found the
association in 2003.
“(FSAM’s) mandate was to deliver the environmental farm plan program
in partnership with PRFA and MAFRI (Manitoba Agriculture),” said
Goulden, a wildlife biologist who works with the Manitoba Habitat
Heritage Corporation. “We built this thing on the fact that a producer
would assess his own risks.”
“And he would do it (make changes) within his own fiscal capacity,”
added Johnson, deputy mayor of Virden and loans officer for the Sunrise
Credit Union.
The idea for the program, Goulden and Johnson explained, came about
in a hotel room after they participated in a Manitoba Rural Adaptation
Council (MRAC) board meeting in the early 2000s.
“There were a group of us sitting around … saying what is something
useful we can do for producers out there and the landscape,” Goulden
said.
After MRAC funded a consultation process, including focus groups
with farmers, the Farm Stewardship Association of Manitoba was
officially created in the summer of 2003.
Goulden said the program’s educational workshops won over even the most ornery of farmers.
“A hard bitten old farmer would walk in there, with hair up on the
back of his neck. But about halfway through the first workshop, he
would start nodding his head,” Goulden noted.
He said the program was popular.
“We had guys driving from Melita over to Portage la Prairie just to
get to a workshop, because they had missed it in their local area.”
The FSAM program provided farmers with knowledge and tools so they could design a plan suited for their farm.
Government provided financial incentives for producers willing to replace old fuel tanks or install off-site watering systems.
Goulden and Johnson said FSAM was a respected third party and the
producer could trust that disclosed information would remain
confidential.
The Manitoba government announced it would take over environmental
farm programming in the province, citing potential breaches of
confidentiality as a concerns.
“We wanted an honest evaluation by the producer of his environmental
liabilities and we got that from a lot of producers,” said Ian Wishart,
president of Keystone Agricultural Producers.
The concern is that farmers might not be as open if they fear that
an inspector will show up at the farmgate to enforce a regulation.
Johnson agreed that producers have more faith in a third party than in provincial bureaucracy.
“It’s a fragile relationship that farmers have with government and it’s easily broken,” Johnson said.
Despite their concerns, Johnson and Goulden are optimistic the new provincial program will make a difference.
“We just hope it works for farmers,” Goulden said.
