BRANDON, Man. – Cattle, hogs or emu? Special crops or more hay? Trucking or processing?
Keystone Agricultural Producers believes Manitoba farmers have to adapt and diversify with the changing times. But the group also thinks farmers need more than a hammer to hang out a new shingle.
That’s why KAP is passing farmers a planner – a new book farmers can use as a tool to help them make decisions so farms will survive in the future. Plans have to pass three tests:
4 Will they make money?
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4 How will they affect the land?
4 Are they acceptable to the community?
“If (a plan) doesn’t fit in all three, you may run into limited success with it,” said Alan Ransom, one of the farmers who worked on the planner.
Ransom said it won’t provide the answers, but the planner does give farmers steps to follow to find the answers.
To make sure it works, he tested it on his farm near Boissevain, where he works with his wife Linda and their four children.
Ransom said one family goal is to find opportunities on the farm for his oldest daughter Anne, 20.
When he took inventory of his farm resources, he looked carefully at 260 heavily wooded acres. Ransom said it would cost more to develop the land than to buy already-developed land in the area. Now, the land is probably worth between $100 and $175 per acre.
He decided to determine whether a woodlot would be feasible. The wood could be used for windbreaks, corrals and other building material for livestock operations, which are abundant in his area.
Ransom said about 15 hunters track moose and deer on his land. He talked to them about the idea, and they liked it because it would make hunting easier.
He also talked to the administrators of a nearby provincial park. They didn’t have a problem with the idea, but said they’d like to see a buffer zone of trees along the road.
Because a harvested acre will take 20 years to regenerate on its own, Ransom said it would be feasible to harvest 10 acres per year.
He figures he’ll get 26 cords of wood per acre, for a value of $45 per cord. A woodlot acre could be worth more than $1,000.
He said his daughter is enthusiastic about the idea. It’s a cheap and low-risk venture that will earn her money. But he noted the money won’t come easily, because the wood must be corded.
The draft of the planner will be circulated to get farmers’ comments before it is made widely available.
