Sometimes no news is good news.
But Manitoba’s farm leaders are still going to pay attention to the new session at the provincial legislature because the speech from the throne doesn’t always lay out all impacts for farmers.
“We didn’t hear about Bill 17 either,” said Keystone Agricultural Producers president Ian Wishart, referring to Manitoba’s controversial hog barn ban.
Martin Unrau, president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association, said he hopes the outcry caused by Bill 17 means the government won’t pounce on the livestock industry again with legislation no one is expecting.
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“I don’t think there’s anything like that planned this time,” said Unrau.
“That one got pushed through without any real thought and I think they realize that wasn’t the right direction to take in order to attack some of the issues they were concerned about.
“I think Bill 17 was a bit of an experiment and I think everybody in government got the message that it’s unacceptable to do things in that manner.”
The Manitoba speech from the throne Nov. 20 contained no new program announcements or major initiatives for agriculture, but both Unrau and Wishart noticed the same two references in the speech to programs that will affect farmers.
They think a new Wetland Protection and Restoration Initiative planned to restore the province’s major marshes could be a benefit to the farm economy if done right.
Unrau said both wetlands and pastureland need to be protected.
“We’ve been really worried about the transition out of pasture into grain land (caused by high grain prices),” said Unrau.
“We saw a lot of erosion this summer and fall because of it. There are trees getting knocked down and pasture getting plowed up.”
Unrau said a program that pays farmers to protect vulnerable land will protect the environment and preserve wetlands, bush and pasture.
Wishart said wetlands and vulnerable land protection is something KAP has tried to achieve for years with its Alternative Land Use Services approach, but the provincial government has not yet embraced it.
This new initiative could move to that approach, and be a way to bring together a patchy set of incentives offered to farmers by a number of departments.
“Most farmers don’t even know they’re there,” said Wishart.
“They haven’t put enough incentives in enough places. We’re hoping we can take what they’re talking about here and use that as a stepping stone to a more cohesive program.”
Both Unrau and Wishart also said the government’s mention of a food safety initiative could help farmers develop their part of a farm-to-dinner-table traceability program.
“We’re pretty sure they’re going to move on it this time,” said Wishart.
Unrau said traceability can be developed without putting undue pressure on farmers.
“We know that traceability, if it’s done properly in an orderly fashion, doesn’t have to cost us too much, but if we let the bureaucrats at it, it could be a real problem,” said Unrau.
