A community in southwestern Manitoba wants to gather ideas about how a
farm can thrive with 640 acres or less.
The Turtle Mountain Community Development Corp. struck a committee this
winter to lead the initiative.
Residents hope to help repopulate an area that includes the towns of
Boissevain, Minto and Elgin and the rural municipalities of Morton and
Whitewater.
To achieve that goal, the community development corporation is inviting
ideas from people who have found ways to make farming viable with 640
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acres or less.
Those ideas could then help reverse the trend toward increasingly large
farms, something that is happening across the Prairies as farmers
attempt to capture economies of scale.
The ideas gathered will be reviewed for their merit.
Once the research is done, models will be developed that could benefit
people interested in farming without having to own several sections of
land.
The corporation serves an area that includes grain, livestock and mixed
farming operations. The average farm size is about 1,500 acres,
although there are farms that are much larger. Population decline is a
concern for many rural communities in Western Canada. As it occurs, it
can become increasingly difficult for communities to maintain the
services and activities that keep it vibrant.
People interested in submitting ideas to the corporation can contact
Ruth Mealy, economic development officer, at 204-534-6303.
