AgriInsurance and hail insurance funds will be handled a little differently in the future, and the provincial government says that will keep those funds going back to farmers. The province announced two new trusts Sept. 21 to feed into the two insurance streams. The trust for AgriInsurance will include provincial, federal and paid-in funds from
Province announces locked-in funds with MASC trusts
The province says the new trusts will keep funds cycling back to the farm
Pollinator study looks for producer buy-in
A University of Manitoba researcher is looking for land to measure the impact of pollinator strips
Jason Gibbs of the University of Manitoba wants to know more about how pollinator strips impact the field, and he’s hoping local producers will help him. The professor of entomology has put the call out for producers willing to volunteer about one acre for pollinator habitat. Gibbs plans to plant a strip of flowering plants
Province promises up to $9.5 million in tax rebates for Hylife expansion
Hylife Ltd. will recoup some of the new tax generated from its recent expansions
Hylife Ltd. has joined the companies expecting to get a financial boost from their own tax revenue. The province announced Sept. 14 that the pork giant will join the companies and projects singled out for TIF, or tax increment financing. Governments most commonly turn to TIF to jump-start economic development and private sector investment by
The year of the tumbleweed
Kochia has enjoyed an upswing given Manitoba’s weather this year
It’s a good year to be a kochia plant. That should come as no surprise to growers. The tumbleweed-like plant has become a common sight this year, popping up over crop in what seems like larger and more frequent patches, some of which now show less response to glyphosate. Weather conditions were a large part
Feed your straw to the herd or feed the soil instead?
How much of a nutritional dent does baling straw make when that residue could have been chopped and spread?
Livestock producers have been scrambling for their neighbours’ straw, but growers may have been reluctant to let it leave the field. Attractive straw prices went head to head with the desire to chop and spread as growers weighed the balance between a secondary income and the cost of exporting those nutrients rather than working them
Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives names first general manager
Mary-Jane Orr will be overseeing all three of MBFI’s sites around Brandon and Brookdale
The Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives has its funding for the next five years. It has its new learning centre. Now, it has its first on-site general manager. Mary-Jane Orr stepped into her new position Sept. 4, taking over management at all three MBFI sites, two just in or outside the north edge of Brandon
Manitoba livestock producers get tax deferral
After a season-long struggle, most of agro-Manitoba is eligible for the national livestock tax deferral this year
Manitoba livestock producers may be in line for federal aid if they have to cull. Much of agro-Manitoba will be eligible for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s livestock tax deferral program this year. AAFC released its initial eligibility list Sept. 14, stretching from the Municipality of Grahamdale near Lake St. Martin to the Canada-U.S. border and
VIDEO: Dome Building grand opening in Brandon
The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba held the grand opening of the refurbished Dome Building on the Keystone Centre fairgrounds in Brandon Sept. 12. The building, properly named the Dominion Display Building II, was built in 1913 for the nationwide Dominion Exhibition, but had fallen into disrepair before the community spearheaded a fundraising campaign to save
Bringing in the bread
Cereal and canola growers are smiling after pleasantly surprising yields
Cool-season crops once again dodged the drought bullet this year, according to the first harvest reports from Manitoba Agriculture, but soybeans may not be as lucky. Dry, hot weather has been among the big conversation starters in agro-Manitoba this year. Despite that, according to farm production adviser Rejean Picard, cool-season crop yields have impressed and
ALUS gains steam in western Manitoba
ALUS returned to its roots in the Little Saskatchewan River Conservation District in 2014, and producers are buying in
A multi-province program that promises to pay landowners for conservation practices is attracting so much interest in the Little Saskatchewan River Conservation District that providers say they can’t meet the demand. District manager and local ALUS co-ordinator, Colleen Cuvelier said program co-ordinators couldn’t accommodate all the proposals this year, estimating another 100-200 acres could have