The rents paid by Manitoba producers using Crown lands to produce perennial forages will be cut in half next year and by smaller amounts the following two years.
Provincial Ag Minister Derek Johnson on Wednesday announced the forage lease rent on agricultural Crown land will be reduced by 50 per cent in 2023, 33 per cent in 2024 and 15 per cent in 2025.
These rent reductions will be automatically applied starting with next year’s bills, the province said, so forage leaseholders won’t need to apply for the cut.
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“Stakeholders have told us that rental rates on forage lands are challenging with the hardships they are experiencing following the past two years of extreme weather conditions,” Johnson said in a release.
“We are responding to their concerns by implementing this rent reduction program over the next three years, which will provide ranchers with up to $4 million in relief.”
Said “extreme weather conditions” have ranged from severe drought the past two years to excess moisture this year, which have “significantly affected the productivity and forage capacity of agricultural Crown lands,” the province said.”
The rent cut will be in place as the productivity of the land recovers and as “further improvements” to the province’s agricultural Crown lands program are put in place, Johnson said.
The provincial ag department said it’s “exploring other policy, program, regulation and service improvements to enhance the productivity and sustainability of agricultural Crown forage lands including mechanisms for leaseholders to invest in productivity and adjustments to the terms and conditions of leases.”
Other changes made in the past several years as a result of the province’s ongoing review of the Crown land program included the move to an online auction system; a “market-based” formula for calculating rental rates; and the eliminations of lifetime leases and unit transfers.
The program review now includes an online public survey that will be available until late October. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
