Producers who missed the chance to get the province to pitch in for on-farm water infrastructure are about to get another bite at the apple.
A second intake window for water source development funding — offered through Ag Action Manitoba’s beneficial management practice (BMP) 503: Managing Livestock Access to Riparian Areas — is slated to open Nov. 8 and closing Dec. 10.
That round will look at projects proposed for the 2022-23 season.
The Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) welcomed the news.
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“Especially when you think of the administrative burden associated with projects, to have another window for producers to look at their paperwork and develop a project for next year is really beneficial,” MBP general manager Carson Callum said.
The producer group has said, however, that it has requested a longer intake window.
MBP pushed government to back BMP 503 this spring.
The program, which evenly cost shares projects such as building new pipelines or wells, adding remote watering systems, fencing to separate animals from water bodies or adding or improving dugouts, between farmers and the provincial government, returned to the list of supported BMPs this year following concerns of a dry spring.
On June 8, the province announced that it was accepting applications under the BMP, retroactive to the start of April. That window closed Sept. 1.
“It was important that they got this open as quickly as possible,” Callum said during a recent virtual meeting. “Before anything, before feed was the major issue, it was water availability.”
Over 250 applications were processed through the program as of Oct. 14.
