A provincial survey on agricultural Crown lands put numbers to the issues, but to the Manitoba Crown Lands Leaseholders Association, there was little in the results that hadn’t been said already.
“Every point they have in there is exactly what we told them four years ago,” said association president Brent Benson.
Why it matters: Agricultural Crown lands have been a nagging issue for leaseholders since regulatory changes in 2019.
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
In 2019, the province introduced regulatory changes to forage and grazing Crown lands that raised the hackles of existing lease holders. A major irritant was elimination of the unit transfer. Under the new rules, leaseholders could no longer transfer the rights on leased parcels to new owners when they sold their farms.
The province argued that the practice was artificially inflating ranch values. Leaseholders pointed to ranches that owed most of their land base to leased land. Without unit transfers, those ranches were unviable and virtually unsellable, they said.
“The unit transfer is the one that’s causing the most amount of damage to producers,” Benson said.
The province reopened the Crown lands issue in fall 2022 by announcing a survey for stakeholders and the public to express their views on agricultural Crown lands. A total of 227 surveys were completed.
The province released a report in March 2023 outlining the results. Unit transfers emerged as a major issue, with 85 per cent of respondents saying they want a return to unit transfers.
The result came from what Benson described as a misleading question that combined the term “transfers” with “subletting.”
“We don’t want subletting ‘slash’ transfers,” said Benson. “We basically informed all of our producers that selecting that option means you want transfers. Unfortunately, you have to say ‘yes’ to subletting because that’s the only option.”
Many respondents included a note to clarify their response. The March report from the province noted that “in several written comments, respondents mentioned a preference for a return to unit transfers, which were eliminated in 2019.”
Benson says the distinction is important.
“Subletting is a terrible idea,” he said. “If you’re renting or leasing land from the government for a public good, you should be producing that good, not renting something to somebody else for profits.”
Land improvements
Benson also tied broad support for the return of unit transfers to land improvements, such as fencing or added productivity. He said the unit transfer is key to recapturing the value of those investments.
He drew the analogy of cottages on Crown land.
“Everyone who currently has cabins on Crown land pays the rent, but they still own their cabin,” he said. “Our view is that we’re not selling access to Crown land; we’re selling our fences, our dugouts and our roads. The improvements we made to the land are worth way more than the actual assessment on the land.”
This was reflected in another survey question, which asked how likely farmers were to invest in the land’s productivity. About 81 per cent said they would be very or somewhat likely to invest in improvements if leases could be transferred. Conversely, only 15 per cent said they would do the same if the province owned those improvements.
“It’s pretty clear to us that it doesn’t work if farmers have to throw their investments out the window the minute they decide to retire,” Benson said.
What’s next?
The association president said there has been no word from government since the survey was published, but he did speak to Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson just before the release.
“He indicated they were still considering options,” he said.
It’s a change of tone, Benson said, pointing to engagement with the two previous ag ministers who had the file since 2019.
But while the latest survey results largely aligned with his group’s message on unit transfers, Benson is skeptical on whether they will result in change.
The quiet release of the survey results gave him one reason for skepticism. The province did not officially announce the March report, and Benson said he didn’t know it was available until survey results were discussed on social media.
The other reason is that it reveals little that wasn’t already known.
“For years, we’ve been banging our heads, so it’s almost expected they weren’t going to do anything with it,” he said
In an emailed statement, Johnson said the survey would be used to “guide future potential improvements to the program and its administration,” but did provide specifics.
“It would not be appropriate to speak to any potential changes in advance of decisions,” he said.
Survey results can be viewed through the province’s Engage MB website.
