District 6 farmer Rauri Qually spoke in favour of a resolution to give landlords an income tax break for renting land at a reduced rate to young farmers during KAP’s 35th annual meeting Feb. 5 in Winnipeg. The resolution was referred to a KAP committee for further study.

Recent KAP AGM explored policy landscape

From tax breaks to help young farmers rent land to wild boar the discussion was wide ranging

Class 1 licences, grain dryers, seed royalties, wild boars and a plan to make land rent more affordable for young farmers — all among the 19 resolutions Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) debated at the 35th annual meeting in Winnipeg Feb. 5 and 6. The land rent resolution proposed KAP work to set up a system

KAP wants drainage regs changed to encourage on-farm storage

One farmer says he is successfully using excess water to irrigate crops instead of pushing downstream on others

The Manitoba government promotes water retention on farmland, yet has policies that seem to discourage innovative and economic ways to do it, Deloraine farmer Kelsey Sunaert said during the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ 35th annual meeting in Winnipeg Feb. 5. Farmers like him, who want to consolidate water bodies on their own land and keep it


Thousand Hills Ranch owner Dean Hildebrand looks over the meat products he’s brought to the Pembina Valley Local Food Market as the venue gets rolling on market day inside the Morden Public Library.

The farmers’ market goes high tech

A small group of local food producers are taking their marketing efforts online

Squinting through blowing snow isn’t how most vendors travel to farmers’ markets across Manitoba — but that’s the sort of trip owners of Thousand Hills Ranch take once in a while. Tiina and Dean Hildebrand, who raise grass-fed beef and lamb near Morden, keep a segment of the Morden summer farmers’ market going through the

Fred Tait argues for MBP to take action towards written permission for hunters during the Manitoba Beef Producers annual general meeting Feb. 7 in Brandon.

Hunting permission slips pitched

Producers say they’re sick of dealing with trespassers during hunting season and hope written permission rules might help them cope

Hunters would need written permission before their next trip onto private agricultural land, if the Manitoba Beef Producers gets its way. MBP will be lobbying to extend signed landowner access rules for hunters and require written permission from landowners. The province currently requires hunters to get permission before hunting or retrieving game animals, regardless of


Morag Margerison, a farm safety consultant, hopes five years of guaranteed funding will mean many farm visits in the future.

Government fixes farm safety funding

The Manitoba Farm Safety Program: It’s free, confidential and funded for at least another five years

In the midst of a farm safety seminar kicking off the annual meeting of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, some good news arrived. In a joint announcement the federal and provincial agriculture ministers revealed a $1.1-million funding program over five years to support farm safety programming in the province. The program is designed to develop safety

Gordon and Brenda Adams and their children Colin and Lacey were the recipients of the 2018 Turtle Mountain Conservation District Award presented at the December 10 MCDA banquet in Brandon.

WestMan mixed farm is recipient of the 2018 Turtle Mountain Conservation District conservation award

G & B Farms spans more than 2,700 acres and includes a large livestock component

Gordon and Brenda Adams together with their two children Colin and Lacey manage G & B Farms, comprised of Black Angus cows, horses and chickens, and a land base of 2,720 acres spread between the Turtle Mountains, Whitewater Lake, Medora and Pipestone. At Pipestone there are 1,120 acres of native pasture, never broken, plus the


Bill Campbell, who was appointed KAP’s president July 31 after the post was vacated by Dan Mazier, was acclaimed to the position Feb. 6 during KAP’s 35th annual meeting in Winnipeg. KAP delegates also acclaimed two vice-presidents — incumbent Jill Verwey, who farms near Portage la Prairie and newcomer Mitch Janssens, who farms near Boissevain.

KAP president Bill Campbell has lots to do

Campbell, who was acclaimed at KAP’s annual meeting, says farm issues get more complex the deeper one digs

Leading Manitoba’s general farm organization is, and isn’t, like farming. A farmer’s work is never done. It’s the same for the president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP). But the deeper one digs into farm policy, the more complex it gets, Bill Campbell said in an interview Feb. 6 following KAP’s 35th annual meeting in

Manitoba farmers say local education taxes on farmland are unfair and want the provincial government to do something about it.

Education tax model ‘flawed’ says Eichler

The agriculture minister agrees farmers pay more than their share, but says there’s not much he can do about it

Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler concedes Manitoba farmers get a raw deal on farmland education taxes — but he also says relief won’t be immediate. “We know there are a number of funding models that would look better,” Eichler said during a question period following his speech at the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) 35th annual meeting


Some producers are worried of the financial impact to their operations once the province releases their new Crown lands regulations.

Ranchers call for certainty on unit transfers

Northern ranchers are worried that Crown land unit transfers might disappear ‘with a stroke of the pen’

Northern beef producers say they stand to take a big hit on farm value, should unit transfers not be on the table when the province releases their Crown lands regulations. The province froze both new Crown land leases and unit transfer applications in the wake of changes to the Crown Lands Act, pending a review.