Bill Campbell was acclaimed to another term at the helm of KAP at the organization’s recent annual general meeting.

Campbell sees challenges ahead for Manitoba farmers

KAP’s president says safety nets, carbon tax and Crown lands among big issues on the radar


Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president, Bill Campbell, kicked off the 2020 annual general meeting last week by acknowledging the disastrous weather challenges, and calling governments to action. “We began in the spring with dry conditions and feed shortages,” Campbell said. “We ended the year with excess moisture and crops still out in the field.” That’s just how weather goes, but

Letters: Changes requested

Our provincial government listened to producers when they said they wanted to see changes to the Crown Lands Act. Unlike previous governments, we don’t take the agricultural sector for granted, and were excited to phase in new rules for Crown land leases. The first auctions took place over November and December of 2019, and saw


The Manitoba government’s proposed changes to Crown land leases could financially hobble young producers looking to enter the cattle business.

Letters: Crown land changes ‘abhorrent’

My husband and I moved to the Ste. Rose area from Alberta in May of 2019. We have been caught up in the Crown land modernization fiasco. The fact that there was a Conservative government in the province, along with reasonable land prices, made it an attractive place for us to grow our cattle business.

Letters: Crown land leases – then and now

Letters: Crown land leases – then and now

Way back in 1976 my very first job with Manitoba Agriculture was a three-month contract, to do a review of the province’s Crown land leasing program. It was a steep learning curve for me at the end of which I concluded that the then existing system was: a) Expensive to administer; b) Undervalued the province’s

Manitoba Beef Producers president Tom Teichroeb addressed worries on Agricultural Crown Land changes, and what MBP will do about them, during a packed lease holders' meeting in Ste. Rose du Lac Oct. 2, 2019.

Year in Review: Crown lands saga continues

Crown land changes were a hot-button topic for northern ranchers in 2019, but with promised rule changes still incoming, it's not over yet

The province’s agricultural Crown lands overhaul went from a simmer to a boil in late 2019 — and northern ranchers are still roiling. Crown lands were gridlocked to start off the year. The province froze all new lease agreements or unit transfers as of fall 2018, after changes to the Crown Lands Act got royal


Province introduces Crown land sales legislation

Province introduces Crown land sales legislation

Government says the goal is a streamlined and transparent system

The Manitoba government is introducing new legislation that would streamline and improve government oversight for Crown land sales. The announcement came in a Dec. 3 media release on behalf of Central Services Minister Reg Helwer. Helwer touted the Crown Land Dispositions Act as the path to a system that would be “… more efficient, effective

Recently introduced regulatory changes to Agricultural Crown Lands saw sweeping changes to how forage and grazing leases would be allocated and administered.

Province firm on Crown land changes

Ranchers still hoping for a return to unit transfers or an extended right of renewal for all leases may be disappointed

The province is not backing down on Crown land regulation changes, despite continued pressure from northern ranchers. Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Blaine Pedersen maintained that ranchers would get right of renewal for existing forage and grazing leases, but stayed firm on the province’s removal of unit transfers. “We’ve said that we’re going to

Northern ranchers argue that the regulations undermine long-term security for ranches made up mostly of Crown land.

Beef producers seek fast lane for Crown land sales

Beef producers want more and faster privatization 
efforts on Agricultural Crown Lands, but not everyone agrees

Northern ranchers are not happy with changes to forage and grazing Crown land leases, but some say the issue would not be as critical if they could buy that land outright. Producers near Ste. Rose du Lac were among the producers calling for a fast track to Crown land privatization when Manitoba Beef Producers made


“There’s conflicting arguments on that one,” MBP president Tom Teichroeb said of the proposed cap resolution.

District producers back step on AUM cap

Some producers now say they want a new, albeit larger, AUM cap on Crown lands

Ranchers near Ste. Rose du Lac want the province to take another step back on Crown lands — although this change was initially heralded as a victory. Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) had welcomed the removal of a 4,800 animal unit month (AUM) cap from forage and grazing lease eligibility, one of a number of sweeping

Crown lands dominate the discussion in early November as ranchers gather for the third time in just over a month in Ste. Rose du Lac, this time for a Manitoba Beef Producers district meeting.

Ranchers push for lease changes even as first Crown lands auctions arrive

The livestock sector says right now it’s being asked to bid on a pig in a poke

Manitoba is about to hold its first auctions for Crown land leases later this month — but bidders still have no clear idea of what they’re getting themselves into. They’re bidding under a new auction system that eliminates the long-standing ‘points’ process. It also will have a 15-year limit, as opposed to the old 50-year