Manitoba Pork Council chairman George Matheson stood up at a Hog Watch Manitoba event last week to refute some of the claims made by the activist group, including assertions that hog production is inhumane and poorly regulated.

“Gestation stalls, let’s talk about that,” he told the 100 or so people gathered at the university’s Eckhardt Grammatte Hall. “There’s a regulation, come 2024, that gestation stalls will not be allowed to be used in Canada in the future. I realize that is seven years away — the change will take half a billion dollars to do, so these things will not happen overnight.”

The chairman added he favours the eradication of gestation stalls and noted some very large hog producers have already successfully moved to loose sow housing, before emphasizing the stringent regulations Manitoba pork producers must adhere to.

“Regulations that aren’t followed very often,” according to Janine Gibson, a Hog Watch board member and chair of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba, who challenged Matheson on the issue as he spoke.

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“There are always going to be regulations set and people who unfortunately do not follow them,” Matheson responded. “But I’ll tell you this… the group of hog producers that we have in Manitoba that are on the board of directors, we want animal care, we want food safety, we want environmental protection, we want workplace health and safety and if a producer is not doing that, he will hear from us.”

‘Day of action’

The exchange followed a day of action by Hog Watch, which first formed in 1999 with the aim of monitoring the expansion of Manitoba’s hog industry. After a moratorium on new hog barns was introduced by the previous NDP government the group disbanded.

Now, proposed amendments to the Environment Act under Bill 24 — otherwise known as the Red Tape Reduction and Government Efficiency Act — have breathed fresh life into Hog Watch, which is concerned about a possible weakening of environmental protections. The group is also concerned about rural depopulation, food security, intensive livestock production, export-based economies and other government policies as they relate to the pork industry, with members repeatedly expressing the fear that pending legislative changes will allow for the winter spreading of manure in Manitoba.

“It’s not an accusation at this point that farmers are spreading in the winter, but we have a great deal of concern about why it would be removed from the Environment Act, even though it’s in regulations somewhere else, because it’s much easier to change regulations without a lot of public scrutiny,” said Vicky Burns, founder of the Save Lake Winnipeg Project and Hog Watch member.

That fear is unfounded, said a spokesperson for Manitoba Sustainable Development.

“Winter application of manure will continue to be prohibited for all livestock operations in Manitoba under the Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation. The act and the regulation currently duplicate this requirement,” they said. “The Livestock Manure and Mortalities Management Regulation will continue to require all operators to have manure storage facility permits, prohibit winter spreading of manure, and require annual submission and approval of manure management plans.”

But even without winter manure spreading, Hog Watch believes expanding pork production is a threat to the province’s rural communities and waterways.

“In Manitoba we have a number of sources for nitrogen and phosphorus,” said Eva Pip, a retired biology professor who spoke at Hog Watch’s “Pork and Pollution from Land to Lake” event in Winnipeg. “In rural Manitoba factory farms have become a ubiquitous sight… and many of them are at unbelievable density, for example in Hanover municipality, which is completely supersaturated now with hog barns,” she said.

Pip added that while all types of intensive livestock production contribute to nutrient run-off, hog operations create a disproportionate impact on the environment. “When you have thousands of animals in a very small area, they generate a lot of waste and pigs are especially prolific in terms of the amount of waste that they produce,” she said.

Hot topic

How much of a role intensive livestock operations and hog farms in particular have played in dictating water quality in Manitoba has been hotly debated over the last decade.

“The challenge with Lake Winnipeg phosphorus loading is that it is coming from a lot of small contributors distributed across the whole watershed and not just from one major source,” said Don Flaten, a University of Manitoba professor who has studied the issue. “There’s not one major scapegoat that could be blamed for the lake’s problems.”

He acknowledged that nutrient management can be a bigger challenge with larger livestock operations, but added they can also create opportunities for producers to install more sophisticated manure management systems due to the economies of scale. Larger operations also tend to attract more attention and oversight from regulators, Flaten said.

If passed, Bill 24 will effectively end the so-called moratorium on new hog barn construction in Manitoba by eliminating requirements that new barns process manure using an anaerobic digester, although some in the industry have indicated most hog producers aren’t in economic circumstances allowing them to embark on expansion projects.

“Our government has chosen to stop singling out hog farmers from other livestock producers and saddling them with unfair barriers that limit growth and development,” said Rochelle Squires, provincial minister of sustainable development. “We have proposed changes that will end Manitoba’s hog barn moratorium and reduce unnecessary red tape while maintaining strong environmental protection and enforcement.”

But the minister emphasized that hog farmers will still have to submit manure management plans, provide soil samples and obtain building code approvals.

“I would also note that a report produced by University of Manitoba experts in 2014, which was commissioned by the previous government, had found the anaerobic digestion system to be unnecessary, elaborate, and costly,” she said.

Different views

Matheson believes that much of the disagreement over hog production in the province stems from diametrically opposed world views.

“To tell you the truth, I think a lot of them come from a vegetarian background, I think a lot of them are animal rights activists and they realize that they can’t get a lot of traction out of society in regards to those two issues,” he said. “I think they feel that if they can try and pin some environment irregularities on us then they can get society backing them as far as making production in our industry difficult.”

Matheson took the opportunity to ask Pip, who noted she doesn’t eat pork or beef, what would have to change to make hog production acceptable to her.

“The intensive confinement operations, those are an issue, it is not the smaller producers, the farmers who have their hogs on pasture… the hoop barn type of production, those are much more sustainable, they are much more environmentally friendly, it is the confined animal feeding operations that are the problem because they generate enormous amounts of waste on a very small amount of land,” she said. “I’m not against hog production, per se, if the animals are produced humanely and sustainably.”

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In fact, Lisa Clouston of Spring Creek Farms, a holistic rancher and part-time social worker, thinks it’s time to toss those ideas aside when it comes to farming.

“You need to look at your costs, your time, and quality of life … higher volume doesn’t mean higher profits,” she told participants in the Growing Local conference in Winnipeg.

Along with husband Greg Wood and their four children, Clouston raises South Devon cattle, Clun Forest X sheep, Berkshire, Tamworth and Large Black pigs, pastured chicken, pastured turkeys and ducks near Cypress River.

But the decision to go holistic was driven by more than just the bottom line.

“I think it has to do with personal values,” she said. “In my personal opinion, commercial farming does not fit those values.”

Several of those at the conference questioned why all farmers don’t adopt the kind of practices used at Spring Creek and lessen their reliance on inputs and long-distance shipping.

In response, Joe Braun of Owl Tree Farm near Altona pointed to the heavy involvement of seed and chemical companies in conventional farming as one reason why many farmers are pushed to produce high quantities.

“The money that is place in the seed and fertilizer and pesticide companies means they call the shots, it’s all about making money today,” he said. “The banker is waiting, so the farmer has to make their profit, which is very small, but the bigger the crop the better they’re able to make their payments.”

Braun sold his family farm in 2002 to market-garden full-time. Previously he used the profits from his melon crop to fund the inputs he needed for wheat and barely.

Wood said there is work being done on how to transition from conventional farming to traditional farming, pointing to studies and work going on in North Dakota.

But the first step is changing the way profit is viewed, he said.

“It’s not how much you produce,” said Wood. “Producers who start looking at it from a point of profitability, it’s really about what the difference is between your costs and what you sell it for.”

And that may mean more small operations, selling to closer markets than we currently see.

“I think every old homestead and house out there in the country should be full of young families living off the land,” said Clouston. “They should have a couple of pigs, a couple of cows, and a few chickens, and the kids should be out doing chores.”

But when asked if the impediment to this was a rural-urban divide, Clouston was clear.

“No, this is a rural-rural divide … the people in the country don’t get it,” she said.

Anne Lindsey is one of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba’s founding members and an avid urban gardener. She said more can be done in a number of ways to promote and encourage sustainable agriculture.

Policy development at the government level is one thing that can be done to facilitate sustainable practices, along with increased promotion of local foods.

“There is a lot more that can be done to promote local foods,” she said. “And I do give the government credit for promoting Manitoba-grown foods, but we need to do more than that.”

Increasing awareness of food issues and local producers is another area that is lacking.

“I’d like to see more of it in the mainstream media as well,” Lindsey said.

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Staff / La Broquerie farmer Gerry Dube has been honoured by the Manitoba Eco-Network for his efforts in sustainable agriculture.

Dube was among four recipients of the annual Anne Lindsey Protecting Our Earth Awards Feb. 3.

Dube was a founding member of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba as well as the Manitoba Composting Association and continues working to promote agricultural, large-scale composting as well as municipal composting of organic waste.

Other recipients include Dennis Cunningham, the environmental sustainability manager at Assiniboine Credit Union in Winnipeg, for his involvement in multiple projects that make the credit union a leader in environmental sustainability. Cunningham’s contributions range from promoting electronic recycling to sustainable home renovation.

The Landless Farm Collective, which has created an urban farm on City of Winnipeg property near the Pan Am Pool and a partnership with Grade 8 students at Grant Park High School was recognized for its efforts to demonstrate and promote sustainable food production. Also recognized was Ron Thiessen, the executive director of CPAWS, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, for his tireless commitment to wilderness protection.

Rising input costs take a bite out of near-record U.S. farm income

washington / reuters / U.S. farm income will drop sharply from 2011’s record high as production costs rise by more than $10 billion for the second year in a row, according to the latest USDA income forecast.

Net cash farm income, a measure of solvency, is expected to fall 11.5 per cent to $96.3 billion — although last year was the first time it ever topped the $100-billion mark.

Production costs are forecast to rise by 3.9 per cent, or $12.5 billion this year, to a record $333.8 billion. USDA said receipts for crop sales would be on par with 2011.

Drought constrained crop production last year so there will be less volume to sell this year. Costs rose by 12 per cent in 2011.

Crop receipts are expected to increase slightly with wheat prices trending downward but corn prices remaining strong. Higher prices will boost livestock receipts.

The debt-to-asset ratio for the farm sector will decline to 10.3 per cent this year, from 10.5 per cent last year, USDA said, and the debt-to-equity ratio also will decline. “These declines indicated that the farm sector’s overall solvency position is strong,” the report concluded.

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Ashley Cot had begun to walk toward the tour bus that had brought her to visit the St. Claude-area dairy farm when she suddenly turned back.

Could she ask just one more question, she politely asked farm owner Roger Philippe.

For the past hour she d diligently taken notes, pausing occasionally to stoop and give the farm s Rottweiler an affectionate pat while Philippe described his dairy farm operation, taking questions on everything from milk pricing to animal welfare.

A dream of her own small farm, where she could raise a few animals and grow her own food, looms large, says the 25-year-old Winnipegger and University of Manitoba recreation studies graduate.

I think there s security in it, she said, adding food security.

Herme Salinas, also listening in the tour group, has similar aspirations.

An migr from Colombia, Salinas said he and his wife and young daughter once had a small mixed farm not so sophisticated as here in Canada.

I would like again to have a farm, with chickens and maybe geese, he said, apologizing for his hesitant English. Because I know how.

Salinas and Cot were two of about a dozen participants visiting Philippe s farm and one other, plus the small abattoir and retail outlet All Natural Meats at Carman earlier this month.

The tour was hosted by the Manitoba Farm Mentorship program aimed at helping more like Cot and Salinas get a little closer to the farm.

Mentorship programs have developed across Canada in recent years as the local food and food security movements have gained momentum and a need for more smaller-scale farmers has emerged.

The Organic Food Council of Manitoba launched the MFM program in 2009 after seeing much interest in learning to farm among those without farm backgrounds, yet had nowhere to start, said Sharon Taylor, MFM s co-ordinator.

What the Manitoba Farm Mentorship program set out to do was offer training and networking and internship opportunities for these aspiring farmers, she said.

People who want to do this need to know who their peers are. They need to do business planning and to put their dream on paper. They need farm management and production skills.

The program has placed 16 interns over three summers with a variety of Manitoba farmers who ve agreed to serve as mentors. Farm mentors have also served as speakers or tour hosts.

Wannabe farmers approaching the MFM vary widely in their intentions. Some want the internship experience. This year they placed eight interns on various farms for a stint lasting anywhere from one to three months. Cot was one of them. Others have come to them and turned out to be what Taylor describes as toe-dippers, or not prepared to commit to an internship. Those they ve steered towards workshops, tours or their four-week course Exploring Your Small Farm Dream.

They presently have more mentors than interns, but Taylor says that doesn t tell the whole story about demand for mentorship. They re aware of many relationships formed informally outside their program, she said, adding that if there were more resources devoted towards training and support for prospective new farm entrants, she s convinced there d be that much more activity in this area.

The MFM is a grant-based program, with core funding coming from Heifer International Canada (ending 2012) plus support from MAFRI s Agri-Extension Business program (Growing Forward), the Assiniboine Credit Union, and the federal student summer job program.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

———

I would like again to have a farm, with chickens and maybe geese. Because I know how.

Herme Salinas

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The rebate proposal emerged from a discussion among growers at last week’s Growing Local Conference over how to assist smaller producers who can’t afford the cost of certification, but who will soon be unable to use the word “organic” to describe what they produce.

The idea gained momentum last weekend by a show-of- hands vote after a discussion session at last weekend’s Growing Local Conference attended by farmers who talked over how best to keep the organic label affordable, credible and accessible.

REGULATED TERM

Organic growers in Manitoba are not universally happy the term organic will become regulated after the provincial Bill 13, the Organic Agricultural Products Act, comes into effect. It makes it illegal to call production organic if it is not certified organic.

Many organic farmers say they have stopped certifying in the face of rising costs and paperwork for what’s become an inherently export market-oriented certification system.

The idea of a provincially funded rebate, first proposed by MOA following phone surveys undertaken in 2009, was the most favoured by growers who met last week.

Other options included creating a separate level of certification for those exclusively doing local sales.

Priscilla Reimer, chair of the MOA, said a rebate program is an effective way to deal with the issue. It will avoid requiring Manitoba go through a long, complicated procedure of creating something new that could also add confusion in the marketplace, she said. As well, a rebate program could be introduced without need to change anything in Bill 13.

This discussion was helpful because “it confirms that MOA was on track when it came up with the rebate suggestion,” she said.

“Now we have a clear mandate to go to the minister and say, given the place in which the small growers find themselves, they feel the best way to be certified organic is to ask for a rebate to alleviate the certification costs.”

COST TO COMPLY

It’s widely acknowledged that cost of certification has discouraged both those with relatively low volumes of sales as well as new entrants to the sector.

In 2008, the Organic Food Council of Manitoba also surveyed organic growers, and found those selling strictly through local venues needed a simpler, less-costly certification system than those pursuing exports.

David Neufeld, a Boissevaina re a organic greenhouse grower who facilitated last week’s discussion group, said he thinks the rebate is a very good way to address the needs of intraprovincial growers who want to continue to certify.

“I think this is going to be the least amount of work to get that designation in an affordable way,” he said.

This discussion has also helped unify the organic voice, he added.

“We’ve just brought it out in the open and tried to be very constructive about it here,” he said.

“It’s in all of our advantage to work together to create something that serves the certification needs of the small grower, or the intraprovincial sector.”

JOINT EFFORT

Neufeld added that he will encourage MOA to connect with the OFCM and with Organic Producers Association of Manitoba (OPAM) as they advance the rebate proposal. “MOA in a sense does represent us, but let’s get more people involved,” he said. “And there are people who are willing to put some energy into this.”

John Hollinger, provincial organic specialist said the rebate proposal does seem to be the most practical way to deal with the small-grower dilemma of wanting to certify by not being able to afford it.

Reimer said MOA will also raise questions this week about what’s next for the Manitoba’s Organic Transition program, now coming to an end.

This is the right time to be putting new ideas forward and adopting new ways to keep the organic label accessible, Reimer said. “The timing is perfect.”

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

———

“It’sinallofouradvantagetowork togethertocreatesomethingthatserves thecertificationneedsofthesmall grower,ortheintraprovincialsector.”

– David Neufeld

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Despite a fourth consecutive harvest under their belts, Bruce Berry and Marilyn Firth are reluctant to call their business a farm. It sounds a bit ostentatious. They prefer the term market garden.

FASTEST GROWING

But a farm by any other name is still a farm. And whether they agree or not, Berry and Firth belong to arguably the fastest growing farm sector in the world: urban agriculture.

Growing food was the goal when Berry, 51, and Firth, 50, made an ethical decision to leave Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario in November 2006 and settle on a 12-acre river lot just inside Winnipeg’s south city limits.

A mechanical engineer, Berry was tired of making factories run faster, churning out more stuff for people to buy. As a CBC television director, Firth had also had enough of the 24/7 rat race.

Now, together with their three boys, Berry and Firth are carving out a new identity as food producers.

VARIETY

Almost Urban Vegetables sells 40 varieties of vegetables and herbs, mainly to the St. Norbert Farmers Market, where Firth is community relations manager. The operation has two greenhouses with a third one going up this fall. It is home to a community shared agriculture (CSA) project involving 20 families. Berry supplements the family income by selling composting supplies.

They describe their new lifestyle as rewarding.

“This feels like work worth doing,” says Berry.

WORK WORTH DOING

Simon Hon says the same. A member of the Landless Farmers Collective, a registered partnership functioning as a co-operative, Hon and his two co-owners Coral Maloney and Danielle Mondor, run one of Manitoba’s smallest agricultural operations with the most unlikely location: downtown Winnipeg next to the Pan Am Pool.

Now wrapping up its second full year of operation, the Landless Farmers grow herbs and vegetables on plots rented from the city totalling about half an acre in size. The group expects to gross $14,000 this year with returns from 26 CSA shares and direct sales to city restaurants. Not a lot, but still a much better per-acre return than a wheat farm.

BUSINESS GROWING

And business is growing, says Hon, whose group recently hosted a workshop for people wanting to get started in urban agriculture.

“There’s just more and more people wanting to have that connection with their food, not just have it a distant store thing.”

Trends such as buy local, 100- mile diet and knowing where your food comes from aren’t fads. They’re part of a mindset shift by a public which wants a say in how their food is produced, says Sharon Taylor, co-ordinator for The Manitoba Farm Mentorship Program, a project of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba.

“I think it’s here to stay,” says Taylor, whose group encourages urban agriculture.

TAKEN SERIOUSLY

Admittedly, it’s a long stretch from the vegetable plots of Winnipeg to the grain and oilseed fields of rural Manitoba. Some may wonder if Hon, Firth and Berry are real farmers or just playing at agriculture.

But Ian Wishart, Keystone Agricultural Producers president, takes them seriously.

“I view them as real participants,” says Wishart.

“For me, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a large-scale producer or a small-scale producer. You’re a farmer in the province of Manitoba.”

Wishart knows farmers who began at a micro-level and eventually expanded into commercial operations. Around Portage la Prairie, where he farms, some large-scale vegetable growers started out with only one-acre plots.

That may not be in the cards from urban farmers in Winnipeg, where green space is limited.

Still, the idea of developing urban food production is catching on, not just to satisfy increasing demand for fresh locally-grown vegetables, but also as a policy tool.

LAND NEEDED

A local network called the Winnipeg Food Policy Working Group is calling for an agricultural land reserve in and around the city to support local food security.

The group also wants the city to form a food policy council to develop a plan for urban food systems.

The group feels instrumental in getting Our Winnipeg, a new proposed development plan, to include a food policy statement, the first ever for the city.

“We heard from Winnipeggers that this was something they thought was important – a component of the long-term vision for the city,” says Ian Hall, Winnipeg’s environmental co-ordinator.

“It’s one element of sustainability, particularly from a social point of view. Food is a basic human need.”

LONG-TERM VISION

The food policy statement includes strategies to support local food production, create new community gardens and include food in planning neighbourhood revitalization programs.

It also includes a strategy to protect existing agricultural land within city limits.

Paul Chorney, a member of the food policy working group, sees the statement as a good first step in developing a genuine food policy for Winnipeg, which Toronto, Vancouver and other Canadian cities already have.

“It’s a start. It talks about directions. I think the next stage will be trying to move it further,” says Chorney, also the community liaison officer for Food Matters Manitoba.

FOOD POLICY

For some, food policy statements may seem unnecessary when food is in surplus and supermarket shelves are crammed with products of every description.

But in a country where nearly 800,000 people visit food banks each month, obesity is on the rise, average farm income is falling and no national school lunch program exists, a food policy is long overdue, according to a newly-formed organization called the People’s Food Policy Project.

The group plans cross-Canada meetings in October to discuss what it calls the most important public policy development since Medicare.

And cities will play an important role in that development, says organizer Colleen Ross of Iroquois, Ontario.

“As a long-time farmer, I am experiencing increased demand from urban folks who want to buy directly from me,” says Ross.

“They are worried about food security, safety and the ethics of transporting food around the world.” ron@fbcpublishing.com

MARKET FRESH: MARILYN FIRTH AND BRUCE BERRY HARVEST GREENHOUSE TOMATOES AT ALMOST URBAN VEGETABLES.

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Drew Bouchard, 21, is currently taking the Prairie Horticulture Certificate Program, specializing in greenhouse crop production. Upon being notified of his win, Bouchard promptly chose Blue Lagoon Organics at St. Francois Xavier as his mentor farm, where he will hone his skills growing organic greenhouse and field crops for Blue Lagoon’s community- supported agriculture shareholders.

Blue Lagoon farmer Lori Ann Regnier is also a Prairie Horticulture Certificate Program graduate, and she and husband Rene and son Stefan have been helping to train young interns and volunteers for five years on their farm near St. Franois Xavier.

“I’m an educator,” Lori Ann said. “I find it very exciting to pass on something that is important to me to someone who’s receptive to it.”

Bouchard said the first month on the farm has been enlightening. “Since I’ve started out here I’ve been given a new appreciation for what actually goes into organic growing. (Stefan has) provided me with all sorts of different business ideas I never would have thought of myself.”

Making the right connections to help aspiring farmers succeed is what Manitoba Farm Mentorship (MFM), a program of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba, is all about.

MFM has also connected new farmers with mentors for specialized assistance and farm visits, and our tours, workshops, and courses reaching out to those seeking more information about farming in Manitoba.

In addition to the two-month mentorship stint at Blue Lagoon and a $1,000 cash prize, Bouchard’s prize package includes registration for three farmer training events such as farm tours and workshops, enrolment in our Exploring Your Small Farm Dream course, membership with the Organic Food Council of Manitoba-COG, and two organic farming handbooks from Canadian Organic Growers.

MFM also congratulates second-prize winners Andreas Zinn and Kurtis Reimer. Andreas, 20, currently raises meat goats, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, and Berkshire pigs on pasture, as well as growing cereals, oilseeds, and pulse crops on 400 acres with his family. Kurtis, 25, dreams about buying land near the city and growing enough food for his family, but also to feed the poor.

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“A unique type of exchange where a landowner is willing to make land available, either for free or low rent is very helpful for people trying to get a start.”

– SHARON TAYLOR, MANITOBA FARM MENTORSHIP CO-ORDINATOR

After her husband passed away in 2004, Pam Jenkins had no desire to leave the fifth-generation farm where the couple had raised their three children.

But as time passed, Jenkins felt overwhelmed looking after the half section of land near Selkirk on her own. Outbuildings needed repairs or demolition. Weeds were spreading.

Then she learned of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba (OFCM) and its plans to start a Manitoba Farm Mentorship program. She attended a planning meeting where she met Sharon Taylor and Estevan Sojo Calderon.

They were looking for a small plot of land to get a start in market gardening.

“My husband is from a farm family in Costa Rica, and I’d been an aspiring farmer since about 2000,” said Taylor. “We’d done some internships and volunteering and realized we were really interested in pursuing farming ourselves.”

STRUCK A DEAL

Jenkins, Taylor and Sojo Calderon struck a deal. The pair would live rent free in a double-wide trailer Jenkins had on her property in return for access to about five acres of her land. In exchange, Taylor and Sojo Calderon would help Jenkins keep the place up.

Taylor and Sojo Calderon stayed three summers, beginning in 2007. They took down an old barn and farmhouse Jenkins wanted removed and they transformed a former feedlot overtaken by weeds into a rich garden.

“It all worked out really well,” says Jenkins. The couple decided not to return this spring, but in their place has come another would-be farmer to live on the property.

In exchange for grass mowing and other help provided to Jenkins, 27-year-old Alexis Nazeravich is now growing a large garden on the property and direct marketing her veggies in Winnipeg.

These arrangements are the sort of relationship the OFCM is trying to forge between more landowners and what they call “land seekers” through its Land Link program.

NETWORK

They got the idea from a similar

program offered in the U.S., where a classified section on the Vermont New Farmer Project’s website helps aspiring young farmers find farms, or a tract of land or employment opportunities, said Taylor, who today is co-ordinator of the Manitoba Farm Mentorship program.

OFCM’s website posts notices by both those with some land available and those looking.

“Basically, it’s a way for landowners and land seekers to connect,” said Taylor.

To date, they’ve had about a half-dozen postings of land. They also hear regularly from those looking for it, she said. In most cases, the owners don’t wish to sell. Some want to rent . Others just want to work out some sort of arrangement with someone willing to make it productive again.

They tend to be offers of just a few acres of land, and that’s all most of those who inquire about what’s available want anyways.

IDEAL OPTION

This is an ideal option for someone eyeing a small-scale food production venture, said Taylor. Because if you don’t know anyone with any land, you’re stuck.

“One of the biggest barriers is that land is so costly,” she said. “A unique type of exchange where a landowner is willing to make land available, either for free or low rent is very helpful for people trying to get a start.”

That’s her situation, says Nazeravich, who completed a farm internship in 2006 in Ontario through the Collaborative Regional Alliance Farmer Training (CRAFT) program.

“I’m only 27 now, so obviously I don’t have a lot of money saved up to buy land or even to rent land and startup costs are extreme,” she said.

“This gave me an opportunity to make this tangible and feasible without having to incur that financial risk. And it also allows me some grounds to show myself what I’m capable of, and learn what kinds of markets are out there.”

UNIQUE ARRANGEMENT

Land Link promotion is mostly by word of mouth; they receive inquiries almost every month from people looking for small tracts of land, Taylor said. They expect those contacting Land Link to be sincere about their plans to start farming, and flexible enough to strike arrangements that will suit both parties.

Jenkins said some thought she must be “a little wingy” when they heard about the arrangement she’d made. She says it does take special people to make this work out.

“I found this very successful. It was a win-win situation and it still is. Alexis is doing a great job.”

To link to OFCM’s website log on to: http://organicfoodcouncil.org/click on Manitoba Farm Mentorship and follow the links.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

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But as time passed, Jenkins felt overwhelmed looking after the half section of land near Selkirk on her own. Outbuildings needed repairs or demolition. Weeds were spreading.

Then she learned of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba (OFCM) and its plans to start a Manitoba Farm Mentorship program. She attended a planning meeting where she met Sharon Taylor and Estevan Sojo Calderon.

They were looking for a small plot of land to get a start in market gardening.

“My husband is from a farm family in Costa Rica, and I’d been an aspiring farmer since about 2000,” said Taylor. “We’d done some internships and volunteering and realized we were really interested in pursuing farming ourselves.”

STRUCK A DEAL

Jenkins, Taylor and Sojo Calderon struck a deal. The pair would live rent free in a double-wide trailer Jenkins had on her property in return for access to about five acres of her land. In exchange, Taylor and Sojo Calderon would help Jenkins keep the place up.

Taylor and Sojo Calderon stayed three summers, beginning in 2007. They took down an old barn and farmhouse Jenkins wanted removed and they transformed a former feedlot overtaken by weeds into a rich garden.

“It all worked out really well,” says Jenkins. The couple decided not to return this spring, but in their place has come another would-be farmer to live on the property.

In exchange for grass mowing and other help provided to Jenkins, 27-year-old Alexis Nazeravich is now growing a large garden on the property and direct marketing her veggies in Winnipeg.

These arrangements are the sort of relationship the OFCM is trying to forge between more landowners and what they call “land seekers” through its Land Link program.

NETWORK

They got the idea from a similar program offered in the U.S., where a classified section on the Vermont New Farmer Project’s website helps aspiring young farmers find farms, or a tract of land or employment opportunities, said Taylor, who today is co-ordinator of the Manitoba Farm Mentorship program.

OFCM’s website posts notices by both those with some land available and those looking.

“Basically, it’s a way for landowners and land seekers to connect,” said Taylor.

To date, they’ve had about a half-dozen postings of land. They also hear regularly from those looking for it, she said. In most cases, the owners don’t wish to sell. Some want to rent . Others just want to work out some sort of arrangement with someone willing to make it productive again.

They tend to be offers of just a few acres of land, and that’s all most of those who inquire about what’s available want anyways.

IDEAL OPTION

This is an ideal option for someone eyeing a small-scale food production venture, said Taylor. Because if you don’t know anyone with any land, you’re stuck.

“One of the biggest barriers is that land is so costly,” she said. “A unique type of exchange where a landowner is willing to make land available, either for free or low rent is very helpful for people trying to get a start.”

That’s her situation, says Nazeravich, who completed a farm internship in 2006 in Ontario through the Collaborative Regional Alliance Farmer Training (CRAFT) program.

“I’m only 27 now, so obviously I don’t have a lot of money saved up to buy land or even to rent land and startup costs are extreme,” she said.

“This gave me an opportunity to make this tangible and feasible without having to incur that financial risk. And it also allows me some grounds to show myself what I’m capable of, and learn what kinds of markets are out there.”

UNIQUE ARRANGEMENT

Land Link promotion is mostly by word of mouth; they receive inquiries almost every month from people looking for small tracts of land, Taylor said. They expect those contacting Land Link to be sincere about their plans to start farming, and flexible enough to strike arrangements that will suit both parties.

Jenkins said some thought she must be “a little wingy” when they heard about the arrangement she’d made. She says it does take special people to make this work out.

“I found this very successful. It was a win-win situation and it still is. Alexis is doing a great job.”

To link to OFCM’s website log on to:http://organicfoodcouncil.org/click on Manitoba Farm Mentorship and follow the links.

lorraine@fbcpublishing.com

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“Auniquetypeofexchange wherealandowneriswilling tomakelandavailable, eitherforfreeorlowrent isveryhelpfulforpeople tryingtogetastart.”

– SHARON TAYLOR, MANITOBA FARM MENTORSHIP CO-ORDINATOR

The post Allowing “Wannabe” Farmers To Taste Their Dream – for Aug. 12, 2010 appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“We know you’re out there… you and other inspired, practical, hard-working, environmentally conscious young people who are thinking about local food farming as your chosen career. Well here’s a contest for you,” the organization says in a release.

Entrants must explain in 500 words or less why they would like to be an organic farmer and how $1,000 would help them achieve their goal. The most inspiring farm dream will win a grand prize that includes:

A two-month stay on one of two mentor farms (July 2 to August 31, 2010);

Registration for up to three farm tours or production skills workshops in summer 2010;

Enrolment in our Exploring Your Small Farm Dream course in fall 2010;

An OFCM-COG “Shoots” membership and two Canadian Organic Growers handbooks;

And $1,000 to help you achieve a farming goal.

Two second-prize winners will also be chosen. Each second prize consists of registration for a Manitoba Farm Mentorship summer 2010 farm tour, an OFCM-COG “Shoots” membership and two Canadian Organic Growers handbooks.

Winners and entrants will be recognized and celebrated during Organic Week, planned for October 2010.

The contest is open to Manitoba residents, 18-25 years old. Submit entries by email to manitobafarmmentorship@gmail.com

by midnight June 13, 2010. Winners will be notified by June 20, 2010.

Full contest details and rules can be found at: www.organicfoodcouncil.org.

Manitoba Farm Mentorship is a program of the Organic Food Council of Manitoba.

The post Wanna Be A Farmer? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.