That’s according to a delegation of students from the University of Manitoba’s agriculture diploma program. The students pitched a successful resolution during the Keystone Agricultural Producers annual meeting in Winnipeg Feb. 3.

The resolution called on the farm group to lobby government to expand Roads and Transportation Association of Canada (RTAC)-rated roads, particularly in high-production areas where heavy equipment and full loads cannot be moved year-round.

The diploma student group argued that gaps in RTAC-designated routes (which are rated for heavier traffic, even during conditions like the spring melt) increasingly limit farm efficiency, safety and competitiveness.

Bryce Visscher, Carter Driedger, David Pauls, David Wiebe and Francis Sundell made up the delegation.

WHY IT MATTERS: Limited RTAC road access can force longer hauls and partial loads, raising costs and safety risks for Manitoba farmers.

The students cited the yearly headache of seasonal weight restrictions. During that window, when normal hauling corridors are curbed, gaps in RTAC access often force farmers to haul partial loads or take longer routes. That means more fuel cost, more labour time eaten up and even increased safety worries during busy seasons, they argued.

Visscher and Pauls pointed to challenges moving grain and fertilizer during spring weight restrictions, while Driedger said the lack of continuous RTAC routes can mean travelling miles out of the way to reach approved roads. Wiebe described detours caused by weak or restricted bridges that prevent modern seeding and hauling equipment from using direct routes.

North-south routes lacking

Concerns about RTAC access, particularly on north-south routes, are not new. During spring flooding in 2022, the lack of unrestricted north-south corridors in parts of southwestern and central Manitoba forced loaded trucks into long detours, increased shipping costs and, in some cases, temporarily cut off practical access to export markets altogether while east-west routes were closed.

“Between Brandon and Portage, between Highways 1, 2 and 3, there’s nothing for north-south roads,” said Driedger.

Sundell said the problem will not be solved through one-off repairs or short funding cycles, arguing instead for a long-term infrastructure strategy.

“It’s not going to be one year of funding,” Sundell said. “It’ll be continuous funding to build roads in the future. You’re not going to build four or five RTAC roads in one year in Manitoba. It has to be a long-term plan.”

He added that, while upgrading roads to RTAC standards carries higher upfront costs, ongoing repairs, grading and patchwork maintenance on underbuilt roads can add up over time. Long-term investment is more cost-effective.

During discussion on the floor, delegates noted that Manitoba already has an RTAC network in place, but that gaps remain and that road designation and approved access can be as much a challenge as construction itself.

Speakers also cautioned that, without clear priorities, upgrades may not always occur in the areas most critical to agricultural hauling.

Young voices at KAP

The student presentation aligned with KAP’s broader emphasis on youth engagement and member-driven policy.

KAP leadership has pointed to increased student participation as part of efforts to connect long-term infrastructure and policy challenges with the next generation of producers and agricultural professionals.

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Once rock-solid markets now have serious questions over the stability farmers’ access, producers worried. Meanwhile, leaders of Manitoba’s farm organization keep urging governments to protect and expand export opportunities for Manitoba producers.

KAP President Jill Verwey noted how much trade disruptions, tariffs and counter-tariffs remain a major risk for Manitoba farms, most of which rely heavily on export markets. Impacts from disrupted supply chains have directly rippled out onto farm operations, as has reduced competitiveness.

Increased market access and a rules-based trading environment that reflects producers’ needs remain on the farm groups’ advocacy list, Verwey added.

WHY IT MATTERS: Trade uncertainty has thrown a wrench into decades of trade relationship status quo, leading to renewed attention on things like trade diversification and domestic economy building.

Verwey is just one of several farm and government voices raising similar alarms. Governments, think tanks, national farm organizations and commodity groups have all repeatedly commented on Canada’s potentially tenuous trade future.

U.S. farm groups back trade integration

Brodie Berrigan, senior director of government relations and farm policy with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, told KAP delegates that market diversification and defending existing trade agreements will be top federal priorities in 2026. He noted that agriculture groups across Canada, the United States and Mexico have taken the unusual step of jointly signalling support for continued free trade, ahead of the scheduled review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Discussions with U.S. farm groups have highlighted how closely food security and national security are now linked in American policy debates, he said. That creates both risks and opportunities for Canadian exporters.

Berrigan cited U.S. reliance on Canadian potash as one example of how important market integration in North America is, and said his counterparts at the American Farm Bureau Federation recognize how interconnected the two countries’ agricultural sectors are.

“They hear us and they understand that they cannot do ag in isolation,” he said.

Manitoba Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn struck an optimistic tone on trade, telling producers the province remains well-regarded among U.S. trade partners and is actively working to strengthen state-level relationships. He said Manitoba is also pursuing new opportunities in Europe and Asia, including renewed access to Pakistan’s canola market and efforts to expand trade with China and Hong Kong.

“We need strong, diverse markets,” Kostyshyn said.

Transportation infrastructure (Port of Churchill included)

He pointed to continued provincial support for the Port of Churchill. It’s part of Manitoba’s broader trade and transportation strategy, described by the minister as a long-term opportunity to move agricultural exports to global markets.

Verwey also flagged continued investment in the Port of Churchill as part of KAP’s growing role in national policy discussions.

Transportation also featured on the floor of this year’s KAP resolutions. A resolution put forward by students from the University of Manitoba’s agriculture diploma program called on KAP to lobby for expanded RTAC-designated roads in Manitoba to improve the movement of heavy farm equipment. The resolution passed.

Movement on KAP files

Beyond trade, Verwey highlighted advocacy wins over the past year, including changes to disaster financial assistance programs, permanent fuel tax reductions and progress on right-to-repair legislation.

KAP general manager Colin Hornby said the organization is placing a renewed emphasis on transparency and member engagement, including the launch of a public resolution tracker and an expanded online annual report. Hornby said trade advocacy remains a core focus, alongside labour, regulatory modernization and governance reforms.

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“Road investments are vital to support rural and northern Manitoba’s economy and these upgrades will support Minnedosa’s economy as the community continues to grow,” Naylor said. “These repaved highways will allow residents to grow their businesses as they welcome more visitors and create infrastructure that can support future economic growth.”

Nearly 22 kilometres of highway in southwest Manitoba are set for resurfacing as part of upgrades to Provincial Trunk Highway 10, an essential trade route in the region. The project, slated to begin this spring, includes new pavement between PTH 1 and PTH 25, and along sections near the junctions with PTH 16, as well as improvements to the Minnedosa rest stop. Additional surface upgrades are also planned for portions of PTH 10 and PTH 16, Naylor said in a press release sent out Monday afternoon.

Safety is a key priority for the Manitoba government, Naylor said.

“These new road investments will allow a smoother and safer journey for residents, and a repaved rest stop will ensure motorists can safely take breaks so every person is able to get to their destination safely.”

The Minnedosa-area upgrades are part of Manitoba’s five-year infrastructure plan, which targets strategic investments in transportation and flood protection across the province, Naylor added.

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Spring road restrictions set axle weight limits for vehicles moving on certain roads to reduce the damage heavier loads can cause during the spring thaw period. Grain and equipment movement can both be affected by the spring road bans, as drivers may need to find alternate routes or haul smaller loads.

The duration of the restrictions will depend on the local weather conditions, but typically last through April and into May.

In Manitoba, spring road bans are set to come into effect on Friday, March 17, according to a provincial order.

The winter weight season in neighbouring Saskatchewan is set to expire on March 14, which will reduce the tonnage allowed on roads.

Alberta has yet to report the official start of road restrictions in the province, but typically sees its first weight limits for the southern areas of the province in mid-March.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin is an associate editor/analyst with MarketsFarm in Winnipeg.

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Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk says Bill 46, which would amend the Highway Traffic Act, will bring Manitoba in line with British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Drivers can already be prosecuted for driving on a closed road in those provinces, Piwniuk noted.

“Our government heard from RCMP leadership and their support for measures that promote road safety and stronger laws to help discourage motorists from the dangerous practice of accessing and driving on closed roads,” Piwniuk said.

The province has linked the move to the severe weather last winter, followed by serious flooding this spring. Road washouts and closures were widespread in the wake of that weather, highlighting the issue of motorists using closed roads.

“Individuals intentionally making decisions to drive on roads closed due to severe weather conditions, flooding, construction or other safety-related reasons put themselves and others at risk, including emergency responders, operators of snow-clearing equipment and roadway maintenance staff,” said an Oct. 25 release from the province.

If enacted, anyone driving a “heavy vehicle” on a closed road might face a maximum fine of $5,000 under the changes, while drivers of passenger vehicles and light trucks may face up to $2,000 in fines.

[RELATED] The high-tech future of flood fighting

Employers might also be on the hook under the proposed law. Bill 46 would make it an offence to “cause or permit a vehicle to be driven on the closed highway,” a specification that would include employers of staff who drive on a closed road while “acting within the general scope of that employment or agency while driving the vehicle.”

Under the changes, anyone driving on a closed road will waive their chance for compensation against the province or traffic authority should they suffer damage or injury.

Emergency vehicles, infrastructure equipment or drivers who have permission from law enforcement would be exempt. Standard local traffic access, however, would have no such grace.

A provincial spokesperson said alternate routes would be provided for those who need local access, such as residents or producers requiring field access, should a road be closed for construction or maintenance.

“In cases where an alternative route is not possible, individuals needing to access the closed road are encouraged to contact their local RCMP detachment and get their prior permission before doing so,” they said.

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Annual spring road restrictions set axle weight limits for vehicles moving on certain roads, in an effort to reduce the damage heavier loads can cause during the spring thaw period.

Grain and equipment movement can both be affected by the spring road bans, as drivers may need to find alternate routes or haul smaller loads. The duration of the restrictions will depend on the local weather conditions, but typically last through April and into May.

“At various times of the year, weight restrictions are put in place on some highways as a measure to prevent damage to the surface and roadbeds,” Saskatchewan Highways Minister Fred Bradshaw said in a release announcing the province’s road restrictions that came into effect on Tuesday.

“As the warmer weather rolls in, some roads can become susceptible to soft spots and surface cracks,” he added.

In Manitoba, spring road bans are set to come into effect on Friday across the province, according to an update from Manitoba Infrastructure.

The restrictions vary depending on the road, with level one restrictions consisting of 90 per cent of normal loading and 65 per cent of normal on level two affected roads.

Spring road restrictions went into effect across the southern half of Alberta on Monday, with other areas expected to be added to the list as the thaw progresses, according to Alberta Transportation.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Authorities have so far confirmed one death after torrential rains and mudslides destroyed roads and left several mountain towns isolated. At least three people are missing.

Provincial Premier John Horgan described the calamity as a once-in-500-year event.

“We will bring in travel restrictions and ensure that transportation of essential goods and medical and emergency services are able to reach the communities that need them,” he told a news conference, urging people not to hoard supplies.

The massive floods and mudslides also severed access to the country’s largest port in Vancouver, disrupting already strained global supply chains.

Some of the towns are in remote mountain areas with limited access and freezing temperatures.

In Tulameen, northeast of Vancouver, up to 400 people are trapped, many without power, said Erick Thompson, a spokesman for the area’s emergency operations.

“(We) did a helicopter flight recently, dropped off food,” he told CBC.

In Hope, 160 km east of Vancouver, food was starting to run low. Pastor Jeff Kuhn said a quarter of the town’s 6,000 residents were seeking shelter.

About 100 volunteers at the Dukh Nivaran Sahib Gurdwara Sikh Temple in Surrey spent all night Tuesday preparing about 3,000 meals and then hired helicopters to deliver the food to Hope, president Narinder Singh Walia said.

The disaster could be one of the most expensive in Canadian history.

The flooding is the second weather-related calamity to hit British Columbia in the last few months. A massive wildfire in the same region as some of the devastation destroyed an entire town in late June.

“These are extraordinary events not measured before, not contemplated before,” Horgan said.

Canadian exporters of commodities from grain to fertilizer and oil scrambled to divert shipments away from Vancouver but found few easy alternatives.

Canadian Pacific and Canadian National Railway (CP, CN), the country’s two biggest rail companies, said their lines into Vancouver remained unusable on Wednesday.

After a phenomenon known as an atmospheric river dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days, officials are concerned that another downpour could overwhelm a pumping station near Abbotsford, a city of 160,000 to the east of Vancouver, which has already been partly evacuated.

Mayor Henry Braun said volunteers had built a dam around the station overnight.

“That will buy us some more time but if we had another weather event like we just went through, we are in deep doo-doo,” he told reporters Wednesday.

Farmers in Abbotsford ignored an evacuation order on Tuesday and desperately tried to save their animals from rising waters, in some cases tying ropes around the necks of cows and pulling them to higher ground.

Provincial agriculture minister Lana Popham said thousands of animals had died and others would have to be euthanized.

Environment Canada said Abbotsford would receive more rain early next week.

Rescuer Mike Danks, part of an Abbotsford evacuation team, said the situation had been very tough.

“The majority of people had elderly parents with them that were unable to walk, suffered from dementia,” he told local outlet Black Press Media.

“You’re trying to assist them into a helicopter at night.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while in Washington on a trip, said his government would help the province recover from what he called a “terrifically bad situation.” Ottawa is sending hundreds of air force personnel to aid the recovery.

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Twitter Wednesday also acknowledged B.C. producers left “stranded” by road and rail closures, and added her department is “monitoring the situation closely and working with our provincial counterparts to respond.”

— Reporting for Reuters by Jesse Winter in Abbotsford, David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Ismail Shakil in Bangalore, Rod Nickel in Winnpeg, Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto and Nia William in Calgary; writing by David Ljunggren.

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The B.C. Milk Marketing Board on Tuesday said milk won’t be picked up until further notice in several areas where roads are closed and/or trucks can’t enter the Lower Mainland for delivery.

For farms at Abbotsford and Chilliwack east of Sumas Way, and at Agassiz east of the mudslide at “Mountain Water Harrison Way” (around 2803 Lougheed Hwy.), “roadways are closed and we have no access to your farm,” the board said in a notice to farmers.

For all producers in the B.C. Interior and in the Prince George, Bulkley Valley and Smithers areas, milk will not be picked up as no roads are available to enter the Lower Mainland for delivery and access to Alberta is “limited.”

However, pickups will continue for farmers in the Kootenays and the Creston area, “as we can deliver to Alberta,” the board said.

Where pickups are cancelled until further notice, farmers are asked to dispose of milk into manure pits — and to do so in line with their normal milk pickup schedules, until the board has a clearer idea of when pickups can resume. Dipstick readings should be submitted by email before the milk is dumped.

Producers across B.C. can also expect disruption to milk quality sample results and components, the board said. “We will do our best to test whatever possible but are uncertain what is available at this time.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The rainstorms that started on Sunday triggered landslides, shut roads, prompted the evacuation of an entire community, forced an oil pipeline to close and delayed flights.

About 275 people including 50 children were stranded, some 100 vehicles near the mountain town of Agassiz about 120 km east of Vancouver, which prompted evacuation flights.

Video footage showed Canadian Forces Cormorant helicopters ferrying evacuees to safety.

Authorities in Merritt, some 200 km northeast of Vancouver, ordered all 8,000 citizens to leave after rising waters cut off bridges and forced its wastewater treatment plant to close.

“Continued habitation of the community without sanitary services presents risk of mass sewage backup and personal health risk,” the city said in an official notice.

Some areas received eight inches (200 mm) of rain on Sunday — the amount they usually see in a month — and the deluge continued Monday, with roads covered by mud or up to 10 inches of water.

The landslides and floods come less than six months after an out-of-control wildfire gutted an entire town, as temperatures in the province soared.

The storms forced the closure of the Trans Mountain pipeline, which takes crude from Alberta to the West Coast. The line has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

Work on a proposed expansion project has also been halted, the operating company said.

Around 30 km further east, footage posted to Facebook showed parts of a road had been washed away near the town of Hope.

“The situation is dynamic … it is very difficult weather,” provincial public safety minister Mike Farnworth told reporters.

Gales are due to hit the area later, most likely causing power outages, officials said.

The storm is the second weather-related calamity to hit the Pacific province in just a few months. In late June, temperatures hit a record high, prompting blazes that destroyed one town.

— Reporting for Reuters by David Ljunggren.

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Storms could develop over most southern, southwestern and southeastern Manitoba watersheds during that period, bringing up to 100 millimetres of “heavy localized” rain, the provincial Hydrologic Forecast Centre said in a release.

Property owners are advised to take precautions as water levels could rise “significantly” in a short time in these areas, and asks that people stay away from affected areas “unless travel is necessary.”

That advice follows the evacuations of over 100 people from about 30-40 properties along the Little Saskatchewan River downstream from its dam near Rivers, after the province announced July 1 it had “lost confidence in the integrity” of the dam.

Those evacuations so far include 80 people from the R.M. of Riverdale, 17 from the R.M. of Whitehead, four from the R.M. of Cornwallis and three from the town of Neepawa, along with livestock from the Riverdale and Whitehead municipalities.

Minor repairs are being done on an “ongoing and as-needed basis” on the Rivers dam, which the province said is facing a “one-in-1,000-year flood event” with “unprecedented” flows on the Little Saskatchewan River following heavy rains.

The province said Friday the dam is still intact but has “potential for a structural failure” with flows of around 8,500 cubic feet per second (cfs), down from 12,000 cfs earlier in the week.

Flood warnings remain in place for the Little Saskatchewan River and Whitemud River watersheds, as low-lying land near the rivers is affected, the province said. A flood warning is also still in place for the Assiniboine River from Brandon to Portage la Prairie; flooding is expected in low-lying areas but water is expected to stay below flood protection levels at “most locations” along the Assiniboine.

The province said Friday it also began operating the Portage Diversion on Thursday, to limit flows on the lower Assiniboine to 10,000 cfs. Lake Manitoba on Friday sat at a level of 811.5 feet, “in the middle of the desired water level range.” — GFM Staff

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