Cattlemen meet with KAP

by Matthew Wright

Industry leaders from the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association met with senior representatives of the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) to discuss the next step in the on-going effort to develop a province-wide environmental goods and services program for agriculture in Manitoba.

The focus of the meeting was the MCPA’s newly released proposal: Environmental & Rural Stewardship Remuneration for Agriculture in Manitoba.

The proposal would see the province provide a tangible financial reward to cattle producers for the important contribution they make as stewards of the land.

Unlike ranchers in many countries around the world (including the U.S.,) cattle producers in Canada have never been compensated for the benefits their farm operations provide. These benefits include carbon sequestration, nutrient management, biodiversity, water and soil resource conservation - all have been long ignored by the general public. The innovative, made-in-Manitoba proposal that recognizes these benefits was presented to the provincial government this past November.

“We were glad to have this opportunity to sit down with KAP to discuss ways in which we can work together to move this issue forward,” said newly elected MCPA President, Joe Bouchard. “We are forecasting a major transformation in the use of agricultural land in the next few growing seasons as cattle producers come under immense financial pressure to transition their land away from environmentally valuable perennial cover to annual crops. This transition will have a terrible environmental cost and a program needs to be put in place today if we are going to avoid that tomorrow.”