Funds support environmental farming initiatives

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This article was published 30/03/2023 (1282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Métis farmers looking for ways to make their operations more environmentally friendly can now apply for funding to help the implement best management practices on their farms.

Last month, the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) rolled out its On-Farm Climate Action Program, which offers $75,000 in funding to implement nitrogen management, rotational grazing and other practices.

With partial funding from the federal government’s On-Farm Climate Action Fund, a $200-million initiative to help farmers tackle climate change, the action program is the MMF’s way of offering targeted support to more than 200 Red River Métis agriculture producers, MMF Agriculture Minister David Beaudin said.

“The program was created to address the distinct need of our Métis agricultural producers,” he said. “This is going to go a long way to helping them re-establish their best practices, but also work towards climate change initiatives on their own farms.”

The costs for programs such as nitrogen management such as improved manure management and nitrification inhibitors will be shared between a 95 per cent non-repayable contribution from the program and a five per cent in-kind contribution from each producer. Mentoring Métis young farmers, gifts of meat, feed, fur or hides, and other traditional offerings to citizens in need, labour costs and other activities count as in-kind contributions.

To be eligible to apply for funding, producers must be Red River Métis citizens living and residing in Canada who are at least 18 years of age and whose businesses are at least 50 per cent Red River Métis owned.

Some of the practices used in the program, such as cover cropping, where plants are used to cover the soul rather than for the purpose of being harvested, and inter-cropping, which involves growing two or more crops in close proximity, hearken back to traditional Métis land-based wisdom and agricultural practices, Beaudin said.

Beaudin is hoping that if the program is successful, the MMF can expand even more into the agricultural field, creating awareness about the industry and the job opportunities that exist.

“Farming is not just growing grains and working with cattle. There’s a whole food science end of agriculture that people can have very long lasting, stable careers with,” he said. “We need to create a program that has enough knowledge to let people know that there’s good careers in agriculture.”

While the federal government has proven very supportive of Métis agricultural initiatives like the action program, Beaudin said the province of Manitoba needs to meet with the federation as well to better meet the needs of Métis farmers.

“We’d really like to see an investment in agricultural education for Métis citizens,” he said. “That’s a really big concern for me right now, the education side of things, and I would really like the province to step up to the table in that sense.”

The Manitoba government is listening to and engaging with all Manitobans on their concerns, Ross Romaniuk, press secretary for Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson, told the Sun in an emailed statement.

The department of agriculture seeks feedback often through consultation and online engagement, Romaniuk said, including with producers and others in the industry on programs, legislation and initiatives.

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