Atkinson welcomes Crown lands changes

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This article was published 08/06/2023 (1227 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The president of Manitoba Beef Producers is pleased that the provincial government is considering changing the way agricultural Crown lands are managed after spending years lobbying for that change.

On June 2, the Manitoba government put out a call for public feedback on proposed changes to the agricultural Crown lands leases and permits regulation that would support improving forage productivity, growing the livestock industry and advancing sustainability.

“There’s a lot of positives in there for sure,” Beef Producers president Matthew Atkinson said.

Leases and permits that provide access to additional land base for agricultural purposes are put up for auction by the province each year. While the province introduced a temporary rent reduction for forage leases on agricultural Crown lands last fall, many producers said they were still unsatisfied with current lease conditions, including the length of lease times and a closed-auction format.

In addition, Indigenous groups like the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO) have criticized the province’s Crown lands program for its lack of consultation with First Nations.

In February, SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said he had been lobbying the province about the issue for more than a year. First Nations with treaty entitlement are required to receive first option to acquire public land that comes up for sale, and many Crown land parcels are prime sources for hunting, harvesting natural medicine and holding ceremonies, he said.

Indigenous peoples traditionally use Crown lands for cultural purposes and to exercise treaty rights, Manitoba’s Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson stated in a press release sent out on Friday.

The new proposed amendments to the Crown lands program include reducing forage lease rents over the next several years to help producers recover from drought and flood conditions in recent seasons and extending lease terms by five years to a maximum of 20 years from 15 when producers invest in forage productivity improvements.

This change, in particular, would be a “big improvement” to the current system, Atkinson said.

“The insurance … capacity for that land is established before the auction will not change throughout the lease term, and that’s a big deal,” Atkinson said. “We want producers to make improvements and not feel like they will be penalized during that lease term for making the land better.”

Fifteen-year leaseholders will also be able to transfer the remaining years of their lease to an eligible third party under the proposed amendments, and the province is also looking at developing a process that could enable legacy leaseholders to transfer their Crown lands to a third party by nominating the next leaseholder if the Crown lands are not selected under treaty land entitlement and do not impact Indigenous treaty rights.

This change would also be a positive one for beef producers, Atkinson said.

“That’s a big help with some transitions,” he said.

Non-profit Indigenous organizations would be eligible to hold forage leases, in addition to the bands that are already eligible, and the province would also consider formalizing the process for assessing land productivity used to determine rent to create an incentive to manage the land and invest in its productivity. The Sun was unable to reach Daniels for comment.

Working with the province on the issue of Crown lands has meant a big commitment from both the Manitoba Beef Producers and the province, Atkinson said.

“We definitely really appreciate some big steps forward after an incredible amount of hard work by everybody involved,” he said, adding he plans on taking advantage of some of the options, such as extending his lease by an additional five years. “I’ll feel more confident in doing improvement on those lands, knowing that there’s a mechanism in place to have a value attached to them.”

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