Kinew comes to Ag Days bearing gifts

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This article was published 17/01/2024 (988 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s new NDP government attended its first Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon bearing gifts, announcing funds for mental health supports for farmers and reduced AgriInsurance premiums for 2024 on the convention’s first day.

Premier Wab Kinew said his government and Ottawa are contributing $450,000 over the next three years to the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program through the Sustainable Agricultural Partnership.

He said many of the challenges faced by Manitobans in recent years have been borne by the agricultural industry.

“All of us have dealt with mental health challenges, all of us have dealt with the challenge of inflation,” Kinew said.

“But you add to that some of the challenges around flooding, some years drought and other years broader market conditions, trade disputes, you name it … there is a toll that is borne by folks who are hard at work growing the economy and creating economic opportunity.”

The Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program, launched in 2022, offers short-term counselling to farmers provided by mental health professionals with a background in agriculture.

The program’s website states that it offers six counselling sessions to participants at no cost.

“Farmers face unique stressors and challenges, but they don’t complain, and they always get the job done,” federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay stated in a media release.

“If they’re struggling with their mental health, we need to be there for them. Through this shared investment under Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, farmers across Manitoba will have better access to the tools and supports they need to continue producing the high-quality products we depend on.”

In a scrum with members of the media, the premier was asked about the burden the carbon tax has placed on the farming sector. Kinew used the opportunity to tout his government’s temporary pause on the provincial fuel tax and how it was helping to address the cost of living and the cost of doing business.

“We know that government might not be able to do everything, but at the provincial level, we’re doing … what we can,” Kinew said. “I think there is that bigger-picture conversation that we’re going to continue to have about what else we can do.”

The premier reiterated comments made earlier this month about how he thinks Manitoba has a strong case to revisit the carbon price it pays with the federal government because of investments made in Manitoba Hydro’s power grid.

Kinew had no news on his government’s stated goal of reopening Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation offices closed in rural Manitoba by the previous government, but said announcements would be coming in the future.

Also during dignitaries’ remarks, provincial Agriculture Minister Ron Kostyshyn announced that AgriInsurance premiums for producers would be an average $16.21 per acre in 2024 for annual crops, down from $19.21 per acre in 2023.

While most crops will see lower dollar values for 2024 than in 2023, Kostyshyn said some crops like dry beans, forage seeds, potatoes, vegetables and forages will see higher values.

In total, the program is expected to provide Manitoba farmers with about $5 billion in coverage over 9.55 million acres of crops.

Kostyshyn also restated recent rent reductions announced for farmers leasing agricultural Crown lands and committed to continue to modernize the program that manages them.

The other agriculture minister to speak at the conference was David Beaudin of the Manitoba Métis Federation, who advocated for other levels of government to continue to collaborate with the MMF on agricultural issues that affect the Red River Métis.

He added that his government is looking forward to Parliament ratifying a self-governance treaty approved unanimously by 4,000 Métis citizens in June last year.

Speaking to the Sun at the conference, Opposition agriculture critic Jeff Bereza — the Progressive Conservative MLA for Portage la Prairie — said changes to Crown lands were announced in his government’s final budget before last year’s election and that the NDP were just rehashing them.

“Mental health is a big issue that I think we all struggle with,” Bereza said.

“And I think one of the things that we struggle with right now, as far as the producers that I’ve met with here … is getting back to things that are out of their control, like the carbon tax. Our NDP government that is backing the federal NDP and Liberal carbon tax, it’s costing a tremendous amount of money right now to the growers out there.”

In a statement sent out Tuesday, Bereza said farmers growing wheat for a loaf of bread will pay carbon tax 14 times in a hypothetical scenario he laid out involving seeding, growing, managing and selling their crops.

That includes the tax’s impact on fuel purchases for vehicles, heating the producers’ buildings, manufacturing fertilizer, seeding equipment, vehicle purchases, herbicide sprayers and grain drying.

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