Ag leaders and farmers are hailing the recent consultation with farm and agriculture stakeholders, never before done in recent farming history in Manitoba, a huge step forward.

Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) says it was especially rewarding to see the variety in turnout, truckers, food processors, farmers, and others at last week’s industry consultation meeting with Manitoba Agriculture.

Mazier says this first of a kind consultation meeting goes to show Manitoba’s new government is walking the talk.

He says it was good to see Ag minister Ralph Eichler staying there all day, being interactive, and engaged in what was going on around him.

Minister Eichler estimates the province will be ready to move forward with a Targeted Growth Strategy for Agriculture within the next six to eight months.

Representatives from more than 100 agricultural stakeholder groups participated at the event in Portage la Prairie to gather input and discuss the development of strategies to help grow the agriculture sector.

Eichler says agriculture and food production are important economic drivers in Manitoba and the Manitoba government wants to ensure stakeholders play a key role developing a targeted growth strategy.

“We’re trying to get ready for our Federal, Provincial, Territorial Ministerial Meeting coming up in July and I want to be able to carry Manitoba’s views and their thoughts as we go forward to meet with my counterparts across Canada,” he said.

Eichler says two outreaches, the first one on June 28, and the one in Portage last week gives them lots of feedback, an opportunity to get it right.

“Manitoba has been a leader and we want to just take it to the next level and make sure we get more information out to our other colleagues who have been actually calling and reaching out saying what are you hearing in Manitoba so we’re excited about that and have that opportunity,” said the Ag minister. “They want to have the ability to be able to say I talked to the minister about this, yes it’s important, yes this is what we need to deliver and how are we going to do that together.”

Andrew Dickson, the general manager of Manitoba Pork says government can best assist farmers by creating a regulatory climate that allows agriculture to access the resources needed to remain competitive in a global market.

Dickson says the Portage la Prairie session provided a chance for organizations to learn about problems in other sectors and find where they can come together to lay out a game plan.

“The first is you have to have farmers. You have to have a productive workforce, you have to have a well-trained work force, you have to have farmers who are highly educated and understand their farms and the opportunity that the land provides in terms of productive capacity,” he said. “You need capital, you need to have competitive rates. Producers will borrow a lot of money to run their business and we need to have access to that through good times and bad.”

Dickson who in past interviews has said “this new government needs to work more with common sense than strictly ideology and need regulations that help the industry grow and develop and not that impede its development.”

The MP gm says the Ag industry needs to focus on export markets, trade agreements to make sure that there’s competitive access to those markets and not get excluded.

Dickson also says the Ag industry, and particularly farmers understand the need to reduce their impact on the environment.

“We have to do it in a sustainable way so that business opportunities and a lifestyle can be passed on to the next generation of producers,” he said. “We need to maintain the confidence of the general public in that we’re following good management practices and we’re doing the sorts of things on our farms that a rational clear thinking person would support.”

Dickson says the food sector is a very significant part of the employment picture in the province and a major driver of the economy. •

— By Harry Siemens