After 20 years of providing Manitoba livestock producers with manure management research and information, the work of the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative (MLMMI) and other research programs the Manitoba government is amalgamating it into a single research delivery model.

Effective April 1, 2018, Canadian Agricultural Partnership, which is replacing Growing Forward 2, will direct the agricultural research activities.

While thanking the MLMMI’s agricultural researchers, board members, and Executive Director John Carney for the valuable work they did, Don Dixon, Chair of MLMMI said looking ahead; scientific research will continue to play a significant role in informing livestock producers as to the best ways to keep their industry moving forward.

Dixon said the organization’s success over the years was due to the diverse representation on the board, representing livestock commodity groups, agricultural specialists from the public sector, consumer and environmental interests, and academic and research bodies.

John Carney, the Executive Director, said the provincial government formed the MLMMI in 1998 recognizing the potential for livestock production in the province and the realization that manure can be a polarizing matter to manage when it comes to livestock and rural residents. That was the genesis of the organization. It was an order in council from the provincial government at the time with strong support from Manitoba Park Council initially.

“The focus in the beginning and right through to today is manure management in Manitoba, and so our focus has been consistent,” said Carney “For instance, in our early days, a lot of our research went into odour mitigation and management. Then, for a period we focused on nutrient management and phosphorus imbalances where there are greater nutrients produced by livestock and spread acres.”

When PED hit, they worked on the survivability of the virus in manure. Now that the conditions are right for the industry to look at some growth again, the focus is shifting back to questions like odour and nutrient management, the value of nutrients in crop production, and the economic value of manure. Carney said while the Manitoba Park Council was staunch and consistent, firm funders of their work, other major livestock commodity groups gave strong support, too.

“I’m happy to say that our board today represents all major livestock commodity groups in the province,” he said.

“The value is that an organization like ours is capable of doing and answering questions that individuals just simply wouldn’t have the resources or the expertise to delve into,” said Carney about the key accomplishments. “That’s what I’m particularly proud of is the way that we can act and work on behalf of the industry, all stakeholders, really, but particularly the industry in finding answers to the questions that they’ve got about manure management.”

He said accomplishments include the work with odour management coming up with a model that is very helpful for predicting odour plumes and some refinements are going on right now.

“We fully investigated five different technologies for manure separation as part of redistributing nutrients from areas that don’t have enough spreadable acres. We looked at alternatives and costs of manure transportation, so those are few that come to mind,” he said. “When we have a question, or a problem comes up that we’ve researched and when we find that it’s not the answer, I think that’s just as valuable as when you find something that is you hoped it would be. Some research has the capabilities of saving a lot of producers the time, money and frustration of implementing technologies and strategies that it turns out don’t work in Manitoba conditions.” •

— By Harry Siemens