Manitoba Ag seeking producer feedback on Crown leases and regulations

Jun 07, 2023

Farmers have until July 17 to submit comments online

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Manitoba Agriculture is giving farmers a little over one month to provide feedback on proposed changes to Crown Land Leases and Permits Regulation (ACL).

The department of agriculture started to modernize the ACL in 2017 and added new stipulations in 2019.

These additional proposals would help further modernize the program, which sees producers lease land for agricultural uses like grazing, haying or cropping.

Manitoba farmers have until July 17 to submit their opinions.

The amendments will “allow lease terms to be extended from 15 years to 20 years for leaseholders that practice good land management; broaden transfer rights; implement third party appraisals for improvements; apply set times for forage productivity assessments; and expand eligibility to Indigenous organizations,” the Manitoba Regulatory Consultation Portal says.

In terms of transfer rights, for example, the proposed changes would allow an existing leaseholder to nominate the next one.

This could help producers who may be in a challenging position.

“Allowing legacy leaseholders one nomination for a lease transfer may allow those without a family succession option the ability to transfer their lease to an eligible third party who would then receive a new-system, 15-year lease,” the proposal says.

Any transfers would be subject to Treat Land Entitlement (TLE) selection under the TLE Framework Agreement. This means eligible First Nations would be notified the Crown land is available and may select it for TLE.

For land improvements, farmers may be eligible for compensation to offset investments they’ve made to the land.

Under current regulations, outgoing leaseholders and incoming leaseholders can negotiate improvement compensation. If the two parties can’t come to an agreement, arbitration legislation guides the process.

New proposals would allow a third party to enter the fold.

“Under the proposed amendments, outgoing leaseholders that want compensation for improvements they make to the land, from an incoming leaseholder, will be required to obtain a third party appraisal of the improvement by September 1,” the consultation portal says.

The ag ministry will determine which appraisers can be hired. And the outgoing leaseholder will be responsible for the cost of the appraisal.

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”