Government of Canada supporting Manitoba farmers to develop and implement solutions to combat climate change

Dec 16, 2020

Winnipeg, Manitoba – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) - Canadian farmers are leaders in climate-smart agriculture, finding new approaches to sustainably feed Canada and the world. The Government of Canada is continuing to support their efforts by bringing together farmers, scientists, and other partners to ensure they have the tools they need to protect the environment and grow their businesses.

Today, the Honourable Jim Carr, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South Centre, on behalf of the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, announced that the Government of Canada is providing up to $5.9 million for on-farm research activities. Under the project farmers and scientists will work in collaboration to develop and implement new technologies and best practices for environmental management.

The Living Lab-Eastern Prairies project has been launched throughout the last year on farms within the Upper Oak Lake, Swan Lake, North Shannon Creek and Main Drain watersheds.

The technologies and best management practices developed under this initiative are helping to give Manitoban farmers the tools to adjust to climate change and better address water quality, soil conservation and improve biodiversity on agricultural landscapes.

Some of the key research includes work to:

enhance habitats for beneficial insects;
develop better tile draining practices;
evaluate new approaches to prevent nutrient, water and habitat losses in the Eastern Prairies; and,
evaluate the use of regenerative grazing management to capture and sequester carbon in grassland soil.

Currently, farmers within these watersheds are taking part in AAFC research projects that include the construction of perennial grassed runways and buffer strips, cover cropping, inter-cropping, and poly cropping, and the construction of small wetland retention ponds.

The Living Lab-Eastern Prairies initiative is a collaboration of more than a dozen partners, including Environmental and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and builds upon the work organizations like the Manitoba Association of Watersheds (MAW) are doing to monitor and mitigate the agro-environmental issues taking place within Eastern Prairie watersheds, such as the over-use of artificial fertilizers. For more information, farmers are invited to visit Manitoba Association of Watersheds.

Source : Canada.ca

Video: 2025 USDA December Crop Report a “Dud” + Trump $12 Billion U.S. Farm Aid

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Mexico is now the #1 buyer of U.S. corn, soybeans (usually China), wheat and pork!
USDA also released its long-term early projections but expect more changes by February of 2026.
Trump announces a $12 billion U.S. farmer aid package to be paid out by February 28, 2026. This helps no one but the ag banks, farm equipment companies, seed and fertilizer companies. It does prevent more farmer bushels from being sold near-term but is not bullish grain prices long-term. The Trump administration should focus on increasing U.S. domestic demand and propping up grain futures so farmers can cover their higher costs, up since COVID of 2020.
The China U.S. soybean purchase tracker now stands at 4.521 mmt or 38% of the 12 mmt promised by China at year end or is it end of February or the growing season? Why the discrepancy vs. the fact sheet. The optics are poor for the Trump administration.
After surging to contract highs U.S. natural gas futures plunged over 30+% in just 5-trading days!
Silver traded to new record highs as the debasement and de dollarization trade continued but technicals remain overbought near-term.
Soybean futures remained in correction mode after the funds went record long futures on Nov. 19 +233,000 contracts but the $10.80 support should hold into year end when the fund profit taking/liquidation comes to an end from the year end, end of month and end of quarter selling.
The U.S. Fed cut interest rates for the 3rd time by 25 basis points to a range of 3.50 – 3.75% and they will only cut one more time in 2026 and once in 20267/ but when Powell is gone next April the replacement is willing to cut more aggressively and we could see U.S. interest rates fall to 2.0% very bullish for ag and stocks as it could reignite inflation into 2027.
After 2 months of being drier than normal in Brazil the rains have finally arrived for the 1st half of December, and a record crop is still in the cards but if this pattern continues and verifies it could start to delay the harvest. Argentina after being too wet has turned dry but they are too small, compared top Brazil in the grand picture.
The Canadian dollar surged to $0.73 after better-than-expected employment data with 180,000 new jobs in the past 3-months and 3rd quarter GDP at +2.6% but this could be short-lived.
The latest CFTC report as of 11-19-2025 reported a record long fund position in soybeans at +233,000 contracts when 2026 March soybean futures peaked on 11-19-25 at $11.724/bu.