“The elk population just really exploded, and we have to work with producers to mitigate the effects of that,” he said.

The most recent data available, from 2011, put the Manitoba elk population stable at 6,500 animals.

Predation from wolves and bears is another hot button issue. Wild boars are also becoming more of a problem as their populations continue to grow in Manitoba, Nottveit added.

Last April, the federal and provincial governments launched the Livestock Predation Prevention Program, a permanent successor to the industry-led pilot project that ended in 2023.

Resolutions approved by delegates at MBP’s annual general meeting, held in Brandon on Feb. 11 and 12, include continued lobbying for provincial analysis of elk and deer populations, financial assistance for fencing and compensation for wildlife damage to crops.

Producers are also increasingly concerned about feed losses and herd health impacts tied to wildlife.

Wildlife and disease concerns intersect with broader traceability discussions that have surfaced in recent months. It is important that producers facing disease outbreaks are supported appropriately, Nottveit said.

“I really want to make sure that ranchers that have disease outbreaks on their herds are treated fairly and … it’s as stress-free a situation as can possibly be.”

Past president Matthew Atkinson said wildlife damage, particularly from elk, has also been a major file during his six years on the board.

“Wildlife issues have really dominated, both in terms of the predation on livestock as well as impact on crops, from largely elk, but from wildlife in general,” he said.

Crown lands unsettled

Alongside wildlife advocacy, MBP continues to push for long-term stability on Crown lands.

“We need a long-term, stable plan going forward,” Atkinson said. “We need that to be settled and consistent.”

He acknowledged the file has created divisions within the membership.

“It’s either a major priority or it’s no priority at all,” he said.

Last October, the province extended its rental rate freeze on Crown land forage leases into the 2026 growing season.

Trade uncertainty

Trade uncertainty and the upcoming CUSMA review with the United States and Mexico remain on the radar, though provincial influence is limited.

“It’s a hard thing to negotiate our way through,” Atkinson said. “It’s not a typical negotiation.”

Nottveit highlighted the critical need to sustain robust cross-border cattle movement, given the close integration between the Canadian and U.S. beef industries.

Strong prices, tight margins

Despite high cattle prices, both leaders cautioned that rising input costs continue to squeeze margins.

Atkinson called the current market strength “overdue,” but said producers must use the opportunity wisely.

• READ MORE: B.C. ranchers face rising elk conflict

“It’s time that we start looking at … the tools available to us to make them as profitable as we can and to ensure that we can be profitable when things aren’t at their highs and move ahead from there,” he said.

For Nottveit, the focus in the coming years will be on practical supports that help grow Manitoba’s cow herd, which sits at historic lows.

“There’s a lot of work that can be done still, to make it viable for young people, especially to make a living raising cattle in this beautiful province,” he said.

-Corrects an earlier version of the story which said the elk population was 605 animals

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As of Tuesday evening 89 wildfires are active in Alberta, with 25 out of control, according to the provincial government, forcing about 20,000 people out of their homes.

A cold front bringing gusty northwest wind, but little rain, was likely on Tuesday, according to Environment Canada’s weather department.

The change in wind direction can pose a problem for firefighters as the path of the fires changes suddenly, said Christie Tucker, spokesperson for the Alberta Wildfire agency.

Evacuation orders and alerts have also been sounded in neighbouring British Columbia, where as of Tuesday evening 61 wildfires are active, and Saskatchewan, where 28 wildfires are active with five ranked as “not contained.”

“The arrival of sustained winds from the north has resulted in aggressive fire behaviour on all wildfires within the north Peace Region,” the B.C. Wildfire Service said late Monday.

Saskatchewan on Tuesday reported it has had more than double the amount of wildfires usually seen at this time of year. Evacuation orders were recently issued at communities including Buffalo Narrows and Dillon, about 250 km north of Meadow Lake.

With fire risk rated high to extreme across much of the province, Saskatchewan on Tuesday also imposed a fire ban for Crown lands and provincial parks north of the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16) and for the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.

The Canadian military and firefighters from across Canada and the U.S. are helping fight the blazes in Alberta.

“We will build better,” Judy Levesque, who lost her house at Drayton Valley, said while fighting back tears. “We planned to renovate so now we get to do it quicker.”

“That’s the attitude we have to have because it’s too sad the other way.”

Drayton Valley, a town of almost 7,000 people about 100 km southwest of Edmonton, was under evacuation order up until Tuesday afternoon. Twenty-three full or partial evacuation orders remain in effect for various towns, municipalities, First Nation communities and Metis settlements in northern and western Alberta.

At one point Alberta’s fires forced oil and gas producers to shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 3.7 per cent of national production.

On Tuesday morning, Calgary-based Crescent Point Energy said it was shutting in its Kaybob Duvernay production, impacting 45,000 boepd, as a precautionary measure due to changing wildfire conditions. Benchmark Canadian heavy crude prices have risen to their highest levels in months on concerns about the wildfires.

Farther west in B.C., the hot weather is causing rapid snow melt that has increased river flow and prompted authorities to issue a flood warning for part of the Skeena region.

— Reporting for Reuters by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa, Anna Mehler Paperny in Toronto and Rod Nickel in Winnipeg. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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The provincial government announced Wednesday it has frozen the rates charged to producers who lease Crown grazing land in 2023 at their 2022 level. The freeze will apply to all grazing leases across the province, affecting about six million acres of Crown land in total.

Furthermore, producers who have to reduce their stocking rates on Crown land due to “ongoing dry conditions” will be eligible for a rent cut of up to 50 per cent.

Crown grazing rates in Saskatchewan are set each year using a formula based on fall cattle prices and the long-term stocking rate of each parcel. The rent cuts would apply where a lessee or pasture association must reduce the number of animals grazing on a Crown lease by 20 per cent or more, compared to the parcel’s approved long-term carrying capacity.

The 2023 rate cut would match the reduction in carrying capacity, ranging from a 20 per cent rate reduction up to the maximum 50 per cent.

“Saskatchewan’s livestock sector is facing increasing costs of production in addition to successive years of low precipitation in many areas of the province,” provincial Agriculture Minister David Marit said in a release.

The rate freeze and cuts, he said, “will assist producers through the current challenges while supporting the continued stewardship and productivity of the land.”

Shellbrook cattle producer Arnold Balicki, chair of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, on Wednesday hailed the province’s announcement as “something many of our ranchers have been calling for.”

Neighbouring Manitoba last fall announced rent reductions for perennial forage growers leasing Crown land in 2023 and the following two years, citing “extreme weather conditions” ranging from excess moisture in 2022 to severe drought the previous two years. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Provincial Ag Minister Derek Johnson on Wednesday announced the forage lease rent on agricultural Crown land will be reduced by 50 per cent in 2023, 33 per cent in 2024 and 15 per cent in 2025.

These rent reductions will be automatically applied starting with next year’s bills, the province said, so forage leaseholders won’t need to apply for the cut.

“Stakeholders have told us that rental rates on forage lands are challenging with the hardships they are experiencing following the past two years of extreme weather conditions,” Johnson said in a release.

“We are responding to their concerns by implementing this rent reduction program over the next three years, which will provide ranchers with up to $4 million in relief.”

Said “extreme weather conditions” have ranged from severe drought the past two years to excess moisture this year, which have “significantly affected the productivity and forage capacity of agricultural Crown lands,” the province said.”

The rent cut will be in place as the productivity of the land recovers and as “further improvements” to the province’s agricultural Crown lands program are put in place, Johnson said.

The provincial ag department said it’s “exploring other policy, program, regulation and service improvements to enhance the productivity and sustainability of agricultural Crown forage lands including mechanisms for leaseholders to invest in productivity and adjustments to the terms and conditions of leases.”

Other changes made in the past several years as a result of the province’s ongoing review of the Crown land program included the move to an online auction system; a “market-based” formula for calculating rental rates; and the eliminations of lifetime leases and unit transfers.

The program review now includes an online public survey that will be available until late October. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The province announced Friday it will make such lands available this year for agricultural use “under certain circumstances.” Permits and land uses will be handled through the Agricultural Crown Lands Leasing program.

Livestock grazing on permitted land must be removed either when its natural forage is exhausted, or by Oct. 31, the province said. Baled hay must be removed by Nov. 15.

The province also noted that if producers with AgriInsurance contracts plan to put a crop to alternate use, such as for feed, they first must contact Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. to arrange for a field appraisal before that crop is harvested.

“Crop producers should also consider making crop residue available to livestock producers,” the province said Friday.

Producers interested in applying for Crown land use can contact the Agricultural Crown Lands Leasing program at 204-867-6550 or call their Agricultural Crown Lands district office. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Nottveit and his family run Tribar Ranching Co., a cow-calf operation at Peonan Point, Man., and they rely on a Crown lease of 9,600 acres. Here on a 25-mile-long peninsula on the northern edge of Lake Manitoba, the family has ranched since 2000.

“We have only 400 acres of deeded land, and if we were to lose that lease, our 400 acres would be virtually worthless,” says Nottveit.

While they have run upwards of 600 head in the past, flooding in 2011 marred the land so much that it hasn’t fully recovered. They’ve had to downsize their herd to about 400 head as a result, though they’ve had to pay the same rental rate on land that they can’t fully use.

A century ago, there was only a small cabin on the lakeshore, with trails through the bush leading to this remote location. Through the decades, those who worked this land drained swamps for hay fields, picked rocks and put up fences to create a sustainable cattle operation. It was the previous leaseholders, Nottveit explains, who were responsible for making this ranch more accessible, and it would be difficult to assign all that a monetary value if the lease was to change hands.

“They were instrumental in getting the road in. They were instrumental in getting the power and getting the phone in. Now you’re just supposed to give that all away?”

The possibility of losing his lease, and with it his livelihood, became all too real last fall, when the province of Manitoba announced new regulations to the Agricultural Crown Lands (ACL) lease program. Many beef producers have claimed several of the changes to the program will create financial instability and uncertainty for those relying on Crown leases, and leaseholders like Nottveit have expressed their concerns with how the modernization will affect the long-term viability of their operations.

“With the primary use of agricultural Crown lands being for forage, Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development was looking to increase the utilization of the lands to support growth of the livestock industry in a sustainable manner, by using market forces to encourage efficient and innovative uses of the agricultural Crown lands,” says John Neufeld, public affairs specialist with the Manitoba government.

As well, the ACL program was modernized in part as a requirement of Manitoba’s entry to the New West Partnership Trade Agreement. To be part of this agreement with British Columbia, Alberta and Sask­atchewan, it was necessary for the province “to make a number of legislative changes that affected the ACL program,” Neufeld explains, which “afforded the opportunity to review and modernize the ACL program.”

Stakeholder and public consultations on the program’s modernization began in 2018. Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development held several meetings with leaseholders and organizations including Manitoba Beef Producers, Manitoba Bison Association, Keystone Agricultural Producers, and Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association. The consultation process continued into 2019, with the department reaching out to rural municipalities and Indigenous communities, as well as requesting written comments from current leaseholders.

Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) submitted comments to the provincial government last spring, with suggestions such as offering leaseholders the first right of renewal if terms were shortened, continuing the family and unit transfer systems and using an open auction allocation system.

“Throughout the consultation process, it was apparent that there were disparate stakeholder views held regarding the administration of agricultural Crown leaseholders,” says Neufeld. “The modernization process became focused on balancing the needs of existing leaseholders, potential leaseholders and program objectives.”

Nottveit was invited to and attended one of the meetings for leaseholders and also took part in a conference call. However, he was surprised when the new regulations were announced on September 27, 2019.

“The changes that came up weren’t even discussed amongst us,” he says. “Based on the questions that the government was asking us, I thought they just wanted to figure out a way to increase the lease fees.”

The new regulations include: an increase in rental rates; decreasing lease terms from 50 to 15 years; allocation by open auction; removal of unit transfers (later amended to allow family transfers); leaseholder eligibility extended to Canadian residents outside Manitoba; and the province no longer purchasing land improvements made by the leaseholder at the end of a term.

Leaseholders made their shock and anger known immediately, filling town hall meetings to capacity across the province in early October. Local newspapers detailed the concerns of outraged producers who wanted to know the rationale behind these changes to the program.

Leaseholders concerned about financial burden, uncertainty

Neufeld stated that the open auction system is the result of stakeholders requesting a more transparent process for lease allocation during the consultation process. The first of these auctions were held in November and December of last year.

Some producers disagree. Not only could the shortened lease term create uncertainty for leaseholders, many of whom will find the majority of their land base on the auction block at the end of their term, they argue it will create financial instability for their operations.

“Your lenders probably aren’t going to consider that as a good source of security,” says Nottveit. “That lease would not necessarily be secure, and that would affect their ability to pay their mortgage on their deeded land.”

Not being first in line to renew when their lease is up is another issue for producers. “Without that first right of renewal, there’s the potential after 15 years to lose this land that producers have utilized and maintained for a long period of time, especially in some of the areas up in the northern communities,” says Carson Callum, MBP’s general manager.

The increased rental rate is also drawing the ire of leaseholders, predicted to rise from $2.13 per animal unit month (AUM) to $7 per AUM or more once fully implemented.

“The forage rental rate had been artificially held for a number of years while review of the methodology was underway,” says Neufeld.

The new rental rate is to be calculated based on a formula that takes into consideration forage capacity, prices for 500- to 600-lb. steers and heifers from the past three years and the provincial rate of return.

Some producers feel this formula doesn’t consider the varying costs of production in different regions of the province.

“If you’re trying to raise cattle up in The Pas or somewhere up there, you’re going to have some costs of production that someone in Teulon, just outside of Winnipeg, is not going to have,” says Nottveit.

In the case of unit transfers, the province stated these were removed because some leaseholders were allegedly using the transfers to inflate their operations’ value. However, ranchers with 90 per cent or more of their land base consisting of Crown land argue that without their lease, their deeded land is of little value, which may jeopardize their retirement plans.

This change includes a grandfather clause, allowing for one unit transfer for legacy leaseholders, limited to the remaining term. Nottveit predicts this could be an issue for potential buyers.

“If I sold it five years from now, they’d have… about nine years left on their lease, and then they would have to attend a public auction to pay for the right to have it for another 15 years,” he says. “So you can understand how hesitant someone may be to purchase all the improvements here basically and potentially purchase our 400 acres with all the buildings on them if they didn’t know what it was going to cost them to keep that lease for another 15 years.”

Instead of the province purchasing land improvements, outgoing leaseholders will either have 30 days to remove their improvements or will have to sell them to the new leaseholder. However, it’s up to the two parties to negotiate the value of improvements after auction.

Some parcels of land require a large investment for improvements, making it even more important to be fairly compensated. For Nottveit’s ranch, they’ve had to manage predators and clear trails and fence lines in winter. Proper drainage is required for flood-prone areas, and road conditions at different times of the year can make it challenging to bring cattle in.

“If I said to you, ‘there’s a pile of rocks in that bush over there, I want to be paid by you for all the rocks that I picked,’ how are we going to decide how valuable that is?”

First right of renewal on the table

As soon as the new regulations were announced, MBP brought forth its concerns to the provincial government. In a statement released October 2, 2019, the association indicated its intention to lobby the province on issues such as allowing both family and unit transfers, first right of renewal and using a rental rate formula that “recognizes market conditions and does not place an undue financial burden on the producers during the transition to the new formula.”

While MBP was originally in favour of removing the 4,800 AUM cap per leaseholder, Callum says that during the association’s annual general meeting in February, “our membership gave us direction to ask the government to re-implement a higher AUM cap per leaseholder, which we are investigating further in our ongoing consultation discussions.”

In response to producer concerns, then-agriculture minister Ralph Eichler announced in October that legacy leaseholders would be given the first right of renewal, rather than going straight to auction. This amendment is pending, however, as regulatory changes require a 45-day consultation period.

While this is the only amendment to be formally announced at time of writing, MBP continues to lobby for other amendments to the new regulations, such as the reinstatement of unit transfers.

“One of particular importance, especially if you think about the COVID-19 situation and the financial challenges that’s going to lead to for many producers, we’d like to see a more gradual increase in the new rental rate formula,” says Callum.

Informed access — requiring those who come onto Crown lands for recreation to inform the leaseholder before setting foot on the land — is also something MBP wants to see in the new regulations.

“We’ve been pushing for this for a number of years, even before the modernization of these changes,” he says. “It’s not only a concern for the people using that land but it’s also a biosecurity concern for the animals on that grazing property.”

Conflicting views on effects on profitability

The province is optimistic that the new regulations will have a positive impact on Manitoba’s producers and the beef industry in general.

“The modernization initiative is expected to contribute to the growth of the livestock sector by optimizing forage production, thereby allowing Manitoba farmers to remain competitive in the livestock industry,” says Neufeld.

“The use of an auction process to allocate these leases ensures that all producers have an opportunity to participate in a fair and transparent allocation process. Using the new market-based formula for setting the forage rent will ensure that Manitoba is using a fair rental rate that will stand up to potential trade challenges from all of our domestic and international trading partners.”

Callum is hopeful that the first right of renewal amendment will be included in the next round of regulatory changes.

“We want this program to be as predictable and as affordable as possible for producers in the province to really allow them to maintain their financial sustainability,” he says. “I think if we are able to access the full first right of renewal for these Crown land leases, I think that would ease some minds.”

He would also like to see this extended to all leaseholders, particularly to assist young producers. “They need to have some assurances, even when they’re speaking with some of their lending institutions, that they will have these leases and can utilize them in their operation for a longer period of time.”

Without amendments, however, many leaseholders are uneasy about the future profitability of their ranches.

“The rationale for why they made these changes seems to be that they wanted to better utilize Crown lease. They wanted to grow the beef herd in Manitoba,” says Nottveit. “I said this to the deputy minister: By raising the cost of production for leaseholders, you feel that that’s going to stimulate us to run more cattle?”

Nottveit is discouraged by what he sees as a lack of interest by governments in the realities of family operations and producing food in Canada.

“There are many sectors in the economy that the government subsidizes and the government supports, and if the government doesn’t put money into healthcare, they realize later on that it costs society way more money later on. Sometimes it’s hard to see the return in investment, but think of this pandemic now. Think of the fact that what I’m actually doing is producing food,” he says.

“We’re over an hour to our closest grocery store — there’s nothing here, and if I don’t have the lease I don’t have a job or a livelihood,” he continues. “My land is beautiful lakefront property, but to me, I can’t make a living here.”

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Provincial Finance Minister Donna Harpauer on Wednesday tabled the province’s 2020-21 spending estimates with the “unusual step” of not including revenue forecasts, citing the current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Estimated spending on the agriculture file includes an appropriation of $366.2 million and capital asset amortization of $2.67 million, for total estimated expense of $368.9 million, down from an estimated $391.3 million for the 2019-20 budget year.

The most significant estimated spending markdown for 2020-21 is on AgriStability, the federal/provincial farm income stabilization program, to $19.98 million, down from $32.9 million in 2019-20.

Provincial spending on crop insurance program premiums is also estimated to fall by $15.9 million in 2020-21, to $139.07 million.

Ag spending to be eliminated in 2020-21 includes the province’s Crown land sale incentive program, which had been earmarked for an estimated $1.55 million in 2019-20.

Increased spending is projected for “regional services” such as ag extension work, at just over $37 million, up $4.8 million from 2019-20.

“The key investments in this spending plan for the upcoming year provide stability and include significant spending lifts in many areas, including health, and significant economic stimulus through capital spending,” Harpauer wrote in a message attached to Wednesday’s estimates.

“And if we didn’t proceed with tabling the estimates, we wouldn’t be able to move ahead with any of these new spending initiatives or stimulus as we start the new fiscal year. So we need to move forward with the estimates now.”

Harpauer added that “more may have to be done to address both the health and economic impacts of COVID-19” in Saskatchewan, but the “full impact” of planned federal measures is still uncertain.

The province, she said, may have to make “adjustments to address the economic fallout” from the pandemic, adding:”we fully recognize that this may mean a deficit.”

That said, she added that Saskatchewan has $1.3 billion in cash reserves and has also “shifted reliance on resource revenues” such as from oil and potash, to an expected 12 per cent, down from a previous high of 32. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“Many producers rely on predictable and affordable access to Crown land leases as a major part of their operations, particularly in areas of the province where there is limited access to deeded land,” said MBP President Tom Teichroeb. “During the consultative process we identified key producer and industry priorities when it comes to the future direction of the ACL program and we are continuing to advance those priorities.”

Among the changes being made to the ACL program MBP believes will be beneficial to the beef industry include:

• Allocating ACL leases via an auction system, which is a less complicated and more transparent process;
• A commitment to promoting compliance and using enforcement where needed to ensure the lands are being utilized for the intended purpose; and,
• The removal of the 4,800 Animal Unit Month cap per leaseholder for forage leases, a practice that has been restrictive and which did not necessarily take into account the increasing size of operations overall.

MBP has firm positions on several matters raised during the consultative process around the modernization of the ACL Program and it is continuing to pursue their inclusion in the government’s policies. They include:

• The continued ability for producers to be able to utilize family transfers and unit transfers;
• Allowing existing lease holders to have the first right of renewal upon expiry of their lease if they can demonstrate that they still meet the program terms and conditions. Access and predictability are essential to long-term planning related to livestock operations;
• Having a rental rate formula that is fair, easily understood, recognizes market conditions and does not place an undue financial burden on the producers during the transition to the new formula; and,
• The right to informed access whereby those wishing to access ACL would need to notify the lease or permit holder prior to entry. This is important to address concerns related to potential biosecurity issues, and also to help protect livestock, people and the environment.

MBP believes that if the beef cattle sector is to grow it is essential agricultural Crown lands be allocated, priced and managed in the most predictable and transparent manner possible. This will help ensure their use is both effective and efficient for producers, and also help meet the stated objectives of the ACL program which include supporting the sustainable expansion of the livestock herd in Manitoba, contributing to ecological goods and services, and providing mitigation and adaptation to climate change.

Manitoba Beef Producers is the exclusive voice of the beef industry in Manitoba, representing 6,500 producers across the province. MBP’s mission is to represent all beef producers through communication, advocacy, research, and education—within the industry and to governments, consumers and others, to improve prosperity and ensure a sustainable future.

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Citing “dry conditions in parts of the province,” the Manitoba government announced Monday that livestock producers “will temporarily be allowed to cut hay and allow animals to graze on Crown land not normally designated for agricultural use.”

Crown land can be made available for agricultural use “under certain circumstances,” the province said, by way of its Agricultural Crown Lands Leasing program, which will administer the use of available land and provide necessary permits.

Producers interested in such leases are asked to contact the program office in Minnedosa or their local Crown lands representative.

Eligible producers’ livestock must be removed from the land either “when the naturally existing forage is exhausted” or by Oct. 31, the province said, and any baled hay must be removed by Nov. 15.

“The dry conditions of the past couple of years have created challenging conditions for beef producers in terms of the amount of grazing days available on their pastures and the volume and quality of hay they have been able to harvest,” Manitoba Beef Producers president Tom Teichroeb said Monday in a separate release.

“This announcement will provide an important option for producers who require additional feed options and we thank the government for making this available.”

Producers with AgriInsurance contracts who plan to put a crop to “alternate use” must contact the Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. office to arrange for a field appraisal prior to harvesting the crop, the province noted Monday.

Crop producers “should also consider making crop residue available to livestock producers,” the province added.

“I know there are many beef producers who would welcome those kinds of conversations,” MBP’s Teichroeb said.

MBP, he added, “will continue to engage with the government about the effects of the dry conditions and possible strategies to help producers deal with these situations, such as water supply challenges.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Saskatchewan Crop Insurance on Wednesday announced an extension on the June 30 deadline for seeding crops for greenfeed, to July 15.

Producers who have crop insurance will now be able to seed and insure any cereal greenfeed crop — including producers who hadn’t previously endorsed greenfeed on their contracts, the agency said. Crop insurance customers have until July 15 to select that endorsement and seed their greenfeed crop.

According to the provincial ag ministry’s crop report for the week ending June 10, seeding is “mostly complete” in Saskatchewan but a few fields are still being seeded for greenfeed and silage.

“Many areas of the province that are in need of rain did not receive any this past week,” the ag ministry said, except for “localized” rain in northwestern and southeastern cropping areas.

A crop insurance customer who wants to use annual crop acres for livestock grazing or for feed can contact their local Saskatchewan Crop Insurance office, the agency said Wednesday, noting crop insurance customers also have coverage in the event that their annual crops suffer from the dry conditions.

A producer can register a pre-harvest claim if he or she doesn’t want to carry the crop through to harvest. If the producer takes their crop to harvest, but it has a reduced yield, he or she can file a post-harvest claim.

The provincial government on Wednesday also noted the Western Livestock Price Insurance Program (WLPIP) grants producers the opportunity to purchase insurance based on a forward market price for their cattle — and for those who purchased price insurance this spring, the 60-day continuous criteria will be waived for the 2019 grazing season.

Enrolling in AgriStability for the 2019 program year is also still an option for those who haven’t yet done so, the province said, as that enrolment deadline has been pushed back to July 2.

Among other options available to livestock producers, the province noted Crown land lessees with “excess” grazing or hay resources can contact their regional ag ministry offices to request permission to sublease their pasture, graze “non-owned” cattle on the lease, harvest some or all of the hay on the lease and/or sell hay from the lease.

Provincial environment ministry lands may also be available for grazing until Sept. 1 through the Fish and Wildlife Development Fund, the province said. More information on FWDF land is available online. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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