Our Vision and Mission Statements

Vision: Vibrant grasslands and prosperous forage crops on Manitoba’s agricultural lands.

Mission: Promoting the economic prosperity and environmental benefits of forages, grasslands, cover crops and healthy soils to benefit our forage and grassland producers, local communities and society.

WALL OF FAME ANNOUNCED!

Shauna Breault: Category: Producer: Agriculture Leadership/ Government Relations

Shauna and Clayton Breault and their children Jesse, Laine and Elektra run Breault Ranching LTD located north of Ste. Rose near Toutes Aides, Manitoba. Nearby to the Breault’s ranching operations, daughter Ashley, husband Jeff Beyak and their three kids run a farm operation in the Meadow Portage area.

Breault Ranching runs a herd of about 4300 cattle, including 2500 breeding females, across 22,000 acres of pasture, including agricultural Crown land (ACL) forage leases. A key element of the Breault’s way of ranching, is hauling 1800 of their own ranch-raised cows out to the pastures near Toutes Aides to calve on grass in June and July. In addition to their herd, the Breault’s farm 1325 acres of corn-intercropping and polycrops.

Shauna served two full three-year terms on the MFGA Board before terming out in 2023. While on the board, Shauna participated on the MFGA’s regen ag conference committee, led the MFGA’s Crown land file as well as served as the MFGA’s representative on the Keystone Agricultural Producers livestock committee.

Shauna was a key board member on the MFGA Board. Consistently, her thoughts on important matters were always in line with where we needed to go, and often we did. Shauna, husband Clayton and their family, are leaders on regen ag at their large ranch operation, including operating on Crown lands leases north of Ste. Rose. Shauna’s leadership on Crown lands both as a leaseholder and as MFGA’s lead on the file led to many meaningful, solutions-focused conversations with Ministers and senior leaders at Manitoba Agriculture that, to this day, continue to showcase the importance and connectivity of the MFGA and including our voices at the table in key discussions.

The Breault’s have been practicing regenerative agriculture and holistic management for 17 years. Shauna proudly considers her interactions and time spent at MFGA as an important part of their continuous regenerative journey.

Lawrence Knockaert: Category: Producer: Organizational Leadership

Lawrence Knockaert grew up on his family’s dairy farm in Bruxelles, MB. Lawrence and wife Kim ran the dairy after purchasing from his parents. True to form, Knockaert Dairy has recently transitioned from Lawrence and Kim to their son Shawn and his family. Lawrence and Kim remain active on the dairy in day-to-day operations and support. The Knockaert’s have three other children: Amanda, Sheena and Jared as well as ten grandchildren that they enjoy spending time with.

Lawrence has served on Dairy Farmers of Manitoba board of directors since 2012 and for the past ten years, has been the DFM rep on the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association Board including executive terms as vice chair, chair and past chair.

Lawrence brought a great degree of business sense to MFGA that helped MFGA greatly. Lawrence also helped facilitate and strengthen the connections between MFGA and the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba. Lawrence is very well-connected across Manitoba and Canadian dairy and farmer circles and, as result always was very in-tune to issues and opportunities for MFGA. During his leadership at MFGA, we greatly expanded our brand of working for and with a diverse network of early adopters, leaders and those interested in learning more about regen ag in Manitoba and North America.

Wall Of Fame

SAVE THE DATES, REGISTRATION OPEN!!!!

Recent Posts

Guest Blog: How to Scale Up Local Meat Processing

by Brenda Tjaden, http://prairieroutes.ca/

There are 2 common threads that unite people passionate about regenerative agriculture: a reverence for the natural world, and devotion to community. ‘Defining regenerative’, or natural or soil health or sustainability for that matter, is a pointless conversation that distracts from the fact that industrial agriculture holds no space to address people’s concerns about losses in natural capital and rural farm communities.

Two MFGA Board Stalwarts Headed For MFGA Wall of Fame

2024 MFGA Wall of Fame Inductees embody family, farm and MFGA values; showcase leadership on dairy and crown lands respectively

Brandon, Manitoba (Nov 12, 2024) – Lawrence Knockaert, a dairy farmer from Bruxelles, Manitoba that recently termed out as MFGA past chair after serving a full term on the MFGA Board as Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM) representative, and Toutes Aides, Manitoba’s Shauna Breault, a well-respected regenerative agriculture rancher and an integral voice in forage and lease matters on Manitoba’s Crown agricultural lands that termed off the MFGA board in 2023, will represent the MFGA’s fourth inductee class to the MFGA Wall of Fame as announced today on the morning of the organization’s seventh annual regenerative agriculture conference.

Thoughts From The Field: Conference Conversations Are Not All Easy

by Larry Wegner, MFGA Board Alumni

November 1, 2024 - It is that time of year again! In a few short days, Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) will be hosting their annual Regen Ag Conference. This year’s keynote speaker’s list is once again well worth the registration fee and your time to attend. Check out more information on mfga.net.

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