Current MFGA-led Conservation Trust Projects
“The ultimate goal for MFGA is producer profitability resulting from healthy agricultural lands being managed with wise land-use practices that vastly improve soil, water and air quality,” says Wegner. “When combined with our increasing supporter and producer networks, our growing leadership profile on Regenerative Agriculture and the projects we have successfully delivered on our resume, MFGA’s constant focus on the win-win-win for our organization goals and the interests of producers and project partners really is a winning formula for all.
Understanding the Mb Conservation Trust and Growing Outcomes in Watersheds (GROW) Trust: Read this Mb Cooperator article.
Soil Health
Addressing watershed priorities for producers and wildlife habitat-PHASE 3 (2022)
August 16, 2022 - “Cover Crops Help Cover Wet Weather” When it comes to explaining how the addition of cover crops have impacted his family farm, Bray Rookes is full of positives as to how his farm has benefited. But the 20-year-old Western Manitoba farmer in the Assiniboine West Watershed District (AWWD) really gets excited when detailing how his family’s cover crop mixes handled the deluge of 2022 rain after a year of drought in 2021. Read the full MFGA media release.
March 10, 2022 - “Soil Health: Addressing watershed priorities for producers and wildlife habitat-PHASE 3 (2022)” was approved in the Soil Health Category for $200,000 Conservation Trust funding over two years for MFGA to continue to lead a cover crop/soil health regenerative agriculture partnership approach with three southwest Manitoba watershed districts: Assiniboine West, Souris River and Central Assiniboine to keep a growing root in the ground for as many days of the year as possible. Read the full MFGA media release.
Soil Health and Cover Crops for Producers and Wildlife (2021)
April 27, 2021 - $100,000 for MFGA to lead a one-year project for new producers from the Central Assiniboine, Assiniboine West and Souris River Watershed Districts to target 3600 acres in cover and relay crops to improve the health of the soil, increase profit at the farm gate and advance continued improvement in ecological services being delivered from the farming landscape. With the project goal to increase cover and relay crops, the project will support landowners’ Regenerative Agriculture practices that benefit their farms and the soils of their operations by keeping living roots in the ground for as many days of annual sunlight as possible. Read the full MFGA Media Release.
Assiniboine West Watershed District - 2021 Cover Crop Program Opportunity
This program provides the opportunity to experiment with cover crops to:
- Improves soil health
- Increase soil productivity
- Increase revenue
- lower inputs cost
Eligible producers can apply to Watershed Districts for up to $25/acre to plant companion crops in the 2021 growing season.
Contact your local Watershed District office for more information and application forms:
Assiniboine West Watershed District
Central Assiniboine Watershed District
Souris River Watershed District
Additional funding and support from MFGA and The Conservation Trust.
Wildlife and Habitat
A new approach to restoring profitability, wildlife habitat and soil health-PHASE 3 (2022)
March 10, 2022 - “A new approach to restoring profitability, wildlife habitat and soil health-PHASE 3 (2022)” was also approved for the third year of the project under the Habitat Wildlife Category. MFGA works very closely with Ducks Unlimited Canada on this $239,800 Conservation Trust funded-project designed to keep marginal acres intact via forage production. In both projects, the match of funding and services by the project partnership and landowners are crucial to each project’s success. Read the full MFGA media release..
A new approach to restoring profitability, wildlife habitat and soil health on a watershed basis (2021)
April 27, 2021 - $240,000 to the Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association to work closely with Ducks Unlimited Canada for one year to engage farmers with farmers to conserve wetlands and develop grasslands and forages on surrounding croplands to improve soil health, water and nutrient capture and wildlife habitat. The project – which follows a successful delivery of a similar project in 2020 - will deliver an incentive-based forage program that restores grasslands and protects the adjacent wetlands. Two distinct forage programs that sign long-term agreements with private landowners will be delivered that targets both grain and cattle producers. Success of the proposed project will be measured by the number of grassland acres restored and the number of wetlands protected by the programs. Read the full MFGA Media Release.
May 28, 2020 - MFGA will work closely with Ducks Unlimited Canada to deliver an incentive-based forage program that restores grasslands and protects the adjacent wetlands. Two distinct forage programs that sign long-term agreements with private landowners will be delivered that targets both grain and cattle producers. The goal is to restore 2,600 acres of grasslands and protect 400 acres of wetlands within two watersheds that overlap DUC’s high wetland density target areas. The $340,000 project will benefit from $113,000 Conservation Trust funding while DUC will contribute the bulk of the in-kind and matching funds through monies for producer incentives. MFGA, Assiniboine West and Souris River Watershed Districts and Redfern Farm Services will provide the balance. Read the full MFGA media release.
DUC program offerings
- Marginal Areas Program (MAP)
- Forage Program
- watching this 4-minute video overview
Expansion of natural riparian zones for wildlife and watersheds
November, 2022 - Bison Return to Regenerate Soils - Each year, Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation invites Conservation Trust grant applications for on-the-ground conservation projects across Manitoba that benefit water quantity and quality, wildlife habitat, soil health, and nature. The Conservation Trust received a project application in 2020 from the Manitoba Forage and Grasslands Association (MFGA) to convert 160 acres of grainland to a grazing system. The project goals were to demonstrate regenerative agriculture to improve economic returns to the farm while providing water storage, improved soil health, and increased wildlife habitat. Brooks and Jen White were identified as the farmers who would implement the project. They are the 5th generation owner/operators of Borderland Agriculture, a grain farm and bison ranch located in the far south-west corner of Manitoba. Read the full News Release.
May 28, 2020 - This two-year MFGA project backdrops onto the lands owned by Borderland Agriculture near Pierson, MB to provide grassland habitat to wildlife while at the same time providing flood mitigation to the Souris River. The two year project will benefit from approximately $28,000 in Conservation Trust funding with nearly $57,000 in matching funds provided from partners Borderland Agriculture, DUC, Souris River Watershed District and MFGA. Read the full MFGA Media Release.
Manitoba Grazing Exchange
Improving soil stewardship on Manitoba organic farms
April 27, 2021 - As a part of a larger project, the Manitoba Organic Alliance and MFGA are excited to be partnering together on a joint project partly funded by the Conservation Trust. The partners will build and coordinate a grazing exchange website to make it easier for livestock producers to connect with grain producers. Integrating livestock onto crop and pastureland is becoming increasingly adopted by climate-friendly farmers who are building their soil health and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Read the full MFGA Media Release.
Past MFGA-led Conservation Trust Projects
Kirkella Pasture Enhancement Project
Kirkella Community Pasture Association’s Grassland Habitat Enhancement Project received $100,000 from the Province of Manitoba’s new Conservation Trust Fund for a two-year pasture improvement project on the community-owned pasture.
The 4,000 acre pasture is located in the Rural Municipality of Wallace-Woodworth in western Manitoba and has significant environmental and cattle production values.
Soil Health and Cover Crops: Strength from the Soil: Building on the Biological foundation for Producers and Wildlife
Soil Health and Sunshine Cover Crops in Southwest Manitoba
May 28, 2020 - MFGA will lead a one-year project to work with interested producers from the Central Assiniboine, Assiniboine West and Souris River Watershed Districts to target 2,000 acres over the one year project to improve the ecological health of the soil, increase profit at the farm gate and advance continued improvement in ecological services being delivered from the farming landscape. The Conservation Trust, will provide $90,000 for the project with the remaining approximately $180,000 of the project funding made up inkind and by matching funding by the project partners. With a key focus on cover crops, the project will support landowners’ Regenerative Agriculture practices that benefit their farms and the soils of their operations by keeping living roots in the ground for as many days of annual sunlight as possible. Read the MFGA Media Release for this project.
Western Manitoba Producers Boost Soil Health via Cover Crop Project
Dec 10, 2020 - Shaun Cory knows that when it comes to farming, Mother Nature bats last. That’s why the Wawanesa-area farmer was quick to sign up for a Manitoba Conservation Trust-funded project led by Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) on cover crops across three Watershed Districts in western Manitoba. “Soil health is the way of the future in my books,” says Cory, who farms with his son Jeremy and his dad Gene and also sits as an elected councillor for the Rural Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa. Read the full MFGA Media Release.