Manitoba launches new on-farm environmental stewardship projects

Sep 18, 2017

Federal and provincial governments invest in land conservation in Manitoba

By: Kate Ayers

Print and Online News Reporter

Manitoba is helping farmers and conservation districts preserve environmental health and promote sustainable agriculture, thanks to a recent government investment.

The provincial and federal governments are devoting over $880,000 to projects aimed at protecting and improving Manitoba’s land, according to Thursday’s Government of Canada release.

Cliff Greenfield, manager and engineering technologist of the Intermountain Conservation District, is optimistic about Growing Forward 2’s (GF2) contribution to help improve the health of local ecosystems. He highlighted the district’s planning process.

“We identify targets as well as we can through our watershed plan. (Some) targets include flood peak reduction and nutrient transport reduction. We identify issues, needs and solutions within the watershed planning, (as well as) set specific goals to achieve (within a given timeline),” Greenfield explained to Farms.com today.

GF2 Growing Assurance – Ecological Goods and Services (EG&S) will provide funding for 23 projects within nine conservation districts. GF2 will provide this funding to Manitoba’s conservation districts, which will then work alongside farmers, the release said.

Projects include enhancing riparian areas, building water retention structures, protecting sensitive land and establishing grassed waterway buffers.

In the Intermountain Conservation District, the main projects are gully stabilization and water retention, Greenfield said. These projects match the provincial priorities and fit with those of the local conservation district. These projects will help to reduce erosion and sedimentation.

Over GF2’s five-year policy framework, Manitoba Agriculture estimates that every dollar spent on environmental projects creates a $3 economic spin off.

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