Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program now booking appointments

Mar 03, 2022

The Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program is up and running.

Board member Gerry Friesen gave an update on the program.

"We met our goal and are pleased," he said. "Over the course of the last few months, we did get applications in for counsellors. We've chosen four of them, they're up on our website. Farmers and their families are now able to go to our website and pick a counsellor and book an appointment."

Farmers and their immediate family members can access six free, confidential (one hour) counselling sessions with a registered and skilled counsellor with a background in agriculture, funded by the Manitoba Farmer Wellness Program.

The services are available during the day, evenings or on weekends to accommodate farmers’ schedules, and can be in person, by telephone or video chat depending on the farmer’s preference.

Click here to see more...

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.