Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen on Wednesday announced what the province billed as “a new rural service delivery model to modernize services provided to clients whose needs and expectations have changed.”

The new model, set to take effect April 1, will consist of 10 agricultural service centres, to be staffed by both the provincial ag department and Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC), the Crown crop insurance and ag lending agency.

Another nine rural offices will house department staff but will not be open to the public, the province said in a release.

Another five offices, meanwhile, will be devoted to “integrated resource management” and two other resource development offices will focus on minerals and petroleum respectively.

The new “multichannel” service delivery model will also involve development of an online chat program from which clients will be able to get “real-time assistance” via smartphone, tablet, computer or toll-free phone. An exact launch date for that program wasn’t given in Wednesday’s release.

Each office will also have a “client-accessible kiosk” for access to such online services, the province said.

Affected offices

The new consolidated ag service centres are to handle MASC’s insurance, lending, farmland school tax rebate and wildlife damage compensation services, along with licensing and permit applications, and also to provide information on ag department programs.

Those 10 combined offices will be at Arborg, Brandon, Dauphin, Headingley, Killarney, Morden, Neepawa, Portage la Prairie, Steinbach and Swan River.

Other workspace for department employees will remain — but will not be open to the public — at Beausejour, Carberry, Carman, Melita, Minnedosa, Neepawa, Portage la Prairie, Roblin and Virden.

Department and MASC offices set to close entirely under the new model include:

• the combined agriculture and MASC offices at Altona, Hamiota, Morris, Somerset, St. Pierre Jolys and Teulon;
• agriculture offices at Ashern, Gladstone, Lundar, Pilot Mound, Russell, Souris, Ste. Rose du Lac and Vita;
• MASC offices at Birtle, Deloraine, Fisher Branch, Glenboro, Grandview, Shoal Lake and Souris; and
• a petroleum branch office at Waskada.

The department’s “integrated resource management” offices will be at Brandon, Gimli, Lac du Bonnet, The Pas and Thompson; the minerals service office will be at Flin Flon and the petroleum services office at Virden.

Wednesday’s announcement didn’t specify whether or where MASC would continue to offer bilingual services. Its two listed bilingual offices, at St. Pierre Jolys and Somerset, are both slated to close.

“Meeting the needs of our clients with professional knowledge, current research and data, connections to appropriate links, and timely, unbiased information has always been a priority for our department,” Pedersen said in Wednesday’s release.

“The array of services that will be provided online, by telephone or in person at agricultural service centres throughout the province will offer producers a convenient and client-focused means to access the programs and services that are available to them.”

Keystone Agricultural Producers, the province’s general farm group, had warned earlier this year that the province should carefully consider any cuts it might make to MASC services, as adjusters will still need to be able to assess claims in a timely manner.

“I need to make important decisions about whether to rip up a crop and re-seed,” KAP president Bill Campbell told the Manitoba Co-operator in May. “Most of the work will be done out of the district offices. There aren’t many adjusters going from Portage to Swan River.”

In a separate statement Thursday, Campbell said that while KAP “welcome(s) the option to access forms, applications and information online, the opportunity to speak face-to-face with specialists is essential. This will be more challenging for many producers, particularly in western Manitoba.”

KAP, he said, has been “assured that these measures will not impact staffing levels” but he reiterated the organization’s members “are concerned about ongoing access to staff and have noted this issue for some time.”

Following provincial health guidelines, all ag department and MASC offices have been closed to walk-in or other unscheduled visits for months already due to the COVID-19 pandemic. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) announced Tuesday that growers can get full coverage on winter wheat or fall rye seeded from Aug. 15 to Sept. 25, and reduced coverage if seeded between Sept. 26 and 30.

Seeding date changes will be in effect for winter wheat and fall rye seeded in 2020 and harvested in 2021, according to the Manitoba Crop Alliance. Next year’s AgriInsurance contract will be amended accordingly, the group said.

The alliance, whose founding groups include Winter Cereals Manitoba, hailed MASC for “opening the (seeding) window by an additional 15 days.”

“We are happy with the changes and believe they will benefit farmers,” alliance secretary Doug Martin, the former chair of Winter Cereals Manitoba, said in a separate release. — 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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MASC on Monday said a file containing names and contact information of an unspecified number of AgriInsurance clients was “attached in error” to an email sent last Tuesday to 134 Manitoba producers.

“The information that was sent did not include clients’ social insurance numbers or financial information,” MASC said in its notice.

Producers affected by the breach can expect to be contacted directly by MASC, the agency said, but any farmers with further questions may also contact MASC via email.

MASC said it has put “additional process controls” in place and reported the privacy breach to Manitoba’s provincial ombudsman. It also said it “will conduct a review of its processes and procedures to minimize the risk of an incident of this nature occurring again.”

Affected farmers have the right to file a privacy complaint with the ombudsman’s office as per the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, MASC added. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The Prairies’ Crown ag insurance corporations announced Thursday that the deadline to buy WLPIP calf price insurance for 2020 has been extended to June 18.

The new deadline, reset from May 28, gives eligible cattle producers “an additional three weeks to monitor premiums and purchase calf price insurance policies,” Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) said in a notice.

However, Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC), in a separate release Thursday, noted the extension gives producers just nine extra purchasing days, as available coverage options are published only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

The extension only applies to this spring’s purchasing period, AFSC noted. All calf price insurance fall settlement dates remain the same.

Typically, the calf program insures calves born in the spring and sold in the fall; cow-calf producers buy price insurance from February to the end of May, for their intended marketings from September to December.

Available policy lengths range from 16 to 36 weeks, and for each policy length, a range of coverage levels is offered, typically from 75 to 95 per cent of the expected forward price, each corresponding with a premium.

Coverage levels and premiums change daily based on market factors including CME feeder cattle futures, currency exchange rates, barley prices, basis and feeder-to-calf price spread.

The deadline extension was granted “in response to the ever-changing circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic,” AFSC said Thursday.

The “initial reaction” to COVID-19 negatively impacted beef sales through its direct link to the food services industry, AFSC said, and the pandemic has since led to “increased volatility in cattle prices, due to fear of the unknown.”

The extended deadline “will allow cattle producers more time to evaluate and make decisions based on their risk tolerance and their operation,” interim AFSC CEO Jerry Bouma said in Thursday’s release.

“The market is moving in the right direction and should offer the affordability that producers depend on, and give them the opportunity to participate in the calf insurance program.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) last week announced it has cancelled all in-person public meetings on its forage insurance review, citing the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. But the agency has extended the deadline to take part in its online survey and/or comment by email.

Producers who can’t get at the online survey are asked to contact the department at 204-239-3275 or by email to have a copy of the survey mailed or emailed to them.

MASC, in an email to producers, said it also plans to hold focus group meetings via videoconferencing “to further delve into survey responses and to discuss possible solutions to issues identified.”

Those focus groups, MASC said, will be made up of producers who completed the survey and “offered their availability.” The meetings “will be kept to small numbers to allow effective engagement.”

The forage insurance review, launched last month, is led by Mike Lesiuk, a former provincial director of sector policy for the ag department, who’s expected to provide recommendations to provincial Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen and MASC “later this spring.”

Completed surveys are expected to help inform the province on “how the current forage insurance platform is being used, its limitations and what changes need to be considered.” Producer groups and “other stakeholders” will also be approached.

Over 1,200 producers in Manitoba now have MASC forage insurance. That covers over 272,000 acres, which the province said amounts to about 18 per cent of what’s eligible. By comparison, about 90 per cent of annual crop acreage has MASC insurance.

“The back-to-back production challenges faced by forage producers in 2018 and 2019 have impacted provincial and local feed supplies,” the province said, a problem which in turn is “is affecting producers’ ability to maintain herd size and negatively impacting farm finances.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The provincial ag department said Tuesday it has launched a review “to better understand the purchasing decisions of Manitoba producers when it comes to forage insurance products” available via Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC).

Over 1,200 producers in Manitoba now have MASC forage insurance. That covers over 272,000 acres, which the province said amounts to about 18 per cent of what’s eligible. By comparison, about 90 per cent of annual crop acreage has MASC insurance.

“Manitoba forage producers have had back-to-back challenging production years,” Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen said in a release Tuesday. “We also know that a relatively small proportion of forage acres are insured, compared to annual crops.

“To bridge that gap, we need to better understand their risks, challenges and how the current program does or does not meet their needs.”

MASC’s current forage programs include basic and “select” hay insurance along with a hay disaster benefit, harvest flood option, enhanced quality option, forage restoration benefit and forage establishment insurance, as well as pasture insurance and pasture days insurance.

Mike Lesiuk, a former provincial director of sector policy for the ag department, will lead the review, with recommendations to be provided to Pedersen and MASC “later this spring.”

The plan is to engage producers regarding their “perceptions about insurance products, how they currently manage risks and how the program can evolve to support growth in Manitoba’s livestock sector.” Producer groups and “other stakeholders” will also be approached.

The review is also expected to include an “environmental scan” of other programs available in Canada and related research. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

Update, Feb. 20: The province’s consultation web page is now online.

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Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC), the provincial crop insurance agency, announced Friday that the HDB has been activated and benefit payments to eligible forage producers on about 1,500 claims will begin “shortly.”

The HDB, which was set up in 2014 and kicked in for the first time in 2018, is a feature of the federal-provincial AgriInsurance program. It compensates insured forage producers for increased hay and transport costs in cases of a severe forage shortfall in the province.

According to provincial Agriculture Minister Blaine Pedersen, all producers enrolled in MASC’s select hay insurance and basic hay insurance programs are “automatically” enrolled in the HDB.

At least 20 per cent of producers with select hay or basic hay insurance must harvest less than 50 per cent of their long-term average hay yield to trigger an HDB payment. All insured hay types — alfalfa, alfalfa grass mixtures, grasses, sweet clover and coarse hay — are eligible.

For 2019, producers will receive an additional $40 for each tonne below their select hay or basic hay insurance coverage.

Premiums for the HDB are cost-shared 60-40 by the federal and Manitoba governments under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership at no cost to producers. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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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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Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler on Monday named Darlingford, Man. grain grower and accountant Jim Wilson and former federal agriculture minister Charlie Mayer as the new chair and vice-chair respectively for Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC).

Wilson, a former board chairman for Prairie grain handler Agricore United, now part of Glencore’s Viterra business, also currently serves as vice-chairman of Canterra Seeds and secretary on the board of the Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi).

Mayer, a former grain grower and cattle producer who now lives at St. Francois Xavier, served as the MP for the Portage la Prairie area from 1979 to 1993, as minister of state for the Canadian Wheat Board and for grains and oilseeds, and in 1993 as minister of agriculture for then-prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell.

Eichler’s only holdover from the previous government’s MASC board is former Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president Doug Chorney, a grain and vegetable grower at East Selkirk and a MASC director since last year.

Also joining the board are Roblin agronomist and ag consultant Karen Fatteicher; Warren seed grower Suszanne Jones, a former director with MASC predecessor Manitoba Agriculture Credit Corp.; Hemp Oil Canada agronomist Darrell McElroy; St. Eustache farmer Laurent Ponsin; and Minto farmer Diane Rourke.

Leaving the board are Grandview, Man. farmer and vice-chair Larry Bohdanovich, a member of Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board; former provincial agriculture minister Len Harapiak; former Manitoba Pork Council vice-chairman Bryan Ferriss; Beausejour farmer Mary Johnson; and Strathclair rancher Calvin Martin. Frieda Krpan, the board’s chair, resigned her post earlier this year. — AGCanada.com Network

CORRECTION, Sept. 28, 2016: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Diane Rourke as a farmer from Starbuck, Man.

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