Manitoba Crop Alliance Launches New Whole Farm Research Program And Calls For Letters Of Intent
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 18, 2021 (Carman, MB) – The Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is now accepting letters of intent (LOI)s for the newly developed Whole Farm Research Program. The Whole Farm Research program is a whole-farm, cross-commodity approach to research. It is not crop-specific and leads to innovative solutions for the benefit of Manitoba producers now and into the future.
“The Whole Farm Research Committee delegates have been busy building the objectives and priorities for an exciting way of working together,” says Lori-Ann Kaminski, Research Program Manager at MCA. “It’s exciting bringing the information we received from Manitoba farmers and other MCA delegates together to develop the program and call for research projects to bring the Whole Farm Research priorities to life.”
Whole Farm Research priorities include crop rotation innovation, soil health: organic matter, cover crop and intercropping, pest management: weeds, diseases and insects, as well as water. General principles for MCA funded Whole Farm Research projects are:
- Innovative and forward-thinking.
- Designed to answer farmers questions or resolve issues.
- Solution-oriented with actionable outcomes and an emphasis on end goals that producers can implement in their operations.
- A pathway to assess and integrate new/next technology into Manitoba cropping systems.
- Another channel to communicate and collaborate with other organizations in Manitoba and across Canada.
- An opportunity to enhance communication channels with consumers and the public.
“The Whole Farm Research Program is a unique opportunity for Manitoba,” says Warren McCutcheon, farmer, delegate on the Whole Farm Research Committee and director with MCA. “It’s a chance for researchers, commodities and organizations across the country to collaborate on initiatives to increase profitability for grain farmers in Manitoba now and into the future. It’s also an opportunity to share success stories to the public.”
LOI’s will be accepted until Thursday, April 15, 2021 for projects to begin in 2022. MCA will consider 3–5 year proposals related to grain production and value‐added processing. An overriding priority is improving the profitability for Manitoba’s barley, corn, flax, wheat or sunflower producers.
For more information about MCA’s Whole Farm Research Program or to review the LOI eligibility criteria, please visit mbcropalliance.ca/research/projects or contact Lori-Ann Kaminski at loriann@mbcropalliance.ca.
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About Manitoba Crop Alliance:
Manitoba Crop Alliance is a non-profit organization established August 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. Manitoba Crop Alliance puts their farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization by focusing on four main areas: research, agronomy, market access and development, and communications. It is through investment in these key areas that Manitoba Crop Alliance can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Lori-Ann Kaminski
Research Program Manager
Manitoba Crop Alliance
204.745.0366 | loriann@mbcropalliance.ca
Manitoba Crop Alliance Celebrating 40 Years Administering Advance Payments Program (APP)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 2, 2021 (Carman, MB) – This year, Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) is thrilled to celebrate 40 years of being an administrator of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC) Advance Payments Program (APP). The APP is a federal loan program administered by MCA. It offers Canadian farmers marketing flexibility through interest-free and low interest cash advances.
“Celebrating 40 years of being an APP administrator is a big milestone for MCA”, says Pam de Rocquigny, Chief Executive Officer, MCA. “We’re proud to celebrate this milestone and will continue to provide the high level of personalized, friendly, small town service our clients expect and deserve when they contact our office regarding APP now, and well into the future.”
MCA provides cash advances on over 30 different crop kinds, including the major crops such as wheat, canola, soybeans, and grain corn. MCA’s interest rate on interest-bearing cash advances is a competitive rate with major banks and credit unions.
MCA is currently accepting applications for the 2021 program year with funds to be issued starting April 1, 2021 and will continue to accept applications for short term financing needs under the 2020 program year.
“MCA has recently published APP Service Standards on our website defining the high level of service our customers can expect when they contact us. As we celebrate 40 years of being an APP administrator, we recognize producers have the choice of administrators and we’d like to thank our loyal customers for their continued support,” adds de Rocquigny.
MCA’s staff will continue to work closely with partners at AAFC to deliver the APP and provide administrative options to serve Manitoba farmers. For more information about the APP or to review the APP Service Standards, visit mbcropalliance.ca.
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About Manitoba Crop Alliance:
Manitoba Crop Alliance is a non-profit organization established August 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. Manitoba Crop Alliance puts their farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization by focusing on four main areas: research, agronomy, market access and development, and communications. It is through investment in these key areas that Manitoba Crop Alliance can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Pam de Rocquigny
Chief Executive Officer
Manitoba Crop Alliance
204.745.6661 | pam@mbcropalliance.ca
The Focal Point: Spring 2021 Edition
The first edition of The Focal Point – Manitoba Crop Alliance’s (MCA) research magazine – was mailed out to members this month. Building on the research foundation initiated by MCA’s five founding organizations, MCA has established a comprehensive research program to continue to advance the interests and profitability of farmer members. The research program allows for a whole-farm, cross-commodity approach to research that is not crop-specific, such as soil health, pest management and crop rotations.
Field Selection for Corn following Drought
Corn acres took a hit in 2020 after record planted acres in 2019. Unfortunately, the 400,000+ acres planted in 2019 were droughted, frozen prematurely and over 100,000 of those acres went unharvested by December. It was understandable that after that chaos, corn producers scaled back this past spring. The good news is that, while some areas really struggled with corn this past year, provincial average yield did increase back to a more “normal” yield for Manitoba and it looks as though acres will increase conservatively this year.
Corn seed is certainly booked and secured now, for the most part, but there will be some flex acres on several farms. Some very straight-forward tips for field selection following a relatively dry growing season and a very dry winter to date:
- Do not plant corn following another deeply rooted crop (eg. sunflower). Instead, select a field that was occupied by a more shallow-rooted crop. Corn is proven to do well after soybeans and some pulse crops.
Yield response of Manitoba crops sown on large (>120 acre) fields of various previous crop (stubble) in rotation (2010-2016 per cent average of relative yields).photo: Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development
- If soils remain dry, remember that when planting corn, it will germinate if any moisture is present. If there is only enough soil moisture for germination and not enough to support plant growth and development, a rain will be required to carry the germinated seed any further. Planting timing will be very important, as it always is, but field selection will also be important.
There are several free webinars coming up this winter that can be an invaluable way to remain updated on technologies, innovations, conditions and more, so we strongly recommend you take advantage of the pandemic in this way! It has never been so easy and inexpensive to attend several conferences in one season, across the world! Continue reading this edition of Heads Up for webinars that the Manitoba Crop Alliance is participating in and contributing to!
The Fence Post: November 2020
Download The Fence Post: Fall/Winter 2022 (pdf)
Table of Contents
- Report from the CEO’s Office
- Growing back better: Driving home the message in Ottawa
- Keystone Agricultural Producers: Manitoba Crop Alliance newest group member
- Reduce mycotoxins to Keep it Clean
- Wheat midge: protecting against another outbreak
- Code of Practice: Why it matters
- A new normal for new crop missions
- “Average” cereal harvest welcomed after 2019’s challenges
- Special crops year in review
- Manitoba Crop Alliance research challenge and opportunity
Manitoba Crop Alliance Announces Results For Crop Committee Delegate Nominations
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, November 5, 2020 (Carman, MB) – Manitoba Crop Alliance (MCA) announces the results and next steps in the nomination and election process for the positions of Crop Committee delegates. The nomination period took place starting September 1 and ending October 30, 2020.
Corn Committee: Carl Bangert (Beausejour), David Boerchers (Laurier), Dean Toews (MacGregor), Emile Morin (Otterburne), and Hubert Preun (St. Andrews) were nominated for the four available crop committee delegate positions. With five nominees for four positions, an election will take place where farmer members in good standing with MCA’s corn group will be eligible to vote.
Flax Committee: Dean Buchanan (Crystal City), Jack Hodgson (Roland), Lance Bierens (Winnipeg), and Lorne Johnson (Arborg) were nominated for the four available crop committee delegate positions and are thereby elected by acclamation. They will join Andrew Harris (Winnipeg), Eric Fridfinnson (Arborg), Garry Froese (Winkler), and Nick Matheson (Stonewall) to form MCA’s Flax committee.
Sunflower Committee: Edgar Scheurer (Dugald), Korey Peters (Randolph), Myles Kubinec (Holland), and Sally Parsonage (Baldur) were nominated for the four available crop committee delegate positions and are thereby elected by acclamation. They will join Gilbert Sabourin (St. Jean Baptiste), Gregg Fotheringham (Reston), Mark McDonald (Virden), and Roger Vaags (Dugald) to form MCA’s Sunflower committee
Wheat and Barley Committee: Boris Michaleski (Ashville), Fred Greig (Reston), Josee Saquet (Laurier), Rauri Qually (Dacatoh), and Sheila Elder (Wawanesa) were nominated for the five available crop committee delegate positions and are thereby elected by acclamation. They will join Doug Martin (East Selkirk), Drew Baker (Beausejour), Robert Misko (Roblin), Ryan Hueging (Woodlands), and Wilfred Harder (Lowe Farm) to form MCA’s Wheat and Barley committee.
Avenue 4 Communications will be the returning officer for the Corn Committee delegate elections. The election will be conducted by mail-in ballot. Ballots will be mailed to eligible corn group members mid-November with voting closing on December 15, 2020.
The acclaimed and elected delegates will be installed at the first Crop Committee meetings to be held in January 2021. At the meeting, the four crop committees will make their director appointments to the Manitoba Crop Alliance board. The MCA board will be announced prior to the annual general meeting being held virtually on February 11, 2021.
Manitoba Crop Alliance extends its sincere appreciation to out-going delegates Allan Olinyk, Cam Laxdal, Charlene Lewandoski, Chris Raffard, Dennis Thiessen, Devin Toews, Hugh Drake, Luc Remillard, Patrick Friesen, and Reginald Johnson and for their service and contribution to Manitoba wheat, barley, corn, sunflower, and flax farmers.
About Manitoba Crop Alliance:
Manitoba Crop Alliance is a non-profit organization established August 1, 2020 representing over 9,000 farmer-members. Manitoba Crop Alliance puts their farmer-members first and strives to continuously improve the competitiveness and profitability of all crops represented by the organization by focusing on four main areas: research, agronomy, market access and development, and communications. It is through investment in these key areas that Manitoba Crop Alliance can ensure wheat, barley, corn, sunflower and flax are sustainable production choices for Manitoba farmers. For more information, visit mbcropalliance.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Pam de Rocquigny
Chief Executive Officer
Manitoba Crop Alliance
204.745.6661 | pam@mbcropalliance.ca
Rej Vermette
Returning Officer
Avenue 4 Communications
204.961.1213 | rej@avenue4.com