The changes affect both the province’s crop insurance program and wildlife damage compensation, with updates designed to better reflect current farming realities across the province.

High participation

Risk management tools are more important than ever as producers contend with tighter margins and increasingly unpredictable weather, Kostyshyn said.

“Over 90 per cent of Manitoba’s annual crop acres are enrolled in ag insurance… The risk of loss of crops due to unpredictability is more important than ever.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Changes to agriculture insurance signal broader coverage and fewer blind spots.

Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation expects to provide $4.3 billion in coverage on 9.8 million crop acres in 2026 as weather extremes continue to affect regions throughout Manitoba in different ways, from flooding to droughts.

New forage pilot

Among the changes announced is a new pilot program aimed at encouraging sustainable forage production. The Forage Advantage Pilot Program, announced in November, will offer farmers a 15 per cent discount on forage establishment insurance premiums for growing perennial forage crops on designated land types.

The province is also expanding insurance coverage to include meadow fescue grown for seed, following years of discussions with commodity groups, Kostyshyn said.

Wildlife coverage expanded

Manitoba is also making a major update by expanding its wildlife damage compensation program to cover additional species and different kinds of losses.

“For 2026 crop year, farmers will be able to claim for crop damage due to blackbirds, raccoons, damage to livestock caused by vultures, eagles, hawks, ravens and other bird species,” Kostyshyn said.

KAP applauds changes

The updates to this year’s crop insurance and wildlife damage compensation programs reflect the growing risks farmers face, said Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) President Jill Verwey.

“Expanding coverage, updating values, and piloting incentives like the forage advantage program are positive steps.”

KAP will continue to work with the province to help inform and shape practical solutions for Manitoba farmers, Verwey added.

Manitoba Ag Days, marking its 49th anniversary, will be held from Jan. 20 to 22 in Brandon. The event is expected to attract producers, exhibitors, and agricultural businesses from throughout the Prairie region. For more coverage of the show, visit the Manitoba Co-operator’s Ag Days page.

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The study’s co-author Jourdyn Sammons presented its results during a rotational grazing lunch-and-learn hosted by the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association at Ag in Motion last July.

Researchers measured the performance of four different blends, grazed by yearling steers in 14-acre paddocks over two years at the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence near Clavet, just southeast of Saskatoon.

One annual blend included forage brassica, forage peas and barley, while the other included fall rye and clover. Two perennial blends were also tested, including a hybrid bromegrass and alfalfa blend, and a mix of sainfoin and meadow bromegrass.

Researchers measured the enteric methane emitted by steers on the various blends. The study also looked into soil health metrics, although those results are still being analyzed.

The study highlighted different potential advantages across the blends.

The hybrid bromegrass and alfalfa treatment consistently produced high biomass and provided adequate nutrition. Steers gained well on it, making it profitable — as long as a producer has time to establish perennial stands.

For producers needing a quicker turnaround, a barley, pea and brassica mix also grew plenty of biomass, topping production from the sainfoin and meadow bromegrass blend.

Sammons expected the sainfoin and meadow bromegrass to produce the least methane, due to chemical compounds in the sainfoin. However, the barley, pea and brassica blend beat it, coming in with the lowest emissions in the study.

Steers grazing the fall rye and clover blend had the best average daily gains, but the “yield wasn’t adequate to provide enough forage for a producer,” Sammons said in an interview.

“I wouldn’t say it would be a profitable investment, even though it did produce the high-quality forage for a period of time.”

Those results could be due to how they handled fall rye. Although fall rye is typically seeded in the fall, overwintered and grazed in the second year of growth, U of S researchers seeded their fall rye in spring. It was grazed while still immature, so it didn’t yield as well as hoped.

“The steers did really well on it, but they were only on there for a short amount of time.”

The annual blends also had more shallow moisture, which Sammons says they weren’t expecting.

“Typically, you would expect that your perennials would have more moisture continuously, but I think the biggest difference is that because the perennials are growing all year long — although they’re dormant in the winter — there’s more continued growth.”

Annuals, on the other hand, are seeded mid-spring, grazed and then quite likely “toast” right after grazing, she says.

“I think because of that and the continuous pull of the perennials, that’s why we’re seeing the increased levels of moisture in the shallow levels of the soil.

“But the flip side of that is because of the deeper rooting systems, because of the more complex tap roots that our perennials may possess there, they are able to utilize that moisture and they are able to access the moisture.”

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Across the Prairies, some of the toughest farmland is getting a second look, not for what it can grow, but for what it can support. Instead of battling poor soil and disappointing yields, farmers are being offered real money to turn marginal acres into something more sustainable. Groups such as Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the Prairie Precision Sustainability Network (PPSN) are stepping up with incentives that make perennial forage a viable, profitable, alternative.

Seeding marginal cropland into perennial forage helps conserve soil health, reduce erosion, and improve water retention. It also provides habitat for wildlife, particularly waterfowl, and helps improve biodiversity. Additionally, it enhances carbon sequestration by stabilizing soil with deep-rooted plants, supporting long-term environmental sustainability. It’s easy to see the appeal for conservation groups.

These incentive programs for marginal acres are relatively new. DUC began offering compensation to farmers for seeding unproductive cropland to perennial forage in 2019. PPSN began offering farmers support to convert marginal acres to perennial forage in 2024.

But while the incentives are recent developments, the problem of what to do with less productive areas of a farm are as old as agriculture itself. Darren Bond, a farm management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says farmers can make better decisions by considering the specific restrictions posed by different field conditions — such as susceptibility to drought, excess moisture, or soil compaction — that impact crop yield.

“Better land has fewer restrictions, and more marginal land has more restrictions,” Bond says. “Those restrictions would be things like being more susceptible to excessive moisture, excessive dryness or excessive stoniness, things that limit yield potential.”

Unfortunately, there is no exact science to determine those marginal acres. Sometimes factors such as favourable weather conditions and low disease or insect pressure may temporarily mask a problem. A farmer might get an excellent crop two or three years in a row after a run of good growing conditions and may assume that trend will carry on. But over the long term, that same parcel of land could drop below the profitability line more often than not.

“With land that’s a little bit more marginal, the yield swings can be a little bit higher,” Bond says. “So it does make it a little bit more difficult to make that decision.”

Another factor impacting the decision-making on marginal land is the cost of production. For the past year or two, farmers have been feeling the pinch of tight margins. Input costs have come down a bit over the last several months, but crop prices are remaining stubbornly low. Bond says farmers should expect that climate to continue.

“With tighter margins, the land that doesn’t produce as much is going to feel that squeeze sooner, a lot sooner than your average land,” he adds.

READ MORE: Bless your mess: Crops may not be best for underproducing acres

Bond also points out that when calculating costs of production, it’s important to factor in the time the farmer puts into managing that parcel of land.

“Maybe producers’ time would be better spent seeding that down to perennial forage and managing their other acres more intensely,” he says.

It’s complicated, but the tools are there to track yield and understand costs of production. Bond points out that having a clear view of what that land can produce will create a foundation for looking at what else could be done with the land. If a parcel of land is consistently underperforming, regardless of incentive, switching to perennial forage could be the right decision. It’s just a matter of roughing out the yield potential and profitability of that scenario and comparing it against staying the course.

“At least put numbers to the decision and try to take out some of the variables,” Bond says. “It could be the incentive is what pushes the decision over the edge.”

Ducks Unlimited Canada Marginal Lands Program

That’s certainly what the folks at Ducks Unlimited are hoping for. And the incentives they’re paying are significant. Their per-acre payment differs from province to province. In Manitoba, they’re offering $200 per acre; in Saskatchewan, it’s $135 per acre; and in Alberta, the incentive is $150 per acre.

Daphne Appleyard, DUC’s marginal areas specialist for Manitoba, says the conservation organization is focusing its efforts on the Prairie Pothole Region, which, in Canada, stretches across southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan and into Alberta.

“The region contains important natural habitat, including wetlands and upland, which improve soil health, water quality and biodiversity,” Appleyard says. “Conserving natural areas has also been shown to increase crop yields due to increased pollination and provide resilience during extreme weather events.”

In a press release pitching the benefits of the Manitoba marginal areas program, DUC says most farmers in southwestern Manitoba have to contend with marginal acres.

“The numbers are higher than you might expect,” says Sam Robinson, a research scientist who studies sustainable agriculture for DUC. “Common causes of marginal acres are too much or too little water, extra salinity and soil compaction.

Using data from Manitoba Agriculture’s 2025 Cost of Production Guide, DUC estimates the cost of growing red hard spring wheat at $350 per acre. At $8 per bushel and a yield of 65 bushels per acre, the profit is roughly $170 per acre. But in areas with mild salinity, where yields drop to just 45 bushels per acre, profit is reduced to only $10 per acre after input costs. In extreme cases, the cost of production exceeds any potential profit

“A farmer seeding wheat or canola into extreme saline areas could lose up to $418 per acre,” Appleyard says. “Fortunately, seeding those marginal areas to forages is a proven way to fix saline and weed issues. Plus, the forages can be used for livestock feed or sold, which increases the profitability of that land.”

Robinson notes weed infestations can also turn productive farmland into marginal farmland.

“We’re seeing herbicide resistance in kochia across the Prairies,” he says. “Some farmers will even do a chemical fallow, tilling the soil and applying herbicides with strong residual effects. This costs more time and money. The better solution is to have permanent cover in place that will compete with the weeds.”

The Prairie Precision Sustainability Network

PPSN’s incentive program is the second stage in a two-phase study that looks at marginal agricultural areas across the Canadian Prairies. In phase one, farmers provided their precision yield data, which helped create a detailed map of marginal acres and identify areas where conversion to perennial forage could be most beneficial.

The first phase is continuing, and the second phase, which launched in 2024, is going back to those farmers and asking them to convert those less-than-productive acres into perennial forage.

The PPSN began as a collaboration between research teams at the University of Saskatchewan in 2022, but since then the Universities of Manitoba and Waterloo have joined the effort.

Heading up the PPSN research team is Paul Galpern, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Calgary. He says convincing farms to sign on to the second phase isn’t a difficult pitch — particularly since they’ve all participated in the first phase. They already have data showing the land in question is losing the farmer money. It’s really just a matter of pointing that out and suggesting they take a break.

“Let’s see if we can plant that in perennial forages. Firstly, you’re going to stop losing money, but secondly, you’re going to have an opportunity for soil rehabilitation and carbon sequestration,” Galpern says. “Those long roots of those plants are going to store carbon under the soil. They’re also creating habitats that could be great for beneficial insects in their surrounding field. It’s a win-win.”

Farmers who sign on to phase two of the PPSN program stand to benefit from a variety of incentives designed to support their transition to perennial forage. First, participants will receive a one-time signing bonus for their involvement in the preliminary year of testing.

Once the conversion is complete, they’ll be eligible for a land use payment of $75 per acre each year for the first two years, with the potential for additional payments depending on available funding. PPSN will also fund the forage seed and provide advice on best management practices to ensure the success of their new perennial crops.

‘Stackable’ benefits

The good news for farmers is that the PPSN incentive program is ‘stackable,’ meaning that farmers can combine it with other programs such as the DUC program to maximize their incentives and financial support.

Galpern points out that PPSN has been partnering with DUC since phase one of its project — and says he will tell participating farmers to give DUC a call.

“We’re making a change here that is completely aligned with Ducks Unlimited’s marginal areas program,” he says. “And if you go over to them, they’ll provide additional support to help you make this transition.”

There are other programs that farmers can stack as well. For example, PPSN is working with a company called Carbon Asset Solutions. Under certain situations, they will also pay farmers for converting to perennial forage, but with more of an eye to carbon sequestration.

“They’ll measure how much carbon you’re storing in the soil in the section of your field that you’ve changed, and they’ll use carbon offset markets to pay you for that carbon,” Galpern says. “It’s a really exciting new opportunity.”

Farmers participating in PPSN’s Phase 2 will receive information about all the compatible programs that offer incentives. According to Bond, programs like these could really simplify the decision-making for farmers.

“Including an incentive can reduce some of the uncertainty,” he says. “Any payments just make it a little bit clearer as to what you can see for returns.”

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But in the early going, a Prairie-wide university-developed research project suggests taking poor-producing acres out of annual crop production might be a means of improving overall efficiency, as well as the all-important bottom line.

And an “informed guess” based on early research data suggests that across Western Canada, up to 12-15 per cent of farm fields perform at marginal levels — not totally below the profitability line, but not producing consistently high returns.

And recent figures from Manitoba Agriculture show the total cost — that is, operating and fixed costs — of growing crops has climbed, from around $300-$500 per acre in 2018 to about $500-$800 per acre in 2023. So taking less productive acres out of production could be a significant cost-saver.

Rather than seed every acre fencepost to fencepost with a canola or cereal crop, lead researcher Paul Galpern suggests the lower-yielding acres be taken out of annual crop production. Seed them to forages or let them grow as natural areas, or wildlife habitat, for example.

That’s where the term “messy” applies to fields, Galpern says. “It is not going to look as neat as a solid crop stand. In some respects you are going to have these messy fields with areas with irregular boundaries that are growing forages, perhaps even shrubs or a shelterbelt.”

READ MORE: Setting seed for 2024’s marginal acres

So that’s the idea, but what are the benefits? As the research work unfolds, there might be several, Galpern told about 500 producers attending the recent CrossRoads Crop Conference in Calgary.

First, by identifying unprofitable acres, you can save on inputs by not seeding a crop into them.

Also, however, by having such mini-buffer zones in and around the field, it can produce several indirect benefits to the productivity of surrounding canola or cereal crops.

“Research indicates it is a win-win proposition,” Galpern says, “a win for profitability and a win for sustainability.”

Galpern, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Calgary, has been studying unprofitable acres for some time.

Now, he and researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have created the Prairie Precision Sustainability Network (PPSN) to study the idea of taking those acres out of annual crop production and seeding them to perennial forage stands or natural areas at the farm level.

More producers welcome

The network now works with about 70 producers across Western Canada and welcomes more to join the research project.

In 2022-23, the research covered about 660,000 acres, on farms ranging in size from 900 to 45,000 acres.

On a confidential basis, producers provide crop yield data and the network matches that with satellite imagery, ultimately producing maps for individual farms and fields.

By combining grower harvest data and satellite imagery, PPSN is building a model that will predict future yields on low-production areas, by individual fields.

“We are analyzing unproductive field zones over multiple years, accounting for variations in crop, weather and markets,” Galpern says. “Our research will provide insights across thousands of fields and multiple years, leading to better-informed decisions and preparedness for future challenges.”

Participating producers receive a Marginal Area Map and a Marginal Area Report from the network’s agricultural economist, outlining options for improving the profitability of the operation now and into the future.

The research project doesn’t require farmers to do anything, but the information on unprofitable acres is there, if farmers want to develop a plan that fits their operation, which may include taking those acres out of annual crops.

Producers interested in getting involved or learning more can visit the PPSN website. There is lots of information posted and producers can connect with Andrea Astieford or Tamara McLoughlin, grower-co-operator liaisons who will be able to answer questions.

The benefits package

Saving on input costs by not seeding, say, 10 acres of less-productive farmland is an obvious benefit to a producer, but the concept has other perhaps less obvious or more indirect benefits, Galpern says.

If, for example, those 10 acres are seeded to perennial forages, there’s potential for the forage itself to have a value as a hay crop. But Galpern’s research shows these forage patches or messy areas can provide benefits to surrounding crops.

It’s described as the halo effect — a benefit that ripples out away from the forage stand into an adjacent crop.

For example, that 10-acre messy area can become a sanctuary or habitat for beneficial insects, such as more than 325 species of bees, wasps, spiders and beetles.

“These beneficial insects can improve crop pollination or provide natural predators for biological control of pests that can infect the crop,” Galpern says. “Our studies have shown that within that halo effect zone, that canola had a higher yield than crop that was protected by bee-blocking cages.”

The most improved yield was within about 25 metres of the forage stand.

And while the messy area becomes a safe haven for beneficial insects, the research also showed it did not serve as such a haven for crop pests.

These forage areas can also help with water storage and regulation, provide habitat for birds and other forms of wildlife, and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, serving as sites for carbon storage.

“Establishing these perennial forage sites can help reduce the risk of producing greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide, and also can serve as carbon sinks,” Galpern says. “And there are companies now working with producers to compensate them for measures such as these which benefit the environment. It may not be a huge return but it is one more benefit these messy areas can provide.”

Ducks Unlimited, for one, also has programs available to help farmers manage marginal cropland.

Galpern says the research project presents a challenge to traditional thinking. “Let’s call it what it is,” he says. “Non-crop vegetation can be messy. European farmers have been creating messy landscapes on their farms for years, with research showing the halo effect does produce benefits to the crop.

“The practice also helps improve the sustainability of the farming operation, which is something farmers today are looking for, and is also important to the agriculture industry as well as consumers.”

— Article updated March 7, 2024 in third paragraph to clarify basis for 12-15 per cent figure.

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“In our meetings with industry and the P.E.I. Potato Board, the need for additional supports for our seed sector were identified, specifically so that those growers can assess and address alternative crops as they deal with ongoing trade suspensions,” provincial Agriculture Minister Bloyce Thompson said last week in a release.

Eligible seed potato growers who put land into soil-building crops or extended perennial crops under the program can qualify for $1,000 per acre of land established into those crops. Acres eligible for the payment are limited to a grower’s reduction in seed potato area only.

The program, called the “Soil Building for Seed Producers Project,” aims to help seed potato producers in beneficial management practices (BMPs) until decisions are made about ongoing trade suspensions.

Eligible BMPs involve incorporating soil-building crops into rotations and/or extending rotations with soil-building perennial crops.

Approved soil-building crops newly incorporated into rotations under the program can include annual as well as perennial crops — and must also have at least a three-star ranking for building soil organic matter, as ranked by the Cover Crop Tool for Eastern Canada.

For the BMP in which a grower extends rotations with soil-building perennial crops, an existing soil-building perennial crop must remain growing for a second full rotation year.

That is, fields are eligible only if the extended perennial crop in question — such as timothy, clover or alfalfa — had already been established the previous rotation year, so the perennial crop can’t be terminated until the spring of 2023.

The field’s rotation must otherwise include annual crops within it and must not be a long-term forage field, pasture or fallow land.

The P.E.I. Potato Board “is very pleased to work with the province on the development of this project, as our seed growers still face a lot of uncertainty and challenges for 2022 and beyond,” board chairman John Visser said in the same release.

P.E.I. has over 83,000 acres of land dedicated to the production of potatoes and is Canada’s No. 1 potato producer, according to a study on the economic impact of potatoes in Canada.

Both table stock potatoes and seed potatoes from P.E.I. were banned from export to the mainland U.S. in November last year following a few new cases of potato wart confirmed in fields in the province. The ban on table stock potato exports was lifted April 1 this year but seed potato exports remain blocked.

According to Statistics Canada, P.E.I. seed potato exports to the U.S. were valued at $2.79 million in 2020, down from just over $3.1 million in 2018 and 2019. The province’s total seed potato exports worldwide in 2020 were valued at $5.29 million, up from $4.5 million in 2019 and $4.97 million in 2018.

— Liam O’Connor reports for Glacier FarmMedia from Saskatoon.

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Provincial Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and her federal counterpart Marie-Claude Bibeau on Monday announced cost-shared funding of $228 million for the Canada-B.C. Flood Recovery for Food Security Program, which is now taking applications.

That includes funding via AgriRecovery, the disaster relief segment of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership funding framework. AgriRecovery is a 60-40 federal-provincial program provided where needed to help farmers cover “extraordinary costs” borne in a natural disaster. A similar AgriRecovery program was rolled out in September in response to drought and wildfire damage in the province.

Heavy rains and flooding in mid-November in the province’s south swamped farms and created mudslides that killed four people, caused billions of dollars in damages and temporarily cut off road and rail access to Vancouver from points east.

The federal government has already separately budgeted about $5 billion through its Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements (DFAA) to help cover non-farm-related losses from the flood damages in the region. Funding was previously made available to livestock producers to help cover immediate feed costs.

Flood damages in the farm sector alone are believed to include more than 1,100 farms, over 35,000 acres and 2.5 million head of livestock, in areas ranging from the Sumas Prairie at Abbotsford east and northeast to Merritt and Princeton. Farm-related losses alone are estimated at about $285 million.

In the case of the flood recovery program announced Monday, funding is to go to cover farmers’ “extraordinary expenses from uninsurable damages” not already covered by other programs. Costs covered under the new program would include:

• cleanup, repair and restoration of land, barns and animal shelters, water and waste systems, and returning flood-impacted land and buildings to “a safe environment for agricultural production;”
• repair of uninsurable “essential” farm infrastructure and equipment plus “reasonable” repair of on-farm structures such as livestock fences and drainage ditches, as well as rental of temporary production facilities or pastures where needed;
• replacement feed and other animal welfare costs including livestock transportation and veterinary care for injured animals; deadstock disposal for animals killed in the flooding; support for destroyed beehives and colonies; and
• loss of perennial plants not raised for resale, such as blueberry plants.

Popham said funding may also be available to help remediate farmland contaminated by floodwaters.

The province said it will deliver the Flood Recovery for Food Security Program with a combination of AgriRecovery and DFAA funding. AgriRecovery will focus on larger farms, with annual sales over $2 million, providing up to 70 per cent compensation for eligible costs.

Farms with less than $2 million in annual revenue, meanwhile, would be eligible for up to 90 per cent compensation, for which the province would seek reimbursement through the DFAA.

Farmers who plan to apply for funding under the program but have already started work and incurred eligible expenses are advised to keep receipts, track hours of work involved and take pictures documenting damage and repairs.

Popham, speaking along with Bibeau at a press briefing Monday, said farmers who had already applied separately for disaster financial assistance before now can expect to be contacted by the ag ministry; others may now start applying through the new program.

Popham described November’s flooding as “the most impactful agricultural disaster ever in our province, resulting in profound losses” for producers.

“We’ve worked closely with farmers and farming organizations to make sure we have a comprehensive response that will support their recovery, help them get their farms back in production, and continue our collective efforts to build a resilient food system and food economy in B.C.”

Affected farmers enrolled in the federal/provincial AgriInsurance (crop insurance) program are also advised to contact the provincial ag ministry to open claims if they’ve not already done so.

Farmers also still have time to apply for the AgriStability income stabilization program for the 2021 program year, and can seek interim payments under that program, the province said Monday. That program may also help farmers cover losses in stored crops, nursery plants and livestock. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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