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It is perhaps fitting that the nesting-grounds-and-bound 2026 World Migratory Bird Day occurred this past weekend as many of us in agriculture loops are seeking ways to meaningfully impact the Next Policy Framework (NPF) in consultations led by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and provincial agriculture departments.
The NPF will be launched in April 2028 after the current Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership ends in March of that same year. When it comes to policy and programming, the NPF is the holy grail of Canada’s agriculture sector for the next five years ahead as led by the Federal/Provincial/Territorial agriculture departments’ agreement.
Current topics and dialogues around the 2028 NPF are focusing on areas such as markets and trade, growth and competitiveness, science and innovation, and resiliency.
Resiliency is the elasticity and ability to bounce back from challenging times. Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association's (MFGA) network farms represent a huge resiliency opportunity in many areas, particularly water, soil and biodiversity fronts. Especially in the growing discussions and challenges around water scarcity, soil degradation, habitat conversion, and climate change.
Understandably, trades, tariffs, growth, competitiveness, and markets are high on our sector’s priority list these days, dominating early consultation chats as ag leaders and group reps seek to Kevlar our nation on international, national, and provincial fronts.
Because our MFGA farmer roster contribute their own check-off fees to every commodity fee structure collected from what they produce, they are impacted by the work of other groups on these calls. The resiliency that these groups tend to focus on is an economic ability to recover and bounce back from the trade and tariff adversity and market changes facing commodities.
As such, with check-off groups speaking loudest for the collective commodity masses, MFGA must look for our own ready- tailored plays, and most importantly, what we can bring to the table, where we can be heard and where we can resonate with meaningful emphasis on behalf of our MFGA farmers and network.
Science and innovation, as per the above NPF list, is important to MFGA. We have a great partnership with Aquanty around the top water movement model on the Prairies in the MFGA Aquanty Model, its role and abilities gaining increasing traction – and highlighting planning needs – in the face of climate change and water resources.
Armouring, better understanding, and encouraging the importance of healthy soil is another area MFGA believes can benefit from increased on-farm producer engagement, partner coordination, and producer-led advancements.
Meanwhile, we see ongoing and accelerated grassland loss as threatening our world as we know it and needing fast attention. We believe there is momentum we can really help with there, both on our own front and alongside the excellence of like-minded collaborations. The resilience of grasslands needs to be better supported, reported, and celebrated, and not compromised by ongoing conversion.
But connecting NPF’s sought resiliency bounce back to World Migratory Bird Day, how does that work?
Private farm agriculture operations across Manitoba are vital to nesting bird populations that wing their way north to the breeding grounds of the northern great plains every year.
Birds, as oft-stated, present a ready-made metric to display on-farm health and resiliency in support of biodiversity. Grassland birds, especially, are facing significant declines. In fact, The State of Canada’s Birds 2024 developed by Environment and Climate Change Canada and Birds Canada reported that grassland birds have declined by 67 percent since 1970.
While the government side of biodiversity is handled primarily by Environment and Climate Change Canada and provincial enviro department counterparts, the fact of the matter is when aggregating resilience, AAFC and provincial ag departments need to include the bounce back resilience of these regen ag-focused private farms and their underlying significance to biodiversity, water and soils.
From a MFGA farm gate scope, what we do know from our three-year bird survey on MFGA farms is that our small scale, self-funded private farm survey confirmed Regen Ag focused cropping and grazing practices delivered alongside or nearby natural habitats provide a lifeline for an abundance of birds – including species at risk - to flourish on farms with associated natural vegetative cover, active soil ecosystems and available water resources.
Over the 2023-25 MFGA bird survey, we confirmed plenty of birds on MFGA connected farms surveyed, including -but not limited to- species of interest and risk such as Sprague’s pipit and bobolinks on beef and forage farms; grasshopper sparrows on dairy and sheep farms; marbled godwit and horned lark on grain and mixed farms; and red headed woodpecker on bison and forage farms.
Which is super impressive. But it is not our end MFGA goal.
Getting our MFGA farmers and our compatible farming network a secure and valued place within the NPF 2028-2033 and long-overdue acknowledgement as multi-generational, on-farm resilience gatekeepers via the regen ag practices, natural habitats, and BMPs on their farms is our absolute end goal.
Welcome NPF talks and Welcome Back, birds.
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