As part of a program to promote environmental benefits of forages, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and Crop Production Services (CPS) are offering farmers a financial break for grassland conversions.

Available to agricultural producers in the three Prairie provinces, the forage program offsets the cost of Proven Seed forage varieties when producers switch cultivated land to hay or pastureland. Manitoba producers can receive up to $50 per acre as part of the program.

"Declining prices for wheat and other cereal crops, as well as a simultaneous increase in beef prices, are leading many landowners to seriously consider the move to increase their cattle herd," says DUC regional forage lead Craig Bishop in a press release. "This, in turn, spurs a demand for increased forage."

In addition to helping cattle producers with their herds, DUC Manitoba's Charlotte Crawley says forages have many other environmental benefits.

"Anytime you can put perennial cover down as opposed to having bare dirt, it's a benefit for a number of reasons, one being soil erosion so it doesn't wash into the streams and downstream," she says. "Another thing is it's able to act as a water-absorber with perennial cover so you can hold more water and store more water rather than having it run downstream, and further more, it also acts to produce higher organic material in your soil."

Crawley says they have three target areas in Manitoba where producers would be eligible to participate. The first area is north of Whitewater Lake around Cartwright and Killarney; the second between the Virden and Russell area; and the third in the Minnedosa/Shoal Lake region.

If producers want to be involved, sooner is better. Crawley says they hope to reach about 3500 acres for the year on a first-come, first-served basis, and says producers can contact her at DUC's Brandon office.