Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP) has a mixed response to the 2012 Manitoba Budget tabled yesterday. MBP hoped to see provisions which were not mentioned in the budget such as cattle price insurance, an effective environmental goods and services program and a herd protection program.
MBP was pleased that there was a commitment in the budget to the forage restoration program for pasture and hayland flooded in the spring of 2011.
“This is a critical program for those still suffering from the 2011 flood,” said Ray Armbruster, MBP president. “Flooded land will take years to rehabilitate. MBP will continue to work with the provincial government to restore flooded pasture and hayland.”
The budget included an announcement on a “Nutrient Management Tax Credit” that will be a component of the Save the Lake Winnipeg Act, which was introduced in June 2011. MBP believes producers will be confronted with additional costs to adhere to the manure/nutrient management regulations coming into force in 2013 and this tax credit may assist producers with costs incurred with the engineering, design and installation of nutrient management equipment.
“We hope that the $300,000 allocated to tax credits in the program provides equal opportunity for all livestock producers,” said Armbruster.
While the Nutrient Management Tax Credit may prove to be positive, MBP is disappointed to see the elimination of the Riparian Tax Credit.
“Although uptake has been low in recent years, we are disappointed that the province did not adopt the proposed changes to the program that would increase uptake, rather than eliminate the program entirely,” said Armbruster.
MBP welcomes the budget increase to Infrastructure and Transportation and encourages the government to restore provincial highways within the Shoal Lakes complex, Lake Manitoba region, the southwest part of the province and other areas in which provincial highways were damaged by the 2011 flood.
Though many beef producer priorities were not addressed in the budget, MBP will continue to work on those key issues and continue to push for the province to bring these initiatives forward for the good of everyone in the beef production chain.
