One aspect of Manitoba’s economy that has not been as adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as others is the agriculture industry, according to a farm lobby group.
Manitoba’s farmers pulled in an above-average crop yield this past season, and most producers are in good financial shape.
“Agriculture has carried on,” Bill Campbell, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, told Global News. “There’s been some minor hiccups and some adjustments to our services, but the seeds went in the ground, the cows went to pasture, and we harvested crops.”
The farm lobby group held a virtual district meeting last week to check in with its members safely during the pandemic.
“Normally at this time of year, some of the executive members would go about to the different districts and engage with the members,” said Campbell. “With COVID, that was done virtually, so it was kind of a new format for us.”
Among the issues discussed during the meeting were railway crossings across Manitoba farmlands and the upcoming carbon tax increase in April.
Overall, Campbell feels that Manitoba farmers are in pretty good shape.
“Farmers have done an excellent job of doing what we do,” he said. “We haven’t seen the processing shutdowns that they’ve seen in Alberta — we’re on pins and needles sometimes with some of those aspects, but business has carried on.”
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