Producers in the RM of Bifrost-Riverton are part of a water management pilot project.
Manitoba ag minister Ralph Eichler held a conference call today to discuss a $1-million investment through Growing Forward 2 for the Bifrost Agricultural Sustainability Community Service Cooperative.
He says this project actually got started in 2008, or even as far back as 2004-05.
"But in particular in 2008 there was a group of agricultural people on with the municipalities that started putting together ideas on how to go about trying to manage water and make it effective for trying to get that water off in a timely way."
Bifrost Agricultural Sustainability Community Service Cooperative will use the funding for field research, research into water quality and mitigating soil erosion, identifying alternative crops, and rehabilitating municipal drainage.
The cooperative includes 90 per cent of farmers in the RM of Bifrost-Riverton as members. Farmers in the municipality will contribute $4-million to this initiative through a levy on agricultural land administered by the RM.
Eichler also says this announcement aligns the government's priorities in infrastructure, "which are to enhance flood protection (and) to keep Manitobans and their communities safe."
