FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COVER CROPS HELP COVER WET WEATHER First-time applicant to Assiniboine West Watershed District Cover Crop Project comes away a huge fan

Winnipeg, MB – (August 16, 2022) - When it comes to explaining how the addition of cover crops have impacted his family farm, Bray Rookes is full of positives as to how his farm has benefited. But the 20-year-old Western Manitoba farmer in the Assiniboine West Watershed District (AWWD) really gets excited when detailing how his family’s cover crop mixes handled the deluge of 2022 rain after a year of drought in 2021. “When it rained heavily, our cover crop was the only field you could drive on with the massive increase of water infiltration rates. We grew 80 acres of hairy vetch, tillage radish and winter triticale on a poorly managed, degraded soil,” says Rookes of his family’s first-ever participation in Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA)’s Soil Health Project, led by three Manitoba Watershed Districts, including AWWD, Central Assiniboine and Souris River and supported by the Conservation Trust, a Manitoba Climate and Green Plan Initiative delivered by the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation. “With the help of adequate rain the crop came back in the spring and grew to a massive 36 inches tall and as of June 10 this year, weighed in at 15 tons/acre wet weight and averaged five tons dry weight across the field, with no synthetic fertilizer, and no in-crop spray passes at all! Amazing!” Bray Rookes farms near Manson, MB with his parents Mike and Leanne Rookes. Rookes says this was his family’s first major jump into the cover cropping world and they couldn't have been more thrilled with the results.

photo: Bray Rookes

“With a wet spring on our hands, we were like a lot of farmers and we were so late getting into the field which resulted in idle soil resting for a long time with plenty of heat units beaming down and not being used in photosynthetic activity,” says Rookes. “It actually hurts us now to see our fields idle and not capturing the power of a cover crop. And believe me, we have experienced every benefit of the cover crops and I just don’t have the time to talk about them all!” According to Ryan Canart, AWWD general manager, programs like the MFGA Conservation Trust Project and the Prairie Watershed Climate Project funded by the On Farm Climate Action Fund of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and led by Manitoba Association of Watersheds in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are empowering watershed districts and ag groups like MFGA to engage more often and more meaningfully with farmers and producers on the soil health front. “Programs like this cover crop program that the Rookes are enrolled in really help build healthy soils, which is one of the main things we can do to help buffer farm lands against volatile weather patterns, such as the crush of rain in our Watershed District in 2022 and the impacts of drought on those same lands in 2021", said Canart. "Healthy soils really help on that extreme weather front, as Bray will happily tell you,” Rookes nods to the leadership and collaboration of the AWWD and says projects such as those offered via groups such as MFGA through excellent funding partners such as the Conservation Trust allow young farmers the opportunity to improve their soil to be more profitable and resilient on their farms. “Every citizen can be proud to see the progress our local agriculture has been making at massive goals such as climate change, watershed function, soil and human health,” says Rookes. “This is an opportunity to speak on the successes of the watershed and agriculture. I would like to get this story out to the people that support farmers and the watershed. They deserve to hear the progress they have helped accomplish.”

Sidebar: MFGA is proud to work with and behalf of farmers and join with our project partners on these additional 2022-23 Conservation Trust projects. Visit the MFGA Project Page to learn more: A new approach to restoring profitability, wildlife habitat and soil health-PHASE 3 This project was approved for the third year under the Habitat Wildlife Category. MFGA works very closely with Ducks Unlimited Canada on this $239,800 Conservation Trust funded-project designed to keep marginal acres intact via forage production. In both projects, the match of funding and services by the project partnership and landowners are crucial to each project’s success. Connecting Grain Farmers and Livestock Producers at the Manitoba Grazing Exchange As a part of a larger project, the Manitoba Organic Alliance and MFGA are excited to be partnering together on a joint project partly funded by the Conservation Trust. The Manitoba Grazing Exchange (MGE) website virtually connects farmers who have available grazing pasture or cover crop fields with livestock owners/ranchers who are seeking grazing land through an interactive map. Integrating livestock onto crop and pastureland is becoming increasingly adopted by climate-friendly farmers who are building their soil health and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. The platform is based off the South Dakota Grazing Exchange which has since expanded into several other parts of the United States. -30- For more info: Duncan Morrison, MFGA Executive Director, Duncan@mfga.net, 204.770.3548

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