Highway project to affect farmland in Manitoba rural municipality
Glacier FarmMedia – Manitoba farmers in the Rural Municipality of Macdonald are staring down the loss of productive acres to a provincial highway project, sparking worries about fair compensation, the efficiency of their operations and the long-term future of their farms.
The provincial government plans to replace the intersection at Provincial Trunk Highway 3 and the South Perimeter Highway with a new interchange. That project will mean expropriation of roughly 19 farm properties.
Brad Erb, a farmer and reeve of the RM of Macdonald, acknowledged that while the number of producers directly affected is small, the impact on those families is significant.
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“There’s probably four or five families that are impacted with land acquisition,” he said, estimating that the total acreage is in the 100-acre range.
Why it Matters: A provincial highway project threatens farmland in the RM of Macdonald, raising concerns about compensation and farm efficiency.
For those families, the changes will leave behind awkward parcels that don’t fit the rhythm of modern farming.
“They’re certainly not desirable or practical, if it’s a five acre or 10 acre or 15 acre parcel. I mean, sure, that’s farmable, but it’s not efficient by any stretch,” Erb said.
Even as farmers weigh the hit to their land base, Erb stressed that the municipality has no say in the expropriation process and that it’s entirely in the province’s hands.
“Our primary role in this whole thing was … just making sure that (the province) was dealing with the landowners and the community in a transparent way, so that they know the project is happening,” he said.
Beyond farmland, the project will also affect municipal infrastructure. The RM will inherit some of the road networks once construction is complete.
“We want to make sure that when we get that, they meet a certain standard. We don’t want deteriorated infrastructure like roadways and everything once we take ownership,” Erb said.
Still, consultations have leaned more toward municipal concerns than the day-to-day realities of farming.
“Since we aren’t the stakeholder doing it and it’s the province that is having those farmer consultations, I know some farmers are a little frustrated. I’ve been a little frustrated with that,” Erb said.
Balancing his role as reeve and his job as a farmer, Erb said there’s a delicate balance between protecting farmland and ensuring community safety.
“This overpass is long overdue. That’s speaking as a farmer. The traffic and safety concerns in our community are horrible,” he said.
“I just want to make sure that those farmers who are affected are fairly compensated.”
The province says it will continue working with landowners to reach settlements.
“The department understands the difficulties and challenges that expropriation can have on land owners and ensures that the process is carried out in a respectful manner with all property owners,” a spokesperson wrote in an email to Glacier FarmMedia.
Keystone Agricultural Producers has also weighed in on the need to protect farmland while recognizing the importance of infrastructure.
“We want to protect farmland and make sure agriculture can remain an important part of the economy, and we want to minimize and actually have no farmland lost,” said Colin Hornby, KAP’s general manager.
“The other part of this is wanting to make sure that we do have good, high-quality infrastructure so that we can move products to market.”
Hornby questioned whether acres truly need to be taken out of production or whether alternatives could be found. He reaffirmed KAP’s commitment to ensuring landowners receive fair value and that farmland loss is minimized.
For farmers, especially new entrants or those renting land, the uncertainty around expropriation complicates long-term planning and financial stability. KAP says it will continue pressing provincial and municipal governments to safeguard agricultural interests.
Construction timelines remain unclear but offers to affected landowners are expected soon.
Source: producer.com