A community pasture in western Manitoba will continue to benefit local cattle producers after Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation and the Municipalities of Langford and Lansdowne.

    The Langford Community Pasture is about 21 thousand acres in size, supporting around 2 thousand head of cattle belonging to 26 area producers.

    "This will preserve and protect the land that's out there, putting an everlasting picture on the environment in terms of good management," says Brandon-Souris MP Merv Tweed. "It's a beautiful area and we have solidified it with an agreement that they will continue to co-manage it into the long future."

    AAFC is responsible for more than 2 million acres of grazing land in western Canada, most of which was formerly managed under the PFRA umbrella.

    "As you and I know, when you have land and commodity prices go up, people start to look for more land. What they're saying is 'this is an area we're going to preserve.' It's a pristine area and the agreement will allow for that to continue on into the future," says Tweed.

~ Monday, October 4, 2010 ~