Keystone Agriculture Producers President, Dan Mazier, has returned from the east coast where Canada's ag leaders continued discussions on the follow up to Growing Forward 2. Canadian Federation of Agriculture hosted the pre-meeting in Newfoundland - a lead-up to the federal, provincial and territorial ag ministers annual summer gathering.

Mazier says there was a good cross-section of representation around the table of not only agriculture commodity organizations and Department of Agriculture staff, but also research institutions like University of Manitoba and Red River College.

"It was a very good informative morning and it really did demonstrate what all is considered when we're developing these policies, especially a complex policy like the next ag policy framework for the next five years. There's things being put in place right now that'll impact us five years down the way."

Overall, Mazier is pleased with the level of engagement from the Manitoba government throughout this process and says this has put the province and its producers in a good position as far as negotiating the next agreement.

"I was quite impressed this winter that the department and had consultation processes with all the organizations, as far as I know, and anyone else that wanted to participate in these conversations with the Minister (of Agriculture)..."

He says last week's meeting in Newfoundland was a small group of people getting together and really getting into the details of what is needed in this next framework. "That was really appreciated."

Meantime, that new framework could look a bit different than the current Growing Forward 2.

"They counted something like seventeen different programs under Growing Forward Two that encompass the whole ag policy framework, they are looking to get that down to about five different programs," explains Mazier, adding "they would be eligible for the same wide variety of choices."

The new framework is set to kick-in April 1st, 2018 and Mazier says the new funding envelope is expected to be agreed upon this summer. He notes however, a name has yet to be decided.