Conservation agreement satisfies Manitoba farm family in many ways

Fifty years of farming

The O’Greysiks bought their land in 1970 and have weathered many challenges, including BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), which shut down Canada’s cattle industry in the early 2000s and runaway inflation twenty years before that.

“Interest was about eight per cent when we were building our house here in 1980,” recalls Dale. “When we moved in a year later, interest was 23 per cent.”

During the 1970s and 80s, the O’Greysiks ran a mixed farming operation on six quarter sections. In 1993, they went strictly into cattle. Today, in their mid-70s, the couple has sold all their land except the quarter with their home. Golf, five grandkids and four great grandkids have become priorities.

“They’re what keeps me young,” says Dale, gazing at dozens of family pictures lining the dining room. “They are my medicine.”

Preserving the land for future generations is important to the O’Greysiks. Before they signed the conservation agreement with DUC in September for 155 acres (63 hectares), they had conserved 166 acres (67 hectares) with DUC in the 2000s.

Options to fit every landowner

Like many landowners, Dale admits he worried about losing control over his property by signing a conservation agreement. However, a number of factors put his mind at ease: DUC’s efforts to protect habitat meshes nicely with Dale’s own land management plan; each landowner can tailor a conservation agreement to his or her particular property; and both the landowner and DUC must agree on a shared vision of the land before any deal is made to prevent future harm to important natural areas.

“We need cultivated land but we also need natural habitat and grasslands to remain the way they are,” says Dale, “so in future years our great grandchildren can look out and not only see crops waving in the fields but also see cattle grazing along with wildlife of all kinds…two of my favourite things.”