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Portage MLA visits USA and learns of new technological advancements in agriculture equipment
Portage la Prairie MLA Jeff Bereza crossed the 49th parallel this week to attend the Midwestern Legislative Conference in Ohio. He notes it brings people together from the US Midwest and Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta legislators to share ideas and talk about different things that are going on in their areas. He notes agriculture is a big part of it. He spoke to us on location. "I'm really glad that the party saw for me to come down here because just a tremendous amount of stuff in agriculture and different things to deal with sustainability. The most interesting part is just how similar things are from Ohio to Manitoba, or Minnesota to Manitoba. It's also about the different things that we're dealing with in Saskatchewan or Manitoba which are very similar. The other great thing about this is that this conference is held every year, but next year it's being held in Saskatoon. I've had the opportunity to meet with Governors, Senator representatives, state representatives, as well as many elected officials from Canada." MLA Bereza is Shadow Cabinet Minister of Agriculture, and notes the conference is not just about agriculture. He says one part of it was about law enforcement and they learned more about the Internet and how children are being entrapped into sex extortion that spans borders, in cases similar to what we experienced here in Portage la Prairie recently. "It's economic development. I've met a few people down here from the Canadian console. I've touched base with some people asking a lot of questions about Portage la Prairie and investment opportunities; and things like that. It's quite a mixture of people down here, but it crosses a lot of different things: Environment, energy, agriculture, economic development, and policing; anything that we would deal with in the Legislature in Manitoba. There have been some really good sessions and lots of good panel experts from both Canada and the US. I have to say, it's one of the best experiences I've had since becoming an MLA." Some highlights that appealed to him and his portfolio include spending most of one day at an Ohio State University Research Farm. He notes they had a 1,054-acre solar farm. "It was 1000 acres of solar panels, basically, and those solar panels provide energy for 38,000 homes. It's by a company called Savion and called the Madison Fields Solar Project. The next one is going to be 6,000 acres to provide energy for over 100,000 homes. They're renting farmland. But the neat thing is, there are about 17 feet in between Solar panel rows. They're growing soybeans or forage crops as well, and the farmers are still able to get a crop off the land and being paid a rental fee to rent their land." Bereza explains Ohio State University does a tremendous amount of work with autonomous vehicles for agriculture. "They had a piece of equipment that goes through the field like an irrigation system, and it also puts fertilizer on the crop. They started this last year. They're using about a third less water doing this, and they're also being able to pinpoint fertilizer where it needs to go. We also saw a sprayer that was using artificial intelligence. It was specifically looking for nutrient deficiency or looking for weeds that required sprayed. It would only spray those spots. So, it's really looking at ways for the farmers of the future to save money, water, and be more efficient." He explains learning of these new innovations allows him to discuss the opportunities available to the various agriculture groups with which he's involved. "This sprayer that can detect weeds and know where to spray, and this autonomous vehicle that goes across your field, irrigate the crop, and puts fertilizer on it right away made me think of the potato farmers. You know how big our potato business is in Manitoba. We're always dealing with water issues and things like that. It hit me right away how efficient this could be for corn and potato growers out there. It automatically made me think about Manitoba, and that's why I spent so much time with them." He adds this sort of equipment. Is developed basically with our constituency in mind. With need for increased yields, having such equipment can make things move along more strategically as far as application of water and fertilizer is concerned. "Gaia Consulting is having a field day next week and they've asked me to come out and participate in it," adds Bereza. "I hope I get a chance to be able to talk to their folks out there about what I could see down here that I think would help our ag producers here in Manitoba." Bereza notes he's been asked to sit on some Ag committees, and any chance he finds to be involved in something agricultural allows him to share that information with farmers here. "It also gives me the opportunity to share some of the things that I've learned about agriculture with some of the farmers in other jurisdictions, whether it be in the US or in Canada."