Farmers Voice Winter 2022-Providing You Value

by Brenna Mahoney

Organizations like KAP exist to provide value to their members.

This couldn’t be truer than during these uncertain times. To provide value, organizations not only need to address the issues of today, but look to the future and take leadership, be nimble, responsive and most importantly, collaborative.

To ensure KAP continues to be nimble and responsive we have been working to understand our current landscape at an organization level with a focus on bringing value to you. At a high level, this means that three priorities have become the centre of KAP’s focus: building strategy, strengthening relationships and being foresight driven. What does this mean?

In our current changing landscape, we are focused on strategic outcomes that will continue positioning KAP as a leader in agriculture and ensure a sustainable and profitable future for Manitoba farmers. Being foresight driven will enable Manitoba’s agriculture sector to be in a clear position to impact policy. KAP’s role is to facilitate collaboration and consensus when it comes to policy development, while keeping an eye on future challenges and opportunities.

We also recognize that the challenges of today require a collaborative effort and a common voice from Manitoba’s agricultural community. A common voice speaking to governments, stakeholders and the public. With this in mind, KAP has convened a drought task force, a labour working group and a farm safety council. This is all with the intent to build policy with a unified voice.

Another strategic priority has been to examine KAP’s governance and structure to ensure that the organization is financially sustainable and represents modern farming operations. As announced at our annual meeting in 2021, a grassroots committee has been formed and recently begun meeting to explore KAP’s structure. A governance review is also underway. These initiatives will continue over the next year, with recommendations set for review in early 2023.

As the voice of Manitoba farmers, we need to recognize that we are greater than the sum of our parts. Farmer members, commodity members and stakeholders each need to see their efforts amplified and complimented by KAP. This is why we are working toward building a strong community and common goals. We know that to be effective and provide value, we must work together and focus on consensus where possible.

Strengthening relationships is essential to KAP’s role in agriculture. Being able to have transparency and trust as the foundation of those relationships is vital. We must also be ready to ignite, unite and rally our sector.

This is all a part of the value that KAP brings to the table.