Charlotte Crawley was raised on a mixed farming operation in Clanwilliam, MB. She received her Bachelor of Science in Animal Systems from the University of Manitoba in 2003 and headed to Alberta where she worked as a meat inspector at the Cargill plant in High River, followed by a two year position at Ballo Feeders feedlot.
Charlotte returned to the family farm in 2005 where she farmed full time for 8 years with her parents, farming 2500 acres, including forages, backgrounders, and cow/calf. Her parents retired from grain farming in 2014 and Charlotte continued to farm 3 quarters of pastureland and maintained a herd of 65 cow/calf pairs.
Her family was awarded with the Heritage Farm award in 2022, recognizing that the farm has remained in the same family for 125 years – this is one of Charlotte’s greatest accomplishments.
With her parent’s retirement in 2014, Charlotte sought off farm employment to help supplement her cattle addiction. She was fortunate enough to land a position as the farm manager for the inaugural season at MBFI. In this position she happened to hear of an opening with Ducks Unlimited Canada where they were looking for someone to establish forage on all newly purchased lands and to work with farmers to establish forages on their own lands.
Charlotte believes that sometimes the best things in life happen when you don’t expect them, and she jumped at the opportunity to join the DUC team.
Today, Charlotte oversees the Ducks Unlimited Canada forage and marginal areas programs, manages all forage restoration field activities on purchased lands, and assists with grazing management on DUC’s existing properties.
Cattle farmers are conservationists at their core, and Charlotte feels so fortunate that she can work for Ducks Unlimited Canada during the day and moonlight as a cattle farmer. Charlotte and her cows recently moved to Rapid City, where she lives and works on her partner’s cattle operation, where they run a hay and straw business, backgrounder operation, grassed yearlings, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 650 head cow/calf operation.
In today’s episode, we are focusing on some of the many programs Ducks Unlimited Canada offers in Manitoba. Ducks Unlimited Canada is an organization that started in Manitoba with the mission of conserving wetlands for the benefit of waterfowl. Since its origin, Ducks Unlimited Canada has grown and evolved to include the restoration and conservation of all lands, with a focus on the whole ecosystem.
The Guardians of the Grasslands film highlights the positive role of beef cattle production in habitat conservation. In Charlotte’s daily work, she works with farmers to purchase, restore and resell grasslands that are vital to both ducks and cattle in Manitoba. Through this program, DUC purchases land, restores it back to grasslands and re-sells the land to beef cattle producers. Grasslands are an important part of the habitat needed for nesting waterfowl, and are necessary for the production of beef on the prairies.
Charlotte also shares information about the Ducks Unlimited Forage and Marginal Areas Program, and what is new for this program for the 2023 field year. In this episode, we discuss the payments available to producers for these programs, and share that there has been a proposed increase per acre. This episode was recorded in December 2022, and 2023 program details were not yet confirmed. At the airing date of this episode, more information and an announcement is anticipated to be available to producers.
We also discuss what the Winter Wheat Incentive Program is and the benefits growing winter wheat has in regards to migrating and nesting waterfowl. This program often fills up quickly, so producers are encouraged to reach out early if they are interested in participating. Through this annual program, producers receive both a financial incentive and support from Ducks Unlimited to grow a winter wheat crop.
If producers don’t live within the target areas, but want to get involved in Ducks Unlimited Canada initiatives, there are many opportunities for volunteering or taking on roles with Ducks to be involved in their initiative to preserve and protect native habitats.
We also discuss opportunities for youth in this episode. If you are a youth interested in agriculture and conservation, Ducks Unlimited Canada has opportunities for you!
We wrap up by talking about other programs that will be coming up for the 2023 year, so please take a listen for those.
To contact the office for Ducks Unlimited Manitoba, please call 204-285-9799 or email their general mailbox at du_brandon@ducks.ca.
The website where you can find information about Ducks Unlimited Canada, including history, job postings, etc. is www.ducks.ca.
To find more information on specific programs, please visit www.ag.ducks.ca.
If you want to contact Charlotte to find out more about anything we discussed in today’s episode, she can be reached by email at c_crawley@ducks.ca or by phone at 204-868-5599.
The research programs and daily operations at MBFI would not be possible without the funding from the Province of Manitoba, Government of Canada, and Canadian Agricultural Partnership, as well as the partnership with Manitoba Agriculture, Manitoba Beef Producers (MBP), Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) and the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA).
We encourage you to follow MBFI on social media, or check out the website for more information on project findings and results, upcoming events and more!
Instagram: @MBBeefandForage
Facebook: @MBBeefandForage
Twitter: @MBBeefandForage
Website: www.mbfi.ca
Email address: information@mbfi.ca
Mary-Jane’s Phone Number: 431-255-0011
