Heritage Farms
           

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives introduced the Century Farm Program in early 1981 to honour Manitoba's pioneer families. To date, almost 1600 family farms have been recognized through the Manitoba Century Farm Program.

The 125 Heritage Farm program was launched in November 2010 to celebrate farm families that have maintained continuous production for 125 years or more.

The contribution made by these families in Manitoba's agricultural community, both then and now, deserves to be recognized.

Application forms are available:

• From all MAFRI GO Offices or Centres and Manitoba Rural Municipal offices
  
  
• you may View and print the PDF Form (Adobe PDF format - file size 186K) If you do not already have a PDF viewer, please visit our Manitoba Agriculture and Food Downloadable Software page to download Adobe Acrobat Reader now.

1. Applicant
    This section is for name and contact information:
     • If you live on a farm, include the rural municipality (RM) or local government district (LGD). Applicants who
       do not live on a farm, don’t need this.

2. Eligibility
    To be eligible for this program, you must meet these requirements:
     • The land must be held in continuous ownership by direct descendants of the original owner.
     • The minimum land area must be at least 20.23 hectares (50 acres) for the 100 or 125 years of the life of
        the farm. This limit is strictly followed in assessing applications.
     • These are considered to be reasonable proof for applications:
        - photocopies of abstracts from the Land Titles Office for:
          • titles for 100 years for the Century Farm Program
          • titles for 125 years for 125 Heritage Farm Program
          • titles for past 25 years if already recognized as a Century Farm and applying for the 125 Heritage
            Farm Program
        - any other available documents showing continuous ownership by direct descendants of the original
          owner.

3. Farm site
    Information about the farm site should include:
     • date original site was fi rst occupied by family
     • legal description of original site (This description will go on the certificates for both programs.)
     • the RM or LGD where the original farm site is located
     • original size of farm site in hectares (acres) [minimum 20.23 hectares (50 acres)]
     • current size in hectares (acres) – may be different from original but minimum 20.23 hectares (50 acres)

    The documents required as proof of occupancy on the farm site from the time the original site was
    occupied by your family may include:
     • land titles, deeds, land abstracts (see your nearest Land Titles Office)
     • homestead records (Contact Manitoba Archives in Winnipeg: 945-3971; 1-800-617-3588 toll free;
       email: archives@gov.mb.ca for first private owners of Crown land.)
     • other documents showing ownership (some may be available from the Manitoba Archives)

If documents with the original date of ownership are not found in the Land Titles Office or Manitoba
Archives, contact your local MAFRI GO Office for help finding them through other sources.

NOTE: Applicants must attach a brief family history to their applications. It can include background on where the family came from, what the first farm was like, how it changed over the years. This information will be used if you choose to have a government representative present your certificate at an event.

4. Categories
Choose the appropriate category:
Category 1: This is for families who own and operate a 100-year-old farm unit and still live on a farm, even
if it’s not the original farm site.
Category 2: This is for families who own a 100-year-old farm unit. They do not have to live on or operate a
farm when they apply.
Category 3: This is for families who own and operate a 125-year-old farm unit and still live on a farm, even
if it’s not the original farm site.
Category 4: This is for family who own a 125-year-old farm. They do not have to live on or operate a farm
when they apply.

5. Presentation of gate signs and certificates
If your family is having an event and you want the sign and/or certificate presented by a government
representative, you need to include this information.
• Date of event is needed so the signs and certificates are sent to your local MAFRI GO Office or to the
presenter in time for the presentation.
    • Time of event is needed (ex: from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and the specific time you want the
      representative to do the presentation (ex: presentation at 3:30 p.m.)
• Give the specific location of event and clear directions for the representative who will do the presentation.
• Give the name and phone number of contact person – either the applicant or the person in charge of the
event – in case MAFRI staff need more information.

6. Submitted by
If you, as the owner of the farm are applying for the program, you can note: “Same as applicant” in the
Name section. If the person submitting the application is not the applicant, fill in this section.