Portage-Lisgar MP Candice Bergen was in the southern part of her constituency Tuesday to talk about agriculture with local producers.

Bergen and fellow Conservative MP and Tory ag critic John Barlow toured a number of farms in the Miami area and participated in a round table discussion.

Bergen has been critical of the Trudeau government which she says has done very little for agriculture since gaining power and she wanted to assure producers in the constituency that they still have a voice on matters with her party.

"The last budget barely mentioned agriculture. There were virtually no investments in agriculture and it would seem the Liberals really don't understand this sector," said Bergen.

Despite the apparent lack of attention, agriculture and agribusiness continues to flourish in Southern Manitoba, according to Bergen.

Farmers are coming off bumper crops last year, Simplot recently announced a major expansion of its plant in Portage la Prairie and Roquette announced it will build a $400 million pea-protein plant just west of that city.

Barlow said he came to Manitoba to see first hand what producers are doing in this part of the country and see what's on their mind as the country nears a federal election next year.

"Since I was given this role in September, I've spent as much time as I can going from province to province, region to region to get the pulse of what issues farmers and agribusinesses are facing and some of the things they want to see from us as we head into the 2019 campaign."