A Lacombe-area farmer who is on the interim board of the new Alberta Wheat Commission thinks the producer organization will have a positive impact on the province’s wheat industry.
Terry Young is one of 11 directors appointed to the board by the Agricultural Products Marketing Council.
A director with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission, and a delegate with and former chair of the Alberta Barley Commission, he’s aware of the benefits commissions can bring.
“We’re there to move our industry forward, and this is a way for producers to help drive innovation.”
Despite the fact there are more than a dozen agricultural commissions in Alberta, the province’s 11,000 wheat producers were not represented in a comprehensive way until the Alberta Wheat Commission officially came into existence on Aug. 1. There was an Alberta Winter Wheat Commission and a Soft Wheat Producers Commission, but they accounted for only about five per cent of the wheat production in Alberta, said Young.
In fact, those two commission spearheaded the push for a broader wheat commission — a process that took four years to complete. It involved gauging the support of Alberta wheat producers through the distribution of a survey.
“We had over 500 surveys completed,” said Young, pointing out that 82 per cent of respondents supported the idea of a provincial wheat commission, three per cent opposed it, and the rest were either undecided or wanted more information.
That was enough to convince the provincial government to create the Alberta Wheat Commission under the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act.
“Now we’re representing all of the wheat in Alberta,” said Young. “All seven classes that are grown here.”
That representation will include research, marketing initiatives and producer services like disease education, he said. The timing is good, added Young, particularly with the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly over the marketing of Western Canadian grain coming to an end.
“Now that we do have some flexibility in what we can do in marketing, we may see a pasta plant developed in each province,” he suggested, adding that the commission could help facilitate the development of such value-added markets.
The new commission should also give wheat producers more clout when dealing with industry issues, he said.
“In this climate, it’s so important that we all speak with one voice.”
Operations of the Alberta Wheat Commission will be financed through a refundable producer check-off equal to 70 cents a tonne. That’s expected to raise some $3.5 million per year, money Young thinks can be used to attract even more funding from government and industry.
“When you have a little bit more to play with, you leverage that with a whole bunch more.”
Although the organization is the first broad-based wheat commission in Canada, Young said both Saskatchewan and Manitoba are looking to follow suit.
Also appointed to the Alberta Wheat Commission’s interim board was Kevin Bender, a farmer from the Bentley area who is the current president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, a delegate with Alberta Barley Commission, and former chair of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission.
Regional meetings and elections are expected to be held this fall, with the commission’s first annual general meeting scheduled for the Jan. 29 to 31 FarmTech conference in Edmonton.
Also created as of Aug. 1 was the Alberta Oat Growers Commission. It will serve a similar role as the Alberta Wheat Commission, with its smaller membership paying a refundable check-off of 50 cents per tonne of oats for an estimated $140,000 in funding a year.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com