AGM to highlight important beef topics

[loric]

(Calgary, Alberta) November 24, 2008 – Alberta’s cattle industry came to a point of fundamental change this year with the announcement of the Alberta Livestock and Meat Strategy (ALMS). The strategy featured heavily in many discussions involving Alberta Beef Producers (ABP) and will continue to be a focus at the 2008 ABP AGM.

AGM Speakers will address ALMS, the new ABP marketing campaign and a look at consumer preferences during the Calgary meeting to be held December 8-10 at the Sheraton Cavalier Hotel. All producers are invited to attend the meeting, along with media and other interested participants.

The agenda has been posted at www.albertabeef.org.

The resolutions debate takes place Dec. 9 and 10 and will be broadcast live online at www.wlex.ca. If you wish to watch online, we encourage you to register ahead of the debate to ensure a quick login.

For more information, please contact:

For more information contact:
Lori Creech
Alberta Beef Producers Communications Manager
P: 403-451-1179
E: loric@albertabeef.org

[grassfarmer]

Ah, the irony! If you read the thread on the NFU report below and then read that the ABP AGM is to "highlight important beef topics" I thought maybe they had seen the light.
But no it seems the "important beef topics" are the ALMS, the new ABP marketing campaign and a look at consumer preferences..... I guess instead of seeing the light ABP are choosing to continue to hold the protective cover of darkness over the facts, and their packer friends.

[loric]

Grassfarmer...this is a cut and paste of a press release that goes out to the media. A press release does not get into the nitty gritty on topics. The headline is to attract reporters to open the email with the press release attached. When reporters write or broadcast on the AGM, this is when they delve into the presentations, topics, resolutions and discussion.

I encourage you to either attend the AGM or to log on to www.wlex.ca to watch/listen to the discussions and the resolution debates.

[grassfarmer]

Could I inquire what the opportunities for producer participation in the event are?

[grassfarmer]

Further to my last query loric, do you expect the ABP to issue a press release on the NFU document and some of the findings it brings to light?

[loric]

Anyone is more than welcome to attend the AGM. The agenda is on the homepage our the ABP website. Any of the speakers can be listened to, along with listening to the resolutions debate. Take a look at the agenda and give me a call at the office if you have any questions about it.

And regarding the NFU report, no we didn't send out a press release on it.

[grassfarmer]

Oh, so "producer participation" is limited to listening to the speakers and resolutions debate. Again producers will have no voice.
It's funny how this doesn't work in reverse - at the Fall Producer Meetings when ABP are supposed to be listening to producers concerns, comments and viewpoints the organisation stacks the agenda so full of speakers that it can be 11pm before a producer has a chance to move a resolution. Democracy - not!

[farmers_son]

What??? The elected delegates at the ABP AGM are producers so obviously producers have a voice. And rank and file producers who are not delegates can speak to any resolution at the AGM much the same as at a fall meeting. For the most part it is the delegates who debate the resolutions but producers can too.

It is regretable that the fall meeting you attended went so late but I have been at various meetings that have gone later. The ABP fall meeting I attended this year ended before 10 and anyone who wanted to speak to a resolution got to. There was a good crowd there too.

[grassfarmer]

OK f_s, it wasn't clear from loric's reply that rank and file producers can speak to a resolution at the AGM. Thank you for that clarification.

I would still argue with your assumption that because the elected delegates at the ABP AGM are producers, producers obviously have a voice. It rather depends what the delegates choose to say with their voice. We had an interesting discussion on this at our zone meeting where the director of our zone stated that he felt under no obligation to echo the opinions of members attending the zone meetings when he attended the AGM. This I guess accounts for the many occasions in the past when delegates in our zone have been given clear direction from producers, through resolutions, as to what our concerns are. The delegates tend to vote in favor of these resolutions at zone level but are quite happy to oppose them when they appear at the AGM. There seems to be a "flock mentality" that sets in when you get a bunch of ABP folk together in plush surroundings and they quickly forget the real concerns expressed by producers in small rural halls across the province.
The discussion we had at our zone meeting on this rather upset quite a few producers who reckoned that this was not democracy - our elected official should articulate our view points, not their own. I actually agree that the zone director should have the ability to change his mind if new information emerges in debate, when we elect politicians we are electing them partly because we trust their judgment. Where democracy does not work in this case is that most producers are not politically aware enough to realise that the natural consequence of directors consistently voting against producers wishes is that they should be swiftly replaced at the next election. Until producers wake up and take an interest this will remain a problem and lead to the ABP being an undemocratic and unaccountable organisation. The fault lies largely with producers on this one.

[loric]

This was one of the reasons ABP implemented the webcast of the resolutions debate. This will give producers a chance to hear what their zone delegates are saying regarding the resolutions brought forth. If you are on dial up you can listen and if you are on high speed then you can watch and listen. Delegates state their name and zone when speaking to a resolution, so anyone who has logged on to www.wlex.ca can first-hand hear what their representatives are saying.