Sask wheat and barley comment period

[gustgd]

Wheat and Barley establishment plans submitted
by Corey Ruud
Acting General Manager Agri-Food Council
Two separate establishment plans have been
submitted to the Minister of Agriculture for
consideration. The plans are for the establishment
of a wheat development commission and a barley
development commission. The Minister has
forwarded the plans, as per the defined regulatory
process, to the Agri-Food Council (Council) for
analysis and recommendation.
The proposed commissions will be funded by
wheat and barley producers through a mandatory
refundable levy. The levies will be deducted from
producers’ payment when producers market their
wheat and barley crops. The proposed levy for
wheat is $0.52/tonne
and for barley the proposed levy is $0.50/tonne.
Levy dollars will be used by the proposed
commissions for the purposes of research, market
development and promotional activities.
The Council’s review process for establishment
plans requires that producers/stakeholders have
the opportunity to comment on proposed plans.
Starting February 1, 2013, the establishment
plans for both proposed commissions will be
posted for 30 days on the Ministry of Agriculture’s
website, www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca, to allow
producers/stakeholders to review the plans and
provide comments.
Producers/stakeholders who wish to comment on
the plans can forward comments by email to
corey.ruud@gov.sk.ca or by regular mail to the
Agri-Food Council, Room 302 - 3085 Albert
Street, Regina, SK, S4S 0B1.

[gustgd]

Would someone hot link this for me please?

http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGet
Media.aspx?DocID=a9367fb4-e123-4859-b1cd-
b6b9b52f9c57

[gustgd]

http://apas.ca/dbdocs//509985320dba3.pdf

Briefing note.


Saskatchewan wheat and barley commissions
Creating a Stronger Voice for Wheat and Barley in
Saskatchewan November 2012

[wd9]

Levy dollars will be used by the proposed
commissions for the purposes of research,
market
development and promotional activities.

What? No lobbying? One of the very few
things that actually make a difference
for wheat cuz its 15% protein and 85%
politics.

[oneoff]

More duplication? More part time jobs..have we already blown through the tens of millions in rail overpayments turned over to reasearch three of four years ago.

Apparently it just not me that can't keep track anymore.

[sumdumguy]

More levies, more research group, more
duplication, more waste.

[bucket]

Its funny, they blame different levels of legislation for not having one western canadian wheat commission.

The same guys promoting this have had Ritz's ear for change for close to a decade. Either he is not listening or they are telling him something different than what they are telling us.

Its simple, there is a western grains research fund (WGRF for short) that has been building a nice slush fund with overpayment on freight and cwb deductions every year.

Get some of the funding from those sources.

They should also have a cap to the amount a farmer gets deducted. If you are a 1000 acre farm of a 10,000 acre farm how much is realistic to checkoff. Does the 10,000 acre farm get 10 times the benefit? Doubt it.

[ColevilleH2S]

[URL="http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=a9367fb4-e123-4859-b1cd-b6b9b52f9c57"]Gust's link.[/URL]

So it looks like we will end up with a separate wheat and a separate barley commission for each province. The word "joke" and the word "sad" comes to mind. But more importantly, so does "duplication" and "bureaucracy".

[bucket]

Why not have reps from three provinces and one common administration. That's if they were actually thinking about what they were trying to accomplish.

Administration funding doesn't help the research side.

[ColevilleH2S]

Oops I forgot about the winter cereals commissions too. That means we could end up with 9 separate commissions looking after wheat and barley research instead of the one or two we need. There are going to be a lot of want adds for boards of directors soon.

My strawman;
So people are going to think if their own provincial check-off dollars funded a new wonder variety, there is no way in hell, producers in the other provinces should have access to it. Is that a legitimate concern? Prairie wide commissions would solve it.

[gustgd]

thanks for comments all. I don't want to influence discussion to much but would like to remind people that posting on here is one way to vent, but I would encourage all to write an email to Corey Rudd and cross post it here.

The Agri-Food Council is the group with the legislative Authority.

Also I'm going to defend myself a bit by saying that I lose fights around board tables. Even when I'm right.

Here's your chance.

[oneoff]

It actually looks like the majority of farmers are on the same page on this one.

And we still won't get what even when pretty clear what the majority wants... will we.

We're surrounded by "dictators" and until we stop condoning it; we'll keep getting what we deserve.

Call them for what they are; and speak up every time when necessary.
They won't go willingly.

[oneoff]

Don't worry gus... your're not influencing anyone. It pretty clear I do believe.

[oneoff]

What I'd worry about is the influence (if any) on those who will issue the edict.

[bucket]

You are right oneoff.

I don't remember being asked about what I thought of another checkoff for a wheat commission or a commission to begin with.

Sure I am just a small farmer, but who thinks this shit up.

We have WGRF that has a checkoff doing research, so if the mandate of the wheat commission is to do more research, WTF has the WGRF been doing?

All these other groups have a seat at the table of the WGRF, so is someone's nose out of joint?

The other problem is that its always the same people, which is fine, but does no one ever think about getting some new blood into these things. They start things behind close doors, make an announcement and most say " oh those guys got another thing started up". And they already have the minister's approval, so the die is cast.


Make no mistake, there will be chackoffs for the wheat commission whether you like it or not.