Collection method | WGRF hasn’t heard details of who will collect wheat and barley checkoffs
The Western Grains Research Foundation is waiting to learn how its levies on wheat and barley will be collected after Aug. 1.
WGRF chair Dave Sefton said Ottawa has assured the foundation that an alternative collection mechanism will be in place by the end of the 2011-12 crop year.
But with less than three months remaining, details of the new collection system have yet to be released.
“The collection mechanism hasn’t really been made public at this point,” Sefton said last week.
“They (Ottawa) … have assured us that it will be there to start collecting on Aug. 1 but we really only have two or three months left to put all of the pieces in place. Time is getting of the essence.”
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The CWB had previously deducted wheat and barley levies from producers’ grain payments.
However, the CWB won’t have a monopoly on wheat and barley sales after Aug. 1. That means other grain companies will be involved in the collection process.
Sefton said tight timelines are becoming a concern.
“I’m sure that (Ottawa) is working behind the scenes and I’m sure that things are happening, but until (details) are made pubic, we really have to leave it in their hands,” he said. “What we can’t afford is to have a hiccup in the funding for cereal research because it’s a long-term process and you can’t just stop it, start it.”
It is possible that an existing organization such as Levy Central could become involved in the new collection process.
This program, which is managed by the Agriculture Council of Saskatchewan, provides levy collection services for 10 commodity organizations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta.
Laurie Dmytryshyn, executive director at ACS, said Levy Central would be prepared to collect wheat and barley checkoffs if the opportunity arises.
“We’re definitely interested in the wheat and barley checkoff,” she said.
“We have done some different planning scenarios.… We’re definitely working on it and we’ve got plans in place should the prescribed agency end up contracting with us.”
Patrick Girard, a spokesperson with Agriculture Canada, offered no new details on the levy collection process when contacted by The Western Producer.
According to a December 2011 document posted on the department’s website, “details of the checkoff, including the mechanism for opting out, the mechanisms for control of the funds and reporting re-quirements, will be developed in the regulatory process in consultation with industry over the coming months.
“The government agrees … that the research and market development activities being carried out by the Western Grains Research Foundation, the Canadian International Grains Institute and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre are vital for the western Canadian grain value chain and these activities should continue.”
