The plebiscite will determine whether the beef checkoff will become nonrefundable again; results are expected soon
Results of a plebiscite that will determine the fate of the nonrefundable beef industry checkoff will be known by mid-November.
Any producer who has sold at least one bovine within the last two years is eligible to cast a ballot. If passed, the $2 checkoff collected on every animal sold in Alberta would be split several ways.
Forty cents would go to a new industry development fund, 25 cents to the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association, five cents to those who collect the money and $1.30 to Alberta Beef Producers. Of its share, ABP would send 53 cents to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association as part of its provincial remittance.
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A single and aligned check-off collection system based on where producers live makes the system equal said Chad Ross, Saskatchewan Cattle Association chair.
The refundable checkoff has created budget challenges for ABP since its inception, given that the number and amount of refunds fluctuate. The 2018 ABP financial report indicates $2.5 million was refunded in 2017. Of that, about $273,000 was refunded at the request of cow-calf producers and $2.2 million at the request of feedlots.
Since June 2010, 12 percent of the refunds went to cow-calf producers and 88 percent to feedlots.
Some in the industry consider the refundable checkoff necessary to ensure accountability of the organization. That remains a key argument for those who favour keeping the levy refundable for those who ask.
Over time, officials with ABP and ACFA agreed on a new funding model that would be implemented if the vote of 50 percent plus one is decided in favour of a non-refundable checkoff.
ABP has proposed a budget of $5.3 million to fund its operations while the industry development fund would receive about $1.4 million a year.
The fund would be administered from the ABP office in Calgary and overseen by a seven-member council. Three seats each would go to ABP and the ACFA, plus the council would have an independent chair.
“We are looking for progressive people to be involved in it. It doesn’t have to necessarily be beef producers,” ABP vice-chair Kelly Smith-Fraser said at an Oct. 24 beef producer zone meeting in Innisfail.
Ryan Kasko, chair of the ACFA, and Bob Lowe, vice-chair of the CCA, both spoke in favour of the non-refundable structure at a zone meeting in Taber Oct. 23.
“It’s a major shift in the thought process for the industry,” said Lowe, adding that beef production is all one industry, not one split between cow-calf producers and feedlots.
Kasko said the industry has been talking about the checkoff for years and although the ACFA pushed for a refundable checkoff before, the new proposal recognizes that the industry would be stronger with more co-operation.
“If we all pay a little bit of a checkoff, we have a commitment to the industry,” said Kasko.
Producers are voting at zone meetings and can also do so at any Alberta Agriculture Financial Services Corp. office. Mail-in ballots are also accepted. Voting ends Nov. 13. Accounting firm MNP will do the count.
The industry development fund is considered to be a new way to support marketing, research and collaborative efforts for Alberta.
“I don’t see lobbying efforts coming out of that money but what it will do is move the industry forward,” said Charlie Christie, chair of ABP.
The $1.4 million that would be collected can be leveraged to match with other grant programs.
“You desperately need those industry dollars to get leverage out of government these days. We are looking at research money coming out of the Alberta government at $5 million for all of agriculture,” he said.
“We have got to step up, we have no choice.”
Alberta producers pay a checkoff of $4.50 per head with $2.50 sent to the national checkoff agency to support Canada Beef Inc., the Beef Cattle Research Council and issues management.
“We knew when the national checkoff went to $2.50 (as of April 1) there would be a bump in refunds,” Christie said.
