Both of Saskatchewan’s major cattle producer associations have signed on for the creation of a new check-off funded organization.
At separate January meetings of the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers’ Association, producers chose to establish the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association and approach the provincial government for changes to legislation that will make it possible.
While the Stock Growers will put the decision to another vote at its annual meeting in June, the SCFA was unanimous in its support for a single voice for research funding and lobbying on behalf of the Saskatchewan beef industry.
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Cow-calf producer and president of the SSGA, Dennis Fuglerud of Broderick, Sask., said most members in his group support the move to take control of their $1 per head check-off money from the provincial government as critical.
Ituna, Sask., cattle feeder Bob Ivey said the move to a single organization is necessary and follows recommendatons provided in April 2007 by Framework Consultants of Calgary.
“When the cattle industry lobbies governments it has to be with one voice. A single message. We need to set our priorities for research and focus the money we have on funding projects and communications that will improve returns for the beef industry in Saskatchewan. We don’t have so much money that we can divide our efforts,” he said of the $1.2 to $1.5 million collected annually.
In recent years both groups applied to the minister of agriculture for a share of the checkoff. This provided a limited amount of core organizational funding for lobbying and communications and to fund an economics analyst through the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Committee.
A ministerial advisory panel has assisted the government in directing the check-off funding until now.
Some cow-calf producers, members of the SSGA, have opposed the creation of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association on the basis that the needs of primary producers are often at odds with those of cattle feeders or the purebred industries.
Other arguments against the formation include the additional administration costs of another office and staff.
A disagreement over the role of the National Tripartite Stabilization program in the 1980s that saw many cattle feeders leave the SSGA is one example cow-calf producers cite about the groups’ different lobbying priorities. Ivey said better results from a joint effort on behalf of all beef producers would offset any inefficiency.
Fuglerud said the addition of a continually funded research analyst position under the SCA would fill an important role in the province.
A temporary board with representatives from each crop district, two from districts three and nine due to higher cattle concentrations, and two members each from the SSGA and SCFA has been struck until elections can take place later this year.
“It will be very democratic. All producers will have the right to vote for their regional representative,” said Ivey, who asked producers in Saskatoon to contact their district representatives and examine the structural plan laid out by Framework Consultants.
