Alberta beef producers will vote this fall on the thorny question of whether to have a refundable or a non-refundable checkoff.
Ballots can be cast by mail, in person at one of 46 Agriculture Financial Services Corp. offices in the province, or at one of the zone meetings held in October and November. Voting is slated to occur between Oct. 19 and Nov. 13.
Alberta’s Agricultural Products Marketing Council is expected to distribute information about the plebiscite soon.
Beef producers and cattle feeders have been debating the merits of refundable and non-refundable checkoffs for almost a decade.
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After years of being non-refundable, producers voted to make it refundable in 2010 after much contentious debate that in general terms represented a rift between cow-calf producers and feedlot operators.
That change has since allowed producers to request refunds of the $2 per head provincial checkoff that is collected when animals are sold.
More than $20 million in refunds have been issued since 2010, according to Alberta Beef Producers. In 2017, $2.5 million of the $10.3 million collected was refunded, most of it to cattle feeders.
Those in favour of a refundable checkoff argue that it makes Alberta Beef Producers more accountable and receptive to direction from its members.
On the other hand, uncertainty over how much money will be refunded makes ABP budgeting difficult and affects the stability of future planning.
ABP and the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association held joint meetings this spring to explain a plan under which money from a non-refundable checkoff could be managed through a fund dubbed the Alberta Beef Industry Development Fund.
At those meetings, the leaders of ABP and ACFA endorsed the plan.
“I encourage all cattle producers to vote this fall in the plebiscite to decide on funding for the future of your industry,” said ACFA chair Ryan Kasko, in a Sept. 21 news release.
ABP chair Charlie Christie said a vote for the non-refundable checkoff and resulting establishment of the new fund would allow the industry to invest another $2.2 to $2.5 million annually in strategic projects.
If producers agree to the plan put forward, ABP will retain $1.35 per head of the $2 checkoff. That will include the 53 cents per head that goes to the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the rebate paid to those who collect the money.
Another 40 cents per head, amounting to about $1.4 million per year, will go into the beef industry development fund. And 25 cents per head, or about $850,000 per year, will go to the ACFA for its operational costs and commitment to the National Cattle Feeders Association.
About 18,000 Alberta cattle producers will be eligible to vote on the plebiscite.
