EDMONTON – Alberta canola producers have voted to double their checkoff to $1 a tonne from 50 cents.
The increase will double the Alberta Canola Producers Commission budget to $1.6 million from $800,000.
“The funds have been used very prudently,” said Doug Elliot of Vermilion, who made the motion to increase the refundable checkoff during the association’s annual meeting.
“The natural progression is to go to a dollar,” said Elliot, who chaired the Alberta Canola Producers Commission in 1989 when it established a 50 cent per tonne checkoff.
“The dilemma of our organization is: to get our message across demands additional funding,” he said.
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Commission chair Ed Gaudet said when he was elected to the board eight years ago, much of the check-off money was spent on research. But the role of the commission has expanded to include education, food safety and lobbying.
A lot of the money is spent on policy, advocacy and lobbying, he said.
The commission spent $183,750 in the last year on market research, a little less than half of the $429,600 spent on research.
Just under $75,000 was spent on member relations to promote the industry.
But in the increasingly political world of agriculture, it’s important canola producers have a say in policy development, Gaudet said.
“You have to be at the table and being at the table costs money. You want your industry there,” said Gaudet.
“To get our message across demands additional funding.”
No producers at the meeting opposed the increase.
