EDMONTON — Alberta farmers are no longer seeing two deductions from their wheat cheques.
“You were paying two levies for the past four years. Now it will be one,” said producer and Alberta Wheat Commission board member Henry Voss, who brought the motion to the annual meeting of the Alberta Wheat Commission in Edmonton during FarmTech held earlier this month.
The pair of levies that had been charged added up to $1.18 per tonne. The new charge will fall to a single $1.09, following a commission vote.
Cash tickets had reflected a checkoff of 70 cents to fund the AWC and 48 cents for the western Canadian deduction. The latter was developed to replace money that was invested by the Canadian Wheat Board in crop research and development.
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Of that money, 30 cents flows to the Western Grains Research Foundation, 15 to the Canadian International Grains Institute and three cents for administration.
The AWC says it can cut the nine cents per tonne and still meet its commitments for variety development and pay CIGI. Manitoba and Saskatchewan wheat groups made similar changes and now charge their producers $1 per tonne.
“We feel they will need to increase theirs in the coming years to meet the needs of the industry. We feel we should go ahead with it now,” said Voss.
Board members speaking to the issue said it should result in a more accountable investment for wheat variety development and marketing from their province’s farmers.
