Saskatchewan’s wheat and barley development commissions will be collecting checkoffs by Aug. 1.
Agriculture minister Lyle Stewart and the interim commission board chairs announced June 20 that consultations are complete and the commissions officially established.
Stewart said the checkoffs have been set at 52 cents per tonne for wheat and 50 cents per tonne for barley.
“We anticipate about $4.3 million a year for wheat and $1 million a year for barley,” he said during the announcement at Canada’s Farm Progress Show in Regina.
“They can use some of that money to lever other private investments in research.”
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Cherilyn Nagel, interim chair for the wheat development commission, said the initial checkoff is a good place to start, and there is room to go higher and fund more research.
“I think wheat and barley have been left behind,” she said.
Saskatchewan wheat producers will now have a direct say in what research is undertaken, she said.
“Agronomic research, market development, market access, all of that will be directed by producer dollars and I think most importantly producers, with the influence we have in the industry, we’re going to be able to leverage those dollars with private industry and with government,” Nagel said.
Interim barley commission chair Bill Cooper said there is a lot of work to do in barley research. Acreage has dropped by 1.25 million in Saskatchewan and 2.25 million in Alberta in the last 25 years, he said, and they are the two main barley-producing provinces.
“There’s real competition for acres,” Cooper said.
Farmers evaluate in January what crop will give them the best return, and barley hasn’t been their choice, even though it’s a low-cost crop to grow, he added.
The checkoffs are mandatory but refundable, and Stewart said he hopes producers see the value of being able to direct their dollars into projects that will serve them well.
The interim boards will continue to steer the commissions until elections are held this fall. Producers will elect seven people to the wheat development commission board and six to the barley board.
Saskatchewan seeds 14 million acres to wheat and barley each year and accounts for 6.5 percent of world wheat exports and 5.6 percent of world barley exports.
