Efforts are under way to breathe new life into the moribund Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.
The right-of-centre farm lobby group closed its doors at the end of June in the face of drastically shrinking membership rolls and a lack of money.
But a voluntary committee of members has been working since then on a plan to get the organization up and running again.
Spokesperson Cherilyn Jolly of Mossbank, Sask., said discussions with former members and other segments of the industry, including government and academia, have shown there is a widespread desire to have an organization like the WCWGA in place to promote issues like deregulation and an end to single desk selling through the Canadian Wheat Board.
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“The prospect of losing the wheat growers has caused many farmers to realize the negative consequences of a one-sided policy debate,” she said in a News release
news.
Jolly could not be reached for further comment before the publishing deadline for this issue.
The 15-member “renewal committee” includes former presidents Hubert Esquirol, Ted Menzies and Walter Nelson, former executive director Alanna Koch and high profile members such as Paul Orsak and Bill Cooper.
The committee said in the News release
news that there are many issues that underscore the need for the WCWGA or a successor organization, such as food safety, environmental issues and a “fundamental malfunctioning” of the grain marketing system.
The committee is contacting all current WCWGA members to notify them of the reorganization effort and will present its recommendations for restructuring at a meeting sometime in 2004.
In the meantime, the organization will retain its membership in government and industry committees.
