Elevators’ fee for service ‘dangerous precedent’

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Published: May 9, 1996

BRANDON, Man. (Staff) – The Western Grain Elevator Association wants to charge a Manitoba farm group a fee for deducting a checkoff.

The fee could be as high as 10 percent, which members of Keystone Agricultural Producers denounced as unacceptable at a meeting here last week.

“We are customers and in some cases we are co-op owners of the elevators that want to negotiate some sort of fee for service,” said Kevin Wadham of Virden.

Elevators will start automatically collecting one-half of one percent of grain sales for KAP on May 15.

Read Also

tractor

Farming Smarter receives financial boost from Alberta government for potato research

Farming Smarter near Lethbridge got a boost to its research equipment, thanks to the Alberta government’s increase in funding for research associations.

Les Jacobson, KAP president, explained amendments to the provincial Agricultural Producers Organization Funding Act now allow a designated farm lobby group to collect a checkoff from all farmers.

But the same amendments also allow a fee for service. Jacobson said the elevators don’t charge other groups that collect checkoffs in the same way.

Barry Routledge of Lenore noted when farmers choose to ask for their money back, KAP will still be on the hook for the service fee. Routledge said this would unfairly penalize the organization.

Terry Wareham, a member from Newdale, said the elevator association could set “a dangerous precedent” by charging the fees, and commodity groups should work with KAP to make sure it doesn’t happen.

explore

Stories from our other publications