Saskatchewan’s cereal grain producers could soon see fundamental change to how wheat and barley levies are collected.
The changes could also mean a significant increase in the amount of money that is collected annually through producer checkoffs.
Saskatchewan agriculture minister Lyle Stewart announced Oct. 12 that two interim committees have been formed to oversee the creation of permanent wheat and barley commissions in the province.
The commissions are expected to be running by August 2013.
Once they are established, the commissions will have the authority to set and administer provincial levies on all wheat and barley grown in the province.
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The interim committees announced last week will act as an interim board of directors for the proposed commissions, until formal director elections are held within the next 12 to 18 months.
Wheat growers Gerrid Gust, David Marit, Norm Hall, Joan Heath and Cherilyn Nagel were named to the interim wheat committee.
Bill Cooper, Bill Copeland, Todd Lewis, Tom Hewson and Dennis Fuglerud will sit on the barley committee.
The timelines to establish the commissions are tight but manageable, Steward said.
“It is a bit (ambitious) but I believe it can be done and I think the folks on these committees think they can get the work done in that time,” he said.
The interim committees held their inaugural planning meetings earlier this month.
Norm Hall, a wheat committee member who also serves as president of Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said the major issues will be the size of the levies and division of the funds between research and promotion and administration.
