RED DEER – When Bill Dobson was nine years old he remembers going with his father to a meeting in his community of Paradise Valley, Alta., about building a hockey arena.
The meeting was heated with each side shouting and pointing their fingers. The ‘no’ side won at that meeting, but on the way out a family friend told Dobson that despite the outcome the arena should get built.
The memory of the determination of those who wanted an arena 40 years ago, and finally built it, has stuck with Dobson all these years.
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It’s that same determination that he plans to use to rebuild Alberta’s struggling general farm organization, Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.
“I enjoy a challenge. I know I can make it happen and it will happen,” said Dobson, newly elected as president at the organization’s annual meeting.
“I have great expectations for this organization.”
The rebuilding of Wild Rose, which has less than 1,000 members, begins with rebuilding the credibility of the organization, said Dobson, who farms 1,600 acres of grain and oilseeds in eastern Alberta.
For the past several years, WRAP leaders have stood at the podium at each annual meeting and rallied members to return to their farm and sell memberships. But few members had the time and energy to drive door to door to sell.
This year Dobson is not urging members to sell memberships, but to sell the organization. If the farmers are at coffee and an issue comes up, Dobson wants the members to say, “that’s an issue we can bring to the next Wild Rose meeting and it’s the organization that can make that happen.
“I think we have to begin to build the credibility before we can build membership.”
Dobson also wants to sit down with the board of directors to develop and clearly define the role the organization will play in agricultural policy development.
Then when people ask about the Wild Rose group, a member can say confidently what the organization is about.
“We need to clearly define what we want to be.”
Dobson also hopes that a rejuvenated membership will boost the organization’s finances. In 2002, WRAP had a little more than $140,000 in operating revenue, not enough to dig deeply into policy issues.
“We’ve spent far too much energy on survival and not enough time researching topics,” he said.
Rod Scarlett, the organization’s only employee, estimates he gets about 100 calls a day, many from media. There is little time left over for serious policy research.
For the past several years, WRAP has asked the provincial government to allow the general farm organization to have a farm checkoff for funding. The answer has always been a definite no.
Dobson doesn’t think the government will change its mind about a checkoff in the near future. The organization has to rebuild its credibility with the provincial government, too.
“To gain credibility you have to dig into issues and offer solutions to make them better. I can see we can play a significant role.”
For Dobson, the test for success will be when the provincial minister comes to them first with a question.
“If the minister asks us, I’ll consider we’re on the road to success.”
