The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers election is once again embroiled in controversy.
Three directors of the organization have taken the unusual step of handpicking and then endorsing two of the five candidates running to fill two vacancies on the board of directors.
Shawn Buhr, Jim Moen and Bert Vandenberg recruited Robert Hundeby and Trevor Simpson to run in the 2012 campaign and then threw their support behind the young farmers in a news release and in advertisements in community newspapers.
That has raised the ire of other candidates running in the election.
Read Also
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.
“To me it could set a dangerous precedent,” said Tim Wiens, a grower from Herschel, Sask., who has served for nine years on the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission.
“They’re going down a road that nobody has ever gone before in any crop development commission that’s out there.”
Wiens is referring not only to this year’s election but what happened in 2011 when Buhr, Moen and pulse crop breeder Vandenberg ran as a slate of candidates pushing for reform at Pulse Canada.
They wanted more Saskatchewan grower representation on the board of the national organization, improved accountability and communication and more joint planning with provincial grower groups.
The three candidates were elected by acclamation when a fourth candidate dropped out of the election at the last minute. Wiens finds it disturbing this same group of individuals is now grooming two more candidates for the board.
“If those two get elected and all of the sudden there’s five working together as one group and the other two members of the board are not part of those discussions, then where is the accountability to say that the decisions that will be made will be made in the best interest of farmers?” he said.
Hundeby said he and Simpson were handpicked by the three directors.
“They were trying to target young businessmen that would help guide and provide governance and direction to the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers going forward,” he said.
Hundeby is a 37-year-old farmer from Elbow, Sask., who is vice-president of Gardiner Dam Terminal Ltd. His uncle, Ron Hundeby, served on the SPG board with Buhr and Moen during their first stint as directors in the early 2000s.
Simpson is a 31-year-old select seed grower from Moose Jaw, Sask., who is part of the well-known Simpson Seeds operation.
The other two candidates are incumbent Vicki Dutton, a select seed grower from Paynton, Sask., and John Bennett, a former SPG board member from Biggar, Sask., who is co-chair of the national Pulse Industry Roundtable.
Hundeby said that if elected, he won’t be a puppet for the directors who endorsed his campaign. He already has experience working with Buhr on the Gardiner Dam Terminal board of directors.
His priorities are similar to those of the three existing directors.
He wants SPG to have a bigger say at Pulse Canada, even though its representation was recently doubled to four members on the nine-member board of the national organization. Hundeby said that’s not enough for a province that grows 80 percent of the country’s pulses.
He also wants the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre to play a bigger role in the provincial and national organizations and wants better governance on the SPG board.
Moen said Hundeby and Simpson were chosen because they are young businesspeople who come from excellent families that have been involved in the pulse industry since its inception.
“People aren’t always willing to come forward. We felt we needed to provide an encouragement,” said Moen.
He said the existing directors are not pushing any particular agenda and will not be block voting on all issues.
“We want (the new directors) to be free thinkers and to bring new ideas and new concepts and innovation to the board,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that they are seeking some degree of shared philosophy at a board table that has been deeply divided and dysfunctional in recent years.
The slate of Moen, Buhr and Vandenberg was put together by past chairs of SPG in response to last year’s sudden exodus of the organization’s chair, long-time executive director and research director.
Wiens said the directors may have gone too far in their zeal for reform.
He was shocked to see an advertisement in the Rosetown Eagle endorsing his opponents.
“It causes me concern, but I think farmers can see through what they’re trying to do,” he said.
Wiens was even more surprised that he was mentioned in the news release as another young candidate to consider. He wasn’t consulted about being part of the news release and promptly demanded to have his name removed.
Wiens also has “huge issues” with Vandenberg, who is a pulse crop breeder from the CDC, making decisions on how farmer money will be spent. Vandenberg has stated he does not participate in funding decisions regarding the CDC.
SPG sent out 16,484 ballots for this year’s election. Completed ballots must be received no later than Dec. 6. There was an 11 percent response rate in the 2010 election.
