Saskatchewan organic growers could be funding a new research and development commission but it won’t cost them any extra money.
A ballot is going out to about 1,000 growers this week asking them if they would like to redirect their existing check-off dollars from a handful of commodity groups to establish the Saskatchewan Organic Commission.
The move was made possible by recent changes to the provincial Agri-Food Act enabling groups to collect levy dollars by method of production rather than by crop.
“We’re blazing a new trail here,” said Bob Willick, chair of the Organic Prairie Research Coalition, the group that worked out the details with government and drafted the ballot.
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The coalition conservatively estimated that the redirected checkoff will initially provide the commission with $112,620 per year, which will be used to fund a variety of organic research and market development projects.
The check-off dollars would be redirected from the pulse, canola, alfalfa, flax and forage seed groups regulated by the Saskatchewan Agri-Food Council, as well as the canaryseed, winter cereals and oat groups that have checkoffs pending.
Garth Patterson, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, doesn’t see the need for another funding agency.
“I would like to see us go in the opposite direction in the future, where we have less boards and commissions. It would keep administration costs down for farmers,” he said.
Patterson pointed out that Saskatchewan Pulse Growers already funds general varietal development and pathology work at the University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre that benefits all farmers, as well as specific organic projects.
One project on the books is a $233,395, three-year study at the University of Saskatchewan to optimize pea and lentil agronomy in organic systems.
“Organic pulse growers are already having their interests represented,” said Patterson.
However, he acknowledged that in the end, it will be up to farmers to decide what to do with their money.
Patterson is willing to talk with representatives of the Saskatchewan Organic Commission if it gets the mandate it is seeking, although he stopped short of saying any funds would be redirected to the group.
“That would require regulatory changes in the pulse regulations,” he said.
Farmers have about a month to make up their minds. Ballots have to be postmarked or faxed by Feb. 20 and will be tallied on March 1.
Willick said if all goes well, the newly formed commission could be collecting refundable levy dollars before the end of the year, which is a much faster turnaround time than most checkoffs.
He believes that if it is successful, the Saskatchewan initiative will spawn similar commissions in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Those three agencies could then go after additional check-off dollars collected by the Western Grains Research Foundation and cattle groups, boosting annual revenues for the Saskatchewan Organic Commission to an estimated $192,445.
Based on the experience of other associations, the levy money would be used to leverage additional funding out of governments and the private sector, doubling or tripling the total pot of funding available to the commission.
Six Saskatchewan board members of the Organic Prairie Research Coalition, all farmers who have served on various research committees, would form the interim board of the commission. Within one year an election would be held to appoint a permanent board.
They would represent the estimated 1,200 certified organic farmers in Saskatchewan who have about 700,000 acres in production and 100,000 acres in transition.
Among its other duties the commission would decide which projects to fund based on research priorities for organic agriculture submitted by the province’s certified organic growers, an approach that appeals to Jason Freeman, marketing manger for Farmer Direct Co-operative Ltd.
“It’s really grassroots, farmer-controlled decision making as opposed to a board saying this is where the money is going to go,” said Freeman, who was also quoted in promotional material accompanying the ballot as endorsing the new organic checkoff.
Freeman, whose co-op has been in a legal dispute with Saskatchewan Pulse Growers over its mandatory levy, doesn’t anticipate problems getting commodity groups to relinquish their grip on the portion of their checkoff that comes from organic production.
“We have been told that the government will force their hand,” he said. “They don’t really have much of a choice.”
