The number of voices talking was small, but the message was apparently loud and clear.
Saskatchewan oat growers want to pay a checkoff to support research and market development for the province’s sixth most popular crop.
A series of seven producer meetings across the province last month attracted only 40 oat growers to talk about the checkoff proposal.
Just about all of those producers expressed support for a checkoff, and that’s enough to convince the Saskatchewan vice-president of the Prairie Oat Growers Association that the growers are behind the idea.
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“I would say it’s overwhelming that everybody is in favour,” he said in an interview last week from his farm near Ituna, Sask.
Spilchuk added he will have no second thoughts about delivering that message to the provincial Agri-Food Council, despite the low turnout at the meetings.
He said the low turnout can be interpreted as support for the idea. If farmers didn’t like the idea of a checkoff, they would have shown up to oppose it. Some farmers have told association officials they didn’t go to the meetings because they assumed the checkoff has wide support and will be going ahead.
However, the head of the Agri-Food Council said the low attendance might have a bearing on the check-off decision.
“I don’t want to pre-judge what the council’s opinion will be, but if you hold a meeting and no one shows up, that would factor into any decision,” said council secretary Roy White.
Under provincial legislation, there is no requirement for a formal vote among growers for a commodity checkoff to be implemented.
However, the council must be satisfied that the proposal has broad support among growers of that commodity. That includes having confidence that the system used to gauge grower opinion was reliable. After assessing the proposal, the council will make a recommendation to the provincial minister of agriculture.
Spilchuk said the association will also run advertisements in the farm press offering growers a chance to fill out the same questionnaire that was distributed at the meetings.
The association is proposing a refundable checkoff of 50 cents a tonne or about 0.77 cents a bushel, which would raise $600,000 a year based on average production.
Despite being collected under separate regulations in each province, the check-off funds would be administered from a central office.
In Manitoba, there must be a vote. About 6,000 ballots are being sent out to anyone who has grown oats in the past two years, based on crop insurance records. The ballots are to be returned by April 23 and 60 percent approval is required.
In Alberta, the Agricultural Products Marketing Council will hold information meetings later this year and assess the level of support through a show of hands. Because it’s a refundable checkoff, there will likely not be a formal vote. The council will recommend to cabinet whether to approve the checkoff.
