AT THE same time Agricore United held its annual meeting and passed resolutions on policy issues, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool president Marvin Wiens explained his company’s two-day annual meeting this week would contain little on policy.
“We haven’t had the time or resources in the world we’ve been living in to focus on policy,” he said.
Wiens’ explanation is understandable. But the move away from policy-making by the Pool began in 1996 when it went public.
Farmers understand the Pool’s priority is financial survival. They know disaster loomed if bondholders hadn’t accepted the recent restructuring package.
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But the package also contained governance changes that may cause Pool members to wonder if farm policy-making will fall further into the background.
Wiens said the most important role for delegates now is to be positive spokespersons for the company and help it elect directors that will keep the company viable.
Shouldn’t that be the other way around? Shouldn’t Pool be a positive spokesperson for farmers and help them keep their farms viable?
Compare SWP with AU: “The company very much values the grassroots input it receives from its membership through the delegate body,” said AU interim president Neil Silver last week.
Meanwhile, SWP’s restructuring package, hammered out with bankers and bondholders, proposes a board structure consisting of eight farmer-members and four independent directors (with voting power), compared to the current 12 farmer directors and two non-voting outside advisers.
The independent directors hold significant power on the board, especially on committees. A new lead director from the independents will be vice-chair of the board, do performance reviews of the chief executive officer and chair the committee for strategic and business planning. This influences mergers, asset sales, capital expenditures and other business.
Independent directors can bring valuable expertise to the boardroom. However, as the president of Federated Co-operatives Limited wrote a few months ago, there is a danger in sacrificing control.
Dennis Banda said outsiders may not relate to the philosophy of co-operative members. They might lack the ability to relate to processes required that work in a co-op system and they “have very little commitment to the co-operative process and its objectives.”
To succeed, Pool must regain business but also the confidence and trust of farmers. They will see whether the new governance structure values grassroots input and if the company not only serves their financial interests but stands up for the farmers on such issues as farm safety nets, drought assistance, Kyoto and international trade.
The co-operative structure of Pool was created to give farmers a say in how the organization is run and whether it is run in their best interests.
If Pool ignores the grassroots members and abdicates its role in farm policy, it will do so at its peril.
