Alberta potato farmers have overwhelmingly voted to make their checkoff non-refundable.
In a recent plebiscite, 56 producers (82.3 per cent) voted in favour of making the service charge non-refundable. There were 11 opposing votes and one spoiled ballot.
There are about 140 licensed potato growers in the province, cropping about 53,000 acres (mostly processing potatoes) annually. The checkoff is $25 for fresh potatoes, $35 an acre for seed potatoes, and seven cents per hundred pounds for processing potatoes.
The board of the Potato Growers of Alberta has to approve the change to a non-refundable checkoff, but is expected to do so.
