An agreement has been reached to keep the $1 non-refundable cattle checkoff mandatory in Alberta.
“Basically the crux of the understanding that we reached was the piece of legislation or the piece of regulation that allows the ABP (Alberta Beef Producers) to collect a $1 non-refundable federal levy will continue until June 30 of 2015,” said Doug Sawyer, chair of the Alberta Beef Producers. The memorandum of understanding was signed between ABP and the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association (ACFA) and was necessary to keep the levy non-refundable.
Sawyer said the memorandum signed by both groups runs from March 30, 2013 until March 30, 2014. The present regulation allowing the mandatory checkoff collection was set to run out March 31.
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The $1 checkoff goes to fund research and marketing efforts by groups such as the Beef Cattle Research Council and Canada Beef Inc.
“That puts a bit of stability into those organizations in terms of their funding,” Sawyer said. He said it’s tough to plan and administer research efforts on a yearly basis when many projects run for a few years.
In addition to agreeing to the non-refundable extension, Sawyer said the memorandum speaks to ABP and ACFA meeting at least quarterly to work on issues of common interest.
The negotiations were “difficult,” Sawyer said. ABP wanted to see a five-year extension of the $1 non-refundable checkoff, while the Cattle Feeders wanted one year. They compromised on 2015. “I genuinely believe, certainly from ABP’s perspective anyway… we signed an MOU that we fully intend on fulfilling,” he said.
Bryan Walton, CEO of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association, said the negotiations went well. “We thought that in the spirit of co-operation we would agree to a two-year extension,” Walton said.
He said two important points both groups agreed on was the need for accountability and movement towards a contemporary governance structure for the board of Canada Beef.
“We all want to see a return on investment. I think the staff at Canada Beef are working hard. We believe that there’s value in the research,” Walton said, adding the ACFA has independently invested in various research projects that will benefit the whole beef industry. He said he thinks the memorandum of understanding is positive, particularly with the quarterly meetings.
ABP executive director Rich Smith said the provincial government regulatory hurdles have been jumped and the next step lies with the ABP board. After it approves the levy expiry date change to the commission regulation, which Smith predicted no problems with, it’s off to the Agricultural Products Marketing Council for implementation. He expected the steps would be wrapped up a few days prior to the Mar. 31 deadline.
