The Check-Off

Alberta Lamb Producers check-off - Your investment in your industry

As the voice of the Alberta lamb industry, Alberta Lamb Producers is doing everything in its power to make an already strong industry even stronger.

Alberta Lamb Producers operates under the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, overseen by the Agricultural Products Marketing Council which has responsibility for facilitating the establishment and supervising the operations of agricultural boards and commissions in Alberta. For a copy of the Alberta Lamb Producers Plan & Regulation, please visit the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act & Regulations webpage or call the office.

In Alberta, a mandatory service charge (check-off) of $1.50 is paid by producers at the same time they buy Canadian Sheep Identification Program tags. This is not a tag cost; it is a very simple and efficient way of collecting the legislated check-off. Also a mandatory check-off of one cent per pound of wool marketed, will be deducted and remitted to Alberta Lamb Producers.

Check-off dollars are critical to the future success of Alberta's sheep industry. Normally every check off dollar leverages around $3 of external funding. Including the lamb traceability pilot project this year, it is closer to 8:1. A pretty good return on your investment!

Check-off dollars are very important to a producer group, especially to this relatively small but expanding and profitable livestock sector. Check-off maintains the infrastructure of Alberta Lamb Producers and also leverages substantial external funding to enable development of the sheep industry. The amendments to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act now require commissions to grant their members the option to seek refunds of mandatory service charges, commonly known as check-offs. Bill 43 has now passed, payment of check off is still mandatory is refundable to sheep producers from 1st September, 2010.

So now is the time to step back and look at the big picture – reduced check off income will result in a reduction or elimination of the following services, opportunities and benefits. We run a very lean operation, there is no fat to cut, check off refunds will reduce services for all producers. If we want the future of the Alberta lamb industry to be sustainable and gain momentum, we all need to support it.

  • Advocacy
  • Six newsletters each year
  • N'ewesline
  • Websites – www.ablamb.ca  www.albertalamb.ca
  • Information source
  • External project funding
  • Delivery of programs
  • Media features
  • Annual meetings & director elections
  • Sheep producers included in government programs
  • Opportunity to shape the future of your industry by speaking to your representatives and volunteering as a director to represent your fellow-producers.

Government and ALMA need projects and advancements to be industry-driven; ALP provides that driver – your representation - to these projects. Without a strong infrastructure and a sound business plan, ALP could not participate to this level and leverage this kind of funding.

A refund request may be submitted for check-off payments made after September 1st, 2010.  

  1. A refund request must be received by Alberta Lamb Producers by the 25th of the month following purchase, e.g. if tags are purchased in January, the refund request must be received by Alberta Lamb Producers postmarked or fax-dated no later than February 25th – the same date the remittance is received from CCWG. No extenuating circumstances will be considered.
  2. All refund requests must be submitted on the form provided by Alberta Lamb Producers and made available on www.ablamb.ca or from the office upon request. The refund request must be in the same name or names as the service charge was paid.  If the purchase was recorded in two names, those same two people must sign the request for a refund and the refund cheque must be made payable to those two people.
  3. Alberta Lamb Producers will refund the service charge to the producer annually within 30 days of the Alberta Lamb Producers year end.
  4. Each producer will have the option of requesting a refund of the entire service charge or a portion thereof.

Comments from a producer

Each time Gerrit Van Hierden tags one of the lambs on his farm near Fort Macleod, he contributes another $1.50 to the Alberta Lamb Producers (ALP) to help make Alberta's growing sheep industry more profitable. Instead of an expense, he sees it as an investment.

“I consider my check-off an investment for my business and feel I have received good value and return on my money,” says Van Hierden. “ALP is my connection to the heartbeat of what’s happening. They watch out for my business.” Along with his flock of 850 ewes, Van Hierden also raises cattle and crops on his family farm.

“If people are looking to put money in their pockets by asking for a refund, they will have a short term benefit with a long term detriment to the industry,” he says. “The whole industry benefits from Alberta Lamb Producers so if everyone isn't willing to pay, it's not fair to those who are.”

Advocacy

Alberta Lamb Producers is the voice of the Alberta sheep industry to the Alberta government and the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency. It represents you in the Canadian Sheep Federation to the federal government and in national programs. To be a serious, respected and well-organised industry, you need strong representation that listens to producers and is a two-way conduit for information.

 

 

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