Sheep Industry Related News
Alberta Lamb Producers endeavors to provide Alberta sheep producers with timely news and updates concerning the sheep industry. Please check this web page frequently for the latest sheep industry related news.
The News section of this Web site is provided as a free service to Alberta sheep producers and the general public. ALP does not endorse or guarantee the information within and is not responsible, nor liable, for the representations made.
N’ewesline
If you would like to receive e-mail notification of timely news and updates concerning the sheep industry, please contact ALP. There will be complete confidentiality of your e-mail address. You will receive “blind copies” and NO SPAM!
Below are the N'ewesline messages for the previous month:
April/May:
- Advance Payments Program
- CFIA Notice to the Industry
- Farm-Ranch Tourism Workshops
- Growing Forward OFFS Producer Program
- Your Requests for Workshop Topics Please
News
- Industry expansion campaign video and marketing material samples are now available.
- Lakeland Carcass Sire Project
- Government passes Bill 43 – Important changes to check off for your industry
- Is your livestock operation legal?
- Reduction of Illegal Slaughter and Sales of Uninspected Meat in Alberta: Recommendation Report
- Check out Sheep & Goat Management in Alberta - a useful and free resource to assist your operation
- CSF Newsletters (From the Flock, Points of View)
See your issue of N'ewesletter, also mailed directly to you, for updates on your industry and management information.
Government passes Bill 43 – Important changes to check-off for your industry
The amendments to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act will require commissions to grant their members the option to seek refunds of mandatory service charges, commonly known as check-offs. These fees are collected whenever an agricultural commodity is sold or acted upon as specified in the regulations.
This change will applies to the commodities of: beef, pork, lamb and potatoes. These currently exist as non-refundable, where producers are obligated to pay a service charge, but do not have the choice to request a refund.
Check-off dollars are critical to the future success of Alberta's sheep industry
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. Bill 43 has now passed, and check off will become refundable to sheep producers from 1st September, 2010.
Please see your October N'ewesletter for more information about the check-off changes.
Alberta Lamb Producers Check off refund process
Every producer who pays check off is a member of Alberta Lamb Producers and has the democratic right to provide input and direction. Alberta Lamb Producers works for all producers — the more involved you are, the more your voice is heard.
In June the Alberta government passed Bill 43 making changes to the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act (MAPA) which will enable producers to request a refund of their check off, beginning September 1, 2010. We are now working with Marketing Council to effect the mandatory changes to our Regulations.
The national Canadian Sheep Identification Program’s use of mandatory identification tags is a completely separate program to Alberta Lamb Producers check off. On the instruction of a producer ballot, Alberta Lamb Producers collect the check off when producers buy tags to create fairness and to do it efficiently. It means that check off is paid only once on each animal rather than each time it changes hands as happens in the beef industry. Currently $1.50 check-off is collected with each purchase of a Canadian Sheep Identification Program tag from Canadian Co-operative Woolgrowers (CCWG). CCWG then remits the check-off to Alberta Lamb Producers by the 25th of the month following collection. For this service, they keep an administration cost of $0.03 of the $1.50 collected. Alberta Lamb Producers’ request for a small part of each check-off to be a non-refundable levy to cover collection and refund costs was denied by the Minister of Agriculture.
The new ALP Regulations will include a system for processing potential refund requests. The proposal for handling this in the most efficient, transparent, and administratively feasible way was created by the Alberta Lamb Producers board. The outline is below:
- 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.
- All refund requests must be submitted on a 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. The person signing for a company or colony must be an authorized signing officer.
- Alberta Lamb Producers will refund the service charge to the producer annually prior to the Alberta Lamb Producers year end in order to minimize administration costs.
- Each producer will have the option of requesting a refund of the entire service charge or only a part of it.
- All producers will be eligible to attend and vote at zone meetings and to hold office as a director or zone advisor, even if they have requested a refund of the service charge.
Representation to government has never been more necessary as new programs and strategies are mandated. Before you ask for a refund, make sure you properly understand what Alberta Lamb Producers does for you and your industry and the consequences of a substantial reduction in check off dollars received. Your zone director or office staff are available to provide the facts you need to make an informed decision.
Your check-off is your investment in your industry.
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.”
For more information on how Alberta Lamb Producers works for you, please see the following documents:
