After consulting broadly with pulse producers, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) has chosen to maintain a non-refundable levy on pulse crops.
SPG spent the last year engaging growers in discussion about the pulse levy after receiving a resolution at its 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) requesting the pulse levy be made refundable. “After hearing from growers about the levy at the AGM we wanted to get feedback from farmers across the province,” says Tim Wiens, Chair of SPG.
SPG collected input from growers in a variety of ways including discussions at its regional meetings, calls/letters to the SPG office, an open forum for feedback on the SPG website, and a large-scale telephone survey of growers conducted by Insightrix Research throughout the summer.
“The survey showed us that growers’ views are mixed when it comes to levy refundability,” explains Wiens. “Fifty per cent of growers indicated they prefer a non-refundable levy, 44 per cent said they are in favour of a refundable levy, and six per cent declared they were indifferent. With these varied results, there was not a clear case that growers support a move away from the current non-refundable levy.”
The survey also revealed that 90 per cent of growers felt they received fair to excellent value for the levy they contribute. The pulse levy currently supports work in market development and research to increase pulse production and create new demand. A significant portion of the pulse levy is invested in pulse crop variety development and those varieties are made available to all pulse growers royalty-free.
SPG will be reporting on this decision at its 2017 AGM, which is being held on January 9, 2017 at 5:00 PM at Prairieland Park.
Source : SaskPulse