commodity groups Archives - Manitoba Co-operator

Manitoba’s newest grower group seeks the right blend of crop research and advocacy work.

MCA focused on research, but being pulled towards policy

While MCA doesn’t want to become an advocacy group, there are policy questions to address

By Allan Dawson March 4, 2021

Funding and directing research remains Manitoba Crop Alliance’s (MCA) focus — but there’s pressure for the fledgling commodity group to get more involved in farm policy. “Farmers have suggested that we need to be more involved in advocacy directly on their behalf,” MCA chair and Reston farmer Fred Greig told the MCA’s inaugural annual meeting

The Manitoba Crop Alliance will be a more efficient and farmer-focused organization as it officially launches, organizers say.

Crops, News

Manitoba Crop Alliance predicts increased research benefits

The newly merged farm group is up and running

By Ron Friesen October 20, 2020

Five years after it was first envisioned, Manitoba’s newest farm organization is now fully operational and promising increased service to its commodity group members. The Manitoba Crop Alliance has received formal designation from the provincial government and began operating August 1, collecting levies from its member organizations. It’s the culmination of a long and winding

Members of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association voted 66-16 at CropConnect on Feb. 13, 2020 in favour of their group’s merger into the Manitoba Crop Alliance. (Manitoba Co-operator photo by Geralyn Wichers)

Crops

Manitoba growers approve five-way commodity group merger

By GFM Network News, Gfm Staff February 14, 2020

Manitoba grain growers represented by five separate commodity organizations have voted to greenlight a merger they now expect to make official by August. A total of 165 ballots were cast Wednesday and Thursday during the groups’ annual general and special meetings at the CropConnect conference in Winnipeg, with members at the various events voting between

Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers members cast their votes on Feb. 13.

News

Amalgamation vote passes, forming crop alliance

Members of the five commodity groups debated, then voted at CropConnect 2020

By Geralyn Wichers February 13, 2020

[UPDATED: Feb. 14, 2020] Five Manitoba commodity groups have voted to join forces after two years of consultation and debate. “I am relieved, and I’m happy with the outcome,” said Eric Fridfinnson, board chair of the soon-to-be-defunct Manitoba Flax Growers Association. The vote passed with a clear majority after members of the five organization voted

News

Grain Farmers of Ontario celebrates a decade together

Merging gave the group greater resilience and resources, its leaders say

By Geralyn Wichers February 3, 2020

Ten years after its formation, Grain Farmers of Ontario says amalgamation equipped it to navigate an increasingly complex sector. “The agriculture industry is expanding in areas and contracting in other areas,” writes CEO Barry Senft in a 10th-anniversary edition of Ontario Grain Farmer magazine. “The public interest in agriculture has increased beyond what anyone could

Editorial, Opinion

Editorial: Pulling it together

By Gord Gilmour June 27, 2019

It’s been a long road towards merger for Manitoba commodity groups. Over the past three years groups have opted in and out of the process and at times it’s seemed like little or nothing was happening. But in truth that’s just been the long, slow process of trying to bring independent entities together into one

News, Other

Evolving commodity supergroup searches for a moniker

Deciding what to call an organization made up of five is more complicated than you might think

By Allan Dawson June 27, 2019

What’s in a name? As Shakespeare wrote, “… a rose by any other name would smell as sweet… ” But five Manitoba crop commodity groups considering a merger beg to differ. The Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA), Manitoba Corn Growers Association, Manitoba Flax Growers Association, National Sunflower Association of Canada and Winter Cereals

Editorial, Opinion, Other

Editorial: A valuable question

By Gord Gilmour March 21, 2019

The Irish writer and humorist Oscar Wilde once famously noted that a cynic is one who “… knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” Wilde wrote those words in the play “Lady Windemere’s Fan” more than 125 years ago, as a rebuttal to what he saw as the growing cynicism of the

“There are tweaks and changes and we have responded to some of those over the last year.” – Mark McDonald, National Sunflower Association.

Local news, News, Other

Merger talk subdued at recent CropConnect

That’s seen as support but the final say rests for farmer-members when they vote in 2020

By Allan Dawson March 4, 2019

Is silence assent? That’s the question after the topic of a farm group merger garnered little discussion at the recent CropConnect meeting in Winnipeg. There, association leaders received so few questions and little feedback, which some interpret as support. “I would say most people would be for it,” National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC) president

Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association chair Fred Greig says creating crop committees will address concerns raised about directors’ workload and crop representation if five Manitoba commodity groups amalgamate.

Local news, News

Commodity group merger revised

The new proposal will address concerns from farmer-members

By Allan Dawson December 20, 2018

Five Manitoba commodity groups have revised their amalgamation proposal. It now includes four crop committees to address concerns around director workload and crop representation and want members’ input until votes on merging are held in February 2020. “We heard the concerns expressed on the original proposal,” Fred Greig, chair of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley

Daily Network News

U.S. livestock: Chicago cattle futures climb on post-Thanksgiving trade

U.S. grains: Corn futures set June high on US export demand

California researchers create nitrogen-fixing wheat

Tag Archives commodity groups