| www.SunflowerCheckoff.com
Dec 19 2007
The National Sunflower Association of Canada ( NSAC ) recently made dramatic changes to their checkoff program on Oct 1st 2007. This website has been setup to make sunflower producers aware of the effect of the changes and the the correspondence I have had with NSAC since I became aware of the level of changes. First off, I am not against the sunflower association or the work they are doing. I feel there should be a voice for the industry, but the way these changes have been made have left me very disappointed with NSAC and their future direction. With no prior information being given to producers on what the money will be spent on and the attitude from NSAC regarding the authority they thought they had to enforce these regulations, I felt that it was time to make this information to be made public for all interested parties to see. As you can see from the dates of the correspondence, I have given NSAC extensive time to come up with a plan to address the concerns of producers, and allow producers to request even a partial refund. They apparently have no interest in making the checkoff fair and refundable to all producers. By not responding to the underlying concern for the past two months, they are now saying they can't make changes because they don't have the required time before the next AGM in February. From the correspondence that has been linked below, you can see how NSAC has not been very forthcoming to sunflower producers with information. It was only after my initial letter to NSAC in early October that they finally posted information on their website and sent out letters for producers to see. They also made no mention of the changes at the relatively well attended July 2007 Sunflower Crop Tour held in Carman Manitoba. Of the correspondence below, most interesting is the letter of August 24th 2007 that I was recently supplied with that apparently was sent to all sunflower buyers and processors, including those outside Manitoba, that gives the effect of demanding compliance to the new regulations. All the while NSAC has no jurisdiction outside Manitoba to ask for anything. They can encourage voluntary compliance, but they can't enforce the checkoff. With my checkoff going up over 10 times the 2006 amount , and it being NON Refundable to me, I was obviously not very impressed with the manner in which NSAC handled this. Being a long time sunflower producer, growing sunflowers continuously for nearly 3 decades we like to think we know what is going on in the sunflower industry. While NSAC says that all members were notified of these changes, no information ever crossed my desk nor did my phone ever ring to let us know. $3000.00 is a large sum of money to be taken from a producer and have no accountability by NSAC to what the money will be spent on. A 12% effective annual interest rate for an "Interest Free" loan would be considered excessive by most people, but apparently not NSAC. While it took NSAC 3 tries to get a minimal checkoff of $250.00 through a provincial certification vote some years ago, it only took barely a dozen members who attended a poorly timed and poorly located Annual General Meeting to make changes that allowed them to double the check off rate, and also remove the upper cap on the checkoff . It is interesting that as sunflower production has moved westward in Manitoba out of the Red River Valley, NSAC chose to move the Annual General Meeting eastward to Winnipeg. Therefore It is no surprise that it was poorly attended and these changes went through with no apparent opposition. Of the dozens of producers I have spoken to in the past 2 months, only a few recalled ever hearing that there was a change to the checkoff, and not one producer knew that there was now no upper limit on contributions. Most presumed that they would still get a refund of the overage as in the past. At first I was most upset at the Manitoba government, whose legislation allows the checkoff to be mandated. Why should a provincial vote of all sunflower growers be held to allow NSAC to initially put their hands in farmers wallets, but then NSAC can unilaterally make changes that allows them to take all they want? From discussions with a Manitoba government representative who oversees this program, I find out that the government allows these changes as they presume that the association has the support of members when making changes. But there is a very little known clause, that NSAC either did not know, or certainly would not have told producers if they have known. If 30% of sunflower producers ask for a refund , OR 30% of the total refund dollars are asked to be refunded, the Manitoba provincial government is mandated to hold a provincial wide vote of all Producers, similar to the initial vote that was held that allowed the original $250.00 annual checkoff. With the indifference of NSAC to be open and transparent to sunflower producers in Canada, I respectfully call on all Manitoba Sunflower Producers to immediately ask for full refund of any checkoff dollars that may be taken on the 2007 sunflower crop Call today, so you don't forget. NSAC's office # is 204.745.6776 and you can find full contact information at the NSAC website. While you are on the phone, why not call a board member and tell them what you think. At the same time, give me a call or drop me an email so that we can continue to provide you with more information as this issue moves forward. Dwayne Leslie
Click
Here to view a copy of all correspondence with NSAC regarding my concerns
with the sunflower checkoff. Please read it thoroughly and contact me if
you have any questions. I have attempted to address my concerns to Blair
Goethals ( President ) and Blair Woods ( Vice President ) of NSAC as they
are actual sunflower producers and should have producers best interests
in mind.
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