Live!!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Arlynn Kurtz was elected as Mid Term Chair

[Photo: District One Director Arlynn Kurtz was elected as Mid Term Chair.] 

Welcome to the first day of the 2009 APAS Winter Mid Term. As part of our commitment to transparency and openness, we are providing two days of 'live' coverage from the convention floor for all online visitors.

Be sure to come back after the meetings adjournment as we will be enhancing and expanding these pages in the weeks to come with  more content and background documentation.

Let's get started...

President Greg Marshall opened the 2009 Winter Mid Term Meeting of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and welcomed the assembled delegates and guests before calling for the election of a Midterm Chair and Co-Chair .   

8:00 am - APAS reps elected District 1 Director Arlynn Kurtz and District 4 Director Norm Hall to sit as Chair and Co-Chair of the 2009 Winter Midterm Meeting.

Arlynn (pictured above) began the meeting with a promise to keep the agenda moving on time. After taking care of some basic housekeeping details, Arlynn promptly introduced APAS President Greg Marshall and invited him to return to the podium to provide welcoming remarks.

President Greg Marshall challenges the delegates to get active and share APAS' message with neighboring RMs and their own ratepayers and councils

[Photo: President Greg Marshall challenges the delegates to get active and share APAS' message with neighboring RMs and their own ratepayers and councils.] 

8:07 am - President Greg Marshall provides the President's Message to kick off the next two days. Greg focused his comments on the issues APAS has tackled over the past twelve months and the numerous opportunities that he has had to meet new and exciting people across the country who have different solutions to the same issues we face.

In reference to APAS rebuilding efforts, Greg stressed that the organization is heading in the right direction and that this transition has and s being noticed by many people outside of the organization - from media to leaders of other agricultural organizations and even policy makers. He challenged the Reps to increase their local retention and recruitment activites and to continue to count on the office staff for excellent and quallity support.

8:15 am - As Greg moved to policy issues, he reminded the assembled reps of APAS actions in response to trade bans on Canadian canola and flax, the rising cost of food and the continued decline of the farmers share, falling farm incomes and the growing global demand for food.

Greg reviewed the agenda for the next two days, highlighting the value of this afternoon's special session on grain rail transportation and Friday's session on Inter-generational transfers - one of the most important challenges facing agriculture today.

8:30 pm - Greg touched on the alliances and relationships that APAS has been building - and reminded the delegates that we have to build relationships across the spectrum because agriculture truly is everyone's business. 

Greg finished his comments by commending the staff for their high level of expertise, passion and commitment in facing the challenges of the previous year.

General Manager Nial Kuyek provided an overview of the organization's recent successes

[Photo: General Manager Nial Kuyek provided an overview of the organization's recent successes.]

8:35 am - GM Nial Kuyek was introduced and began by thanking the office staff and reminding the reps of the successes of the last year in media relations, member recruitment, increased credibility and partnerships with other organizations. He highlighted APAS sponsorship of CWB's WeatherFarm and the recent EG&S and Balancing The Bottom Line Conferences this last year.

Nial spent a good portion of his time discussing recent meeting with RM Councils and  the need for Reps to work hand-in-hand with the staff to develop a concrete action plan for each district's recruitment and retention activities.

At 9 am, Nial set the stage for the morning's Policy Meetings which will take us to 10:30 am.

Policy Committees are meeting in the following rooms:

Livestock - Main Floor lounge

Economic Trade & Strategic Growth - Cannington

Grains and Oilseeds - Cannington

Environment and Food Safety - Coffee Shop.

Delegates from across the province gathered in Regina for two days of timely information and an oportunity to positively impact agricultural policy development

[Photo: Delegates from across the province gathered in Regina for two days of timely information and an opportunity to positively impact agricultural policy development .]

The four APAS Policy Committees - Livestock, Grains & Oilseeds, Environment & Food Safety, and Economic Trade and Strategic Growth - will each spend 9 am to 10:30 am in breakout meetings discussing recent committee activities and actions taken on resolutions to date, emerging resolutions and issues specific to the committee's mandates.

The plenary will resume at 11:15 following a brief coffee break, to report on the Committee Meetings and to proceed to this afternoon's agenda. 

Download a copy of Actions Taken on Policy Resolutions passed at the 2008 AGM and 2009 Summer Mid Term Meeting

Policy Committee Meetings

- hard at work. (9:00 - 10: 45 am)

The Economic Trade and Strategic Growth Committee discussing the shortcomings of the current national Safety Net Programs.

The Livestock Committee was passionately engaged in enhancing APAS polices to bettter support struggling livestock producers in Saskatchewan.

The Environmental and Food Safety Committee was engaged in an intimate and passionate dicussion regarding changes to Provincial Environmental regulations and their impact on agriculture.  

The largest of the policy committee meetings, the Grains and Oilseeds Committee spent a significant portion of their meeting agenda to discuss the impact on Canadian producers of current technical trade barriers by the US, EU and China. 

 

At 11:15 am, following a short coffee break, the plenary resumed in order to hear reports from the four Policy Committee chairs regarding the roles, responsibilities and process undertaken by the committee over the past year and outcome of today's Policy meeting discussions.

Policy Chair Reports

Economic Trade & Strategic Growth Committee

11:15 am - Economic, Trade, and Strategic Growth Committee Chair, Dorothy Weetman reported on the activities and discussions held at the Committee Meeting. 

Livestock Committee

11:25 am -  The Livestock Committee's Chair, Norm Nordgulen of District 2 presented the report of the Livestock Committee Meeting. He highlighted the value and results of the excellent meeting held between the provincial livestock groups in August.

Environment & Food Safety Committee

11:35 am  - Environment and Food Safety Committee Chair, Norm Hall outlined the priorities of the Environment and Food Safety Committee and highlighted the presentation by Andy Jansen , Manager of Ag Operations for the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture

Grains & Oilseeds Committee

11:45 am - The Chair of the APAS Grains & Oilseeds Committee is Greg Marshall, APAS President. He presented the discussions from his committee's meetings, focussing much of his discussion on the recent technical trade barriers being faced by  Canadian producers.

1:50 pm Larry Toner is APAS rep on the Canadian Ag Safety Association. Larry talked from the heart about the tragedies that can happen due to carelessness and  human error. 

12:10 pm - VP Don Connick is APAS representative on the Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Committee - a group that focuses on HR issues that impact ag producers. Don has been actively involved with CAHRC meetings over the past year.

Download a printed copy of VP Don Connick's CAHRC Report to the 2009 Midterm

Grain Transportation - Presentation & Q&As

1:00 to 3:00 pm

1:00 pm - APAS Policy Manager, Doug Faller, (pictured above) initiated the first session of the afternoon by outlining the myriad of issues surrounding the cost and service levels of grain transportation.

Once Doug provided a short framework that served to introduce the panels speakers; each presenter took to the podium to provide an exceptional level of detail regarding their particular area of expertise:

Click HERE to download Doug's presentation in PDF format.

Robert McLean - Keystone Agricultural Producers of Manitoba

1:10 pm - Robert McLean discussed key issues in grain transportation that relate to regulation of the railways and producer service rights and costs. He encouraged all farm groups in Canada to take action together to protect Western Canadian grain farmers right to producer cars and reasonable service. 

Click HERE to download Robert's presentation in PDF Format

Robert Chapman - Producer Car Shipper of Canada

1:30 pm - Robert Chapman of the Producer Car Shippers of Canada did an excellent presentation regarding to role and responsibilities of his association and the issues that they are tackling on behalf of Prairie farmers.

Robert provided the delegates with a dramatic photo of what will happen across the prairies with the continued loss of Producer Car Loading Sites.

Click to download Robert's presentation in PDF format.

Bill Drew - Churchill Gateway Development Corporation

2:05 pm Bill Drew of the Churchill Gateway Development Corporation expressed his gratitude at being invited to talk to a group of farmers before outlining the role of the CGDC and providing a fascinating virtual tour of the Churchill Port.

He explained a number of reasons that Producer Cars are of strategic importance to the Churchill Port.

Grain Tranportation - Q & A with panel.

APAS Reps and Mid Term guests spent a good deal of time expressing their  concerns regarding rail freight transportation.- most specifically regarding CN's proposed delisting of producer car sites  and the impact these closing will have on local communities and opportunities.

Canadian Wheat Board Director Cam Goff attended the meeting as an interested ratepayer and farmer and concerned citizen who has spent a good deal of time and energy researching the issues surrounding the closing and proposed dismantling of producers car sidings by CN Rail. Cam explained how some of the sites slated for closing weren't used last year or even the year before, while others shipped record numbers of producer cars in 2008.

Panel members (from left) Robert McLean, Robert Chapman and Bill Drew took the time to address delegates questions in a thoughtful and open manner. It was clear that the assembled guests and delegates see numerous opportunities to collaborate with like-minded groups across the province and country to ensure that producers' rights are protected and opportunities for future development are maintained.