Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) has emerged from its 108th Annual General Meeting well-informed, well-organized and with 18 newly-adopted resolutions in hand.
The online meeting heard presentations from Anne-Marie Roerink of 210 Analytics and Anne Wasko of Cattle Trends. Roerink’s “Power of Beef” presentation laid out her findings on consumer behaviour at the retail level, while Wasko provided an outlook on cattle markets.
“Knowledge is power,” said SSGA president Kelcy Elford. “As beef producers, we sell cattle to feeders and packers, but the meat we produce ultimately has to meet the consumer’s needs. These excellent presentations gave us a comprehensive view of the big picture.”
Among the resolutions passed, members called on the province to:
Offer incentives to attract processing and value-added facilities to Saskatchewan;
Use the Accelerated Site Closure Plan to clean up “orphan” oil wells;
Work with the federal government and other provincial governments to remove interprovincial barriers to trade of provincially-inspected beef; and
Work with municipalities and livestock associations to develop a more predictable permitting process for intensive livestock operations.
Another resolution noted the current Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) process assesses species populations based on political boundaries. However, the resolution reads, the overall health of a species population is not accurately reflected using political boundaries.
The adopted resolution calls on the SSGA to lobby the federal government to update recovery planning processes to reflect the status of the entire population of species. Through the resolution, SSGA members called for recovery actions to consider the overall status of a species population.
The winners of The Environmental Stewardship Award (TESA) were announced at the meeting. Ed and Charlotte Bothner of Beechy won the award, which is presented in partnership with Ducks Unlimited Canada and MNP.
Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister David Marit made himself available to field questions from the members.
The members elected six Directors At Large. The executive will be elected from among the directors at the July board meeting.
Concurrent with SSGA AGM was the second annual general meeting of Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation (SSGF). The foundation is a charitable organization which aims to conserve agricultural lands, advance education, relieve poverty and assist victims of disasters.
“We got a lot done at this AGM in a short time,” Elford said. “We had great information for our members, our board is in good shape, and we got clear direction on the issues our members want us to address.
“From here, we get back to working for our members’ interests.”
