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FARM POLICY | PARTICIPATION<br />
BY KAREN BRIERE<br />
REGINA BUREAU<br />
Agricultural <strong>Producer</strong>s Association<br />
of Saskatchewan president Norm<br />
Hall challenged directors last week to<br />
build a stronger organization based<br />
on the success of the last year.<br />
“You need to take ownership of it,”<br />
he told delegates at the start of their<br />
annual general meeting in Regina.<br />
He said they need to be more active<br />
within their member rural municipalities<br />
and take responsibility for<br />
making sure the APAS board is<br />
speaking on their behalf.<br />
Hall, a Wynyard farmer who became<br />
president a year ago, was re-elected to<br />
another term later in the meeting.<br />
APAS continues to rebuild after<br />
infighting nearly destroyed the organization<br />
several years ago.<br />
It has struggled to retain members<br />
after reaching a peak of 135 RM<br />
members in 2006.<br />
<strong>The</strong> organization began 2012 with<br />
61 out of a possible 295 RMs.<br />
An introductory membership campaign<br />
attracted 30 more RMs, and<br />
general manager Nial Kuyek said the<br />
NEWS<br />
challenge now is to keep them.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se members are considered<br />
transitional until they begin to pay<br />
regular membership fees, which are<br />
either six cents an acre or a half-mill<br />
based on the 2000 assessment,<br />
whichever is less. Kuyek said most<br />
members pay the fee based on acres.<br />
APAS hired field representative<br />
Bruce Dodds a year ago to recruit and<br />
retain members. He said he had met<br />
with 160 non-members by the end of<br />
November.<br />
“If we can speak to a council, 20<br />
percent of the time they become a<br />
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | DECEMBER 13 , 2012<br />
APAS takes steps to increase membership<br />
Incentive program | President urges directors to become more active within their rural municipalities<br />
AGRIBITION | REPAIRS<br />
Regina OKs<br />
building fund<br />
for Agribition<br />
BY KAREN BRIERE<br />
REGINA BUREAU<br />
Ten days after the leaky roofs in the<br />
Regina buildings used for Canadian<br />
<strong>Western</strong> Agribition drew headlines, a<br />
city committee has allocated money<br />
for repairs and to develop a longterm<br />
plan.<br />
<strong>The</strong> finance and administration<br />
committee Dec. 4 recommended<br />
that $100,000 from the city’s Community<br />
Investment Fund money be<br />
used to fix aging infrastructure. <strong>The</strong><br />
Canada Centre roof will be among<br />
the first to be fixed.<br />
Another $100,000 from the same<br />
fund will be spent on a study of Agribition’s<br />
impact and a plan to ensure it<br />
remains sustainable.<br />
“Due to the fact that this event is one<br />
of the most significant annual events<br />
in Regina in terms of economic<br />
impact, and the fact that the city owns<br />
the facilities which host the event,<br />
there is a need to develop a new partnership<br />
model that addresses today’s<br />
facility issues and that ensures the<br />
long-term sustainability of the event,”<br />
said a committee document.<br />
Previous estimates suggest<br />
Agribition pumps $27 million into<br />
the local economy during its six-day<br />
show each year.<br />
Attendance last year was 126,000.<br />
Agribition chief executive officer<br />
Marty Seymour said the study, to be<br />
led by the Regina Regional Opportunities<br />
Commission, is the “real win.”<br />
Agribition is only a renter for three<br />
weeks of the year, he noted, and new<br />
buildings must be multi-purpose to<br />
earn income from many types of<br />
events. <strong>The</strong> study will look at operating<br />
and capital requirements.<br />
Seymour said he hopes it can be<br />
complete within six months.<br />
He said the $100,000 for immediate<br />
repairs will hardly make a dint in the<br />
work that needs to be done, but it will<br />
take some pressure off.<br />
<strong>The</strong> city already supports<br />
Agribition through an annual grant<br />
of $45,000.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Regina Hotel Association,<br />
which already contributes financially<br />
to Agribition, will also provide<br />
$15,000 for the study.<br />
AgriStability<br />
DEADLINE<br />
member,” he said.<br />
APAS districts are based on the<br />
Saskatchewan Association of Rural<br />
Municipalities division map. Dodds<br />
said there were only three members<br />
in District 3 at the start of the year but<br />
seven have been added.<br />
He said his goal for next year is for<br />
more than half of the province’s RMs<br />
to belong to the organization. Another<br />
membership incentive will be used.<br />
Meanwhile, Todd Lewis from Gray<br />
and Arlynn Kurtz from Stockholm<br />
will return as vice-presidents for<br />
another year.<br />
For more information, contact your local<br />
Crop Insurance offi ce, call 1-866-270-8450<br />
or visit www.saskcropinsurance.com.<br />
87<br />
Kuyek served notice that he will<br />
retire at the end of June. He identified<br />
three challenges for APAS: member<br />
recruitment and retention, expansion<br />
of the associate membership<br />
base to more commodity organizations<br />
and more work in policy development<br />
and advancement.<br />
APAS will run a projected deficit of<br />
$67,000 this year. Kuyek said that<br />
would be covered by an operating<br />
surplus from previous years.<br />
<strong>The</strong> organization recently moved<br />
its Regina office, which Kuyek said<br />
will save $50,000 per year.<br />
DECEMBER<br />
31<br />
<strong>The</strong> fi nal deadline to submit your 2011<br />
AgriStability program forms and pay<br />
2012 fees is December 31, 2012.
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