News & Events

Alberta Barley Commission

2008 Regional Meetings

Are you an Alberta barley producer?  Attend your regional meeting and help shape the industry.

To vote for Commission delegates and directors at your regional meeting you must be an eligible barley producer in Alberta.  As well, the Alberta Barley Plan Regulations require you to have paid a service charge (check-off dollars) to the Commission in one or more of the last three crop years.

In addition to the election of delegates, the Commission’s regional meetings feature an array of industry speakers, including:

• Carman Read, project manager of the Barley Bioproducts Opportunities Project, on how farmers can drive barley biorefining

• Bill Chapman of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development on the Alberta Shochu Barley Commercialization Project
• Dr. Patricia Juskiw, a plant breeder at the Alberta Field Crop Development Centre, on Bentley, a new malting barley variety
• Drs. Neil Harker, Kelly Turkington and John O’Donovan of the Lacombe Research Centre on a variety of agronomic advances
• Rod Green of Central Ag. Marketing on barley marketing
• Charlie Pearson, of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development on market outlook for 2009
• Murray Hartman of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development on canola agronomics
• Emil Demiliano, an agrologist with Viterra, on local agronomic conditions

To determine your region, click here.

Region 1
Wednesday Dec. 3 at 5:00 p.m.
Luigi’s Steak House
1119 Mayor Magrath Dr. South, Lethbridge
Speakers: Carman Read, Bill Chapman, Rod Green and Pat Juskiw
Additional highlights: elections for one director-at-large, one director and three delegates.

Region 2
In partnership with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission and the Alberta Pulse Growers
Thursday Dec. 4 at 9:30 a.m. (barley presentations in latter part of the day)
Three Hills Community Centre, 222 Main St., Three Hills
Speakers: Carman Read and Bill Chapman
Additional highlights: elections for one director-at-large, one director and five delegates

Region 3
In partnership with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission
Tuesday Dec. 2 at 9:00 a.m.
Lacombe Memorial Centre, 5214 50 Ave., Lacombe
Speakers: Carman Read, Bill Chapman, Neil Harker, Murray Hartman, and Charlie Pearson
Additional highlights: elections for four delegates

Region 4
Tuesday Nov. 25 at 4:30 p.m.; dinner at 6:00 p.m.
St. Paul Legion, 4925 – 49 Ave., St. Paul
Speakers: Carman Read and Bill Chapman
Additional highlights: elections for one director-at-large and three delegates

Region 5
In partnership with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission
Thursday Nov. 20 at 9:00 a.m.
Westlock and District Community Hall
10711-104 Ave.,Westlock
Speakers: Carman Read, Bill Chapman, Kelly Turkington, John O’Donovan and Emil Demiliano
Additional highlights: elections for one director-at-large and two delegates

Region 6
In partnership with the Alberta Canola Producers Commission and the Alberta Pulse Growers
Tuesday Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m.
Dunvegan Motor Inn, 9812 – 113 St., Fairview
Speakers: Carman Read and Bill Chapman
Additional highlights: elections for two delegates

Alberta Barley Commission

Annual General Meeting 2008

Presented by:

Farmers from across Alberta will gather in Banff National Park to grow the province’s barley industry at the Alberta Barley Commission’s 2008 annual general meeting on December 12.

You can be part of barley’s most fertile ground – where ideas are planted and knowledge is propagated.  What’s sown here is harvested throughout the province for years to come.
This year’s agenda includes presentations and discussions about market challenges, crop and
livestock industry partnerships, biofuel and export market opportunities, varietal updates and
research progress. 

Click here for the meeting agenda.

Click here for information on our guest speakers.

Alberta Barley Commission

2008 Annual General Meeting
Presented by Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.

December 12, 2008
Banff Park Lodge, Banff, Alberta

Registration is free

Pre-register by Nov. 10 and receive free breakfast & lunch

To register call: 1 (800) 265-9111 ext. 21

or e-mail: barleyinfo@albertabarley.com

Special room rates available

To reserve a room visit:

Banff Park Lodge Conference Reservations

Enter Group ID: 9542

Password: 823

For room booking assistance call: 1 (800) 661-9266

Thank you to all of our sponsors

and

CANTERRA SEEDS

Barley Country newsletter

Barley Country is the Alberta Barley Commission’s largest and most comprehensive communications vehicle. It is published three to five times a year and distributed to more than 17,000 barley producers in Alberta as well as an additional 14,000 industry partners and stakeholders. Total circulation is more than 31,000.

For advertising information on Barley Country, contact Nikki Jeffrey at njeffrey@albertabarley.com.
For story suggestions and editorial information, contact Terry Bullick at tbullick@telusplanet.net.

BBOP releases technical findings
The Barley Bioproducts Opportunities Project has just released the technical findings of its study examining the feasibility of using barley as feedstock for ethanol, distillers grains and other high-value components. The results? In Alberta, barley has the potential to compete with feedstocks such as corn and wheat. For more about the joint project by the Alberta Barley Commission and the Western Barley Growers Association, see:

• BBOP’s May 2008 Update
• BBOP's October 2008 Update (coming soon)

2008 Seed Guide available
The 2008 Seed Guide, Delivery: It all begins with seed, is now available online.

Check-off dollars eligibility for tax credit
If you’re an Alberta Barley Commission member, you’re eligible to claim an investment tax credit (ITC) on the 39 per cent of your check-off dollars the Commission uses for research and development. You may also be eligible for ITC credit on the check-off dollars you pay to other producer groups; the allowable percentage varies by group. If you’re an individual farmer, claim an ITC of 20 per cent on the 39 per cent of your check-off dollars used for research and development. For example, if your Commission check-off dollars were $1,000, $390 would be eligible to earn a tax credit (of $78).

If your farm operation is incorporated, you can claim an ITC of 35 per cent. If your Commission check-off dollars were $1,000, $390 would be eligible to earn a tax credit (of $136.50). To qualify for the ITC, you’ll need a receipt showing you’ve paid check-off dollars to the Commission or other producer groups. ITCs can be:

• used as a refund, if you do not owe in the current year. Individuals can receive a refund of up to 40 per cent; corporations can receive a 100 per cent refund
• carried forward up to 10 years to offset federal tax
• carried back up to three years to reduce federal tax paid in those years.

You have up to 12 months after the filing due date to apply for the credit. The Canada Revenue Agency does ask that you apply for the ITC only after learning the eligible percentage of the member groups to which you belong. Click here for the 2007 corporate form or the 2007 individual form.

Crop insurance changes
Changes to crop insurance will give farmers coverage based on what is produced on their own farm – not their neighbours’. Previously, coverage was influenced by the average yields in same risk area. The changes come after farmers said calculations for crop insurance coverage were too complicated. “Producers want crop insurance based only on what is produced on their own farm – no one else’s,” says Chris Dyck, manager of Program Development for Agriculture Financial Services Corporation (AFSC), which administers crop insurance in Alberta.

A new program called Individual Coverage takes a producer’s average yields for each crop (over a five- to 15-year period) and uses that to set their insurance coverage. If yield has been 40 bushel/acre for the last 15 years, coverage will be based on those numbers.

AFSC expects coverage will increase slightly or stay the same on two-thirds of crops insured under Individual Coverage. No coverage on any crop will drop more than five per cent or increase more than 15 per cent during the first year of transition to the new program.

Two important features of the old Indexing system will remain under Individual Coverage: cushioning and trending. Cushioning reduces the impact of natural disasters like drought and hail on coverage levels. Trending means AFSC will boost the older yields in a farmer’s average yield records to account for advances in technology and new seed varieties.

For more information, visit www.afsc.ca or call 1(800) 396-0215.

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