Board amalgamation, research on the radar for AWBC in 2020

(Bookstrucker/supplied)

The Alberta Barley Commission and Alberta Wheat Commission recently integrated their management teams, and now, for 2020, they’re looking for direction by members on whether amalgamating the board of directors should also happen.

“That would be a combined Alberta Wheat and Barley Commission,” says Tom Steve, general manager of both the commissions. “I think it’s (about) exploring the efficiencies of having one board of directors that looks after two cereal crops which are vital to Alberta.”

For example, due to both commissions having separate board of directors meetings, scheduling conflicts can be an issue — along with late meetings for management if said meetings are back to back. Voting on the potential merger will come some time next year.

When looking further into the year ahead, Steve says there will be a focus on who covers what when it comes to research.

“We’ve made a submission on behalf of all the crop and livestock groups to the ministry of Alberta,” Steve says. “It’s a white paper that has been developed by my research director, Lauren Comin, and we’re going to be looking forward to that conversation with the government of Alberta in 2020 to develop, ‘what is the future vision of research in the government of Alberta’ we had some challenges with the previous government, and we’re looking forward to that conversation in 2020.”

Listen below to the conversation between RealAgricultures’s Jessika Guse and AWBC’s Tom Steve below:

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