ALBERTA BEEF PRODUCERS MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING THURSDAY AUGUST 8, 2013, 8:30 a.m. AT THE ABP BOARD ROOM, CALGARY, AB

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1 ALBERTA BEEF PRODUCERS MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING THURSDAY AUGUST 8, 2013, 8:30 a.m. AT THE ABP BOARD ROOM, CALGARY, AB Present: Doug Sawyer - Chair Greg Bowie - Vice Chair John Buckley - Finance/CCC Chair Rick Friesen - Zone 1 (for Francis) Cecilie Fleming - Zone 2 John Bland - Zone 3 Judy Fenton - Zone 4 Rob Somerville - Zone 5 Chris Simpson - Zone 6 Richard McKnight - Zone 7 Brian Chomlak - Zone 8 Roland Cailliau - Zone 9 Bob Lowe - Director at Large Brian Edge - Director at Large Howard Bekkering - CFC Chair Larry Delver - CIC Chair Staff: Rich Smith - Executive Director Barb Sweetland - M & E Manager Katelyn Laverdure - Comm Manager Rosanne Allen - Executive Assistant Absent: Mark Francis - Zone 1 Chair called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. 1. Adoption of Agenda (a) Adoption of Agenda: Additions: 4(m) Cow Calf Council Resolutions; 6(i) Western Stock Growers Association update; Motion by Bland/Simpson: That the agenda be approved with additions. 2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting (a) Minutes of the June 10 and June 11, 2013 Board of Directors meeting: Motion by Fleming/McKnight: That the minutes of the June 10 th and June 11 th, 2013 Board of Directors meeting be approved. (b) Matters arising: During the June 11 th meeting Sawyer suggested to the directors that to show appreciation to the ABP staff for all of their great work, the Board cover the cost of a jacket or other gift they would like. No motion was made at the time but Sawyer was informed that one would be needed, Motion by Fenton/Bowie: That the ABP Board of Directors cover the cost of a jacket, shirt or other gift for staff members to show appreciation for their work. 3. Financial Statement (a) Financial Statements ending June 30, 2013: Buckley gave the board a brief update on the financial statements, noting that marketings and revenue are down from last year. He explained that the refund numbers would not be available until the September Board meeting. Motion by Buckley/Edge: That the financial statement be approved for information purposes only. 4. Decision Items (a) Fall Meetings and Delegate Elections: Nominations for delegates are due by midnight August 31, This year, three delegates are up for election in each zone and some have already indicated they will not be running again. Directors are having problems finding producers who are interested in becoming delegates and discussed various options for bringing in new people. There are producers who work hard in their zone but may not be interested in, or able to, attending meetings during the year. Even if they were willing to attend only the semi-annual and annual meetings, they could still be an asset to the organization. Directors spoke about the number of delegates and suggested that this may be a deterrent to some who might be interested in running. Sawyer suggested that we keep this issue on the agenda to discuss at a later time. There was discussion about hiring people to work in the zones disseminating information to producers. The directors discussed changing the number of delegates in each zone or if it would be more expedient to hire people. The board discussed forming an ad hoc committee to explore the different alternatives and to bring back their recommendations to the next board meeting. If the decision is made to increase the number of zone delegates, it will

2 involve a simple by-law change that can be voted on at the AGM in December or, if more time is needed, the Semi- AGM in June. Rob Somerville, Roland Cailliau, Cecilie Fleming and Doug Sawyer expressed interest in participating in an ad hoc committee. Smith will develop a list of guest speakers for the zones to use for fall meetings this year. Ryder Lee has agreed to speak at the Zone 2 meeting in Fort MacLeod. (b) Executive Succession and By-law Change: There was a discussion of executive succession. The history of ABP suggests that it is appropriate and desirable for chairs to serve for two years. There are a few exceptions to this tradition, but a large majority of chairs have served for two years and past chairs have confirmed the benefits of this term length. The organization and producers also fully support the concept of having a maximum number of consecutive terms for delegates and directors (often referred to as wipe out). There are times, though, when these limits create problems for the ABP Executive and our executive succession plans. One such problem arises when a producer is elected as ABP Chair, but is currently not eligible to serves a second year as chair due to consecutive term limits. While these situations often can be avoided with proper planning, unforeseen circumstances and recent changes in the term limits have created a challenge for our succession planning. The Executive and Smith are proposing a by-law change that would address this very specific problem and provide a solution that would allow a chair, and only a chair, to serve a second year even when that person has reached a consecutive term limit. Smith has talked to Marketing Council about this proposal and will have Adrienne Waller develop appropriate wording for the by-law change if the Board approves it. A number of other options were discussed and any by-law change would need the approval of the delegates at a general meeting. Motion by Cailliau/Lowe: That the ABP Board of Directors proceed with proposing a by-law change that would allow a sitting chair to sit a second year despite reaching a consecutive term limit. (c) Canada Beef Inc. Director Nomination: Alberta, through ABP, has two positions on the Canada Beef Board and ABP has agreed to allocate one position to the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association (ACFA). Last year, John Schooten was elected to a two-year term as a director, while Chuck MacLean was elected to a one-year term. MacLean is sitting as the Canada Beef Inc. Chair and is interested in continuing to sit on the Board. If the ABP directors appoint him again, his term on the Canada Beef Inc. Board would be for two years. Motion by Bland/Fenton: Move that Chuck MacLean be approved as the ABP nominee to the Canada Beef Inc Board. (d) Canada Beef Inc. Annual Forum Delegates: The Canada Beef Inc Annual Forum will be held in Calgary from September 18 th to 20 th. Alberta can send 15 delegates to the forum ABP sends 10 and ACFA sends 5. Smith presented a list of ten delegates who were interested in attending the forum. Mark Francis Brian Edge Cathy Sharp Rose Wymenga Howard Bekkering Judy Fenton Doug Sawyer Greg Bowie Cecilie Fleming Rob Somerville Motion by Delver/Chomlak: That the ABP Board of Directors approve the list of interested delegates to attend the Canada Beef Inc. Annual Forum. John Bland offered to attend as an alternate if one of them is unable to attend. (e) Canada Beef Inc. Annual Forum Sponsorship: Canada Beef Inc is also looking for sponsorship for their Annual Forum. Last year ABP sponsored the event for $1000 and Smith is suggesting that if the board wants to sponsor them again they do it for the same amount. ABP will be listed as a meal sponsor; we can set up an exhibitor booth; will receive two complimentary dinner tickets; our logo will be visible during the forum and added to industry publications; our profile will be added to the forum book and there will be a link to ABP on the Canada Beef Inc. site. Motion by Fleming/Edge: That ABP sponsor the Canada Beef Inc Annual Forum in the amount of $1000. (f) Olds College Centennial Fall Golf Classic: Olds College has held the fall golf classic for the last 21 years. This year is the college s centennial anniversary and they are asking ABP for $2500 to sponsor the prime rib dinner. The directors agreed that it was essential to show support for an institute that has always supported agriculture. The sponsorship will provide two golf registrations, the ABP logo on sponsorship signage, on Page 2 of 5

3 media presentations, and on the Olds College website. Smith and Bland said they would attend the tournament on September 11 th. Motion by Chomlak/Delver: That ABP sponsor the 21 st Annual Olds College Fall Golf Classic for $2500. (g) Canfax Market Forum Sponsorship: The Canfax Cattle Market Forum was held for the first time last year and delegates and staff members who attended agreed that it was a success. ABP sponsored the forum last year for $5000 and Canfax has asked us to sponsor the forum again. The form will be held at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino on November 26 th and 27 th. The $5000, or Silver level, sponsorship would give us name and logo recognition at the forum, on the signage and on the Canfax forum website, as well as two complimentary registrations. A copy of the agenda was in the package and directors acknowledged that the line up of speakers was impressive. Motion by Lowe/Bekkering: That ABP sponsor the Canfax Cattle Market Forum for $5000. (h) Alberta Beef Celebration: On September 7 th, the City of Brooks will host the Alberta Beef Celebration sponsored by the city, the County of Newell, MLA Jason Hale, the Eastern Irrigation District and JBS Food Canada Inc. This will be held in Brooks on September 7 th from 4:00 to 6:00 in conjunction with the Brooks Annual Show and Shine. ABP has been asked if they would like to set up a booth and to donate funds. JBS will provide the beef. We could have a booth or just set up our pull up banners. This event would foster good will between ABP and the participating organizations, as well as the people and producers in the area. Bekkering has been working with the organizers and will represent ABP on the committee. Motion by Buckley/McKnight: That the ABP Board of Directors approve up to $1000 for Howard Bekkering to spend at his discretion for the Alberta Beef Celebration. (i) PC Alberta Southern Alberta Golf Tournament: The Southern Alberta Progressive Conservatives are hosting a golf tournament, with the Premier attending, in Lethbridge on August 26 th. For a $1600 sponsorship, we can have signage and two golfers at the tournament. For the last few years, Zone 2 has participated in this event. Bekkering and Lowe will represent ABP. Motion by Cailliau/Delver: That ABP sponsor the Premier s Golf Tournament for $1600 from the Provincial Advocacy Fund. (j) Trichomoniasis Resolution: Karin Schmid provided background information on a resolution from a fall meeting for ABP to lobby the government to have animals testing positive for trichomoniasis permanently identified. This resolution was carried by the Animal Health and Welfare Working Group. Schmid pointed out that implementing the resolution would require some form of regulatory change, likely the listing of trichomoniasis as a reportable disease. Schmid provided three options that ABP could consider, but the directors did not support more regulations or making trichomoniasis a reportable disease. The directors recognize the problems that can be caused by trichomoniasis and the fact that not all producers take appropriate steps to prevent the spread of the disease. Motion by Bland/Delver: That the ABP Board of Directors support the option to spread awareness of trichomoniasis, communicate the best methods of prevention to producers, and involve the Chief Provincial Veterinarian in the communications. Motion by McKnight/Bland: That the ABP Board of Directors do not support the resolution due to the need for regulatory change and the issue of false test results, but will increase communications and work with the Chief Provincial Veterinarian to get the correct information to producers. (k) BCRC Member Term Length: BCRC has asked ABP to consider increasing the length of the terms for our BCRC representatives from one year to three years to ensure that there is continuity on the BCRC. The directors thought that the ABP Board can provide sufficient continuity to BCRC with the current term lengths. (l) Semi-AGM Location: Laverdure sent out a request for proposals to Edmonton hotels for hosting next year s Semi-Annual General Meeting. The Four Points by Sheraton provided a quotation that was lower than the proposal from the Delta Edmonton South Hotel. After some discussion, the directors agreed that the Delta Edmonton South Hotel is a better venue and worth the extra cost. Page 3 of 5

4 Motion by Fleming/Somerville: That ABP hold the 2014 Semi-Annual General Meeting at the Delta Edmonton South. (m) Cow Calf Council resolutions: Buckley brought forward three resolutions from fall meetings that had been carried by the council. The first two resolutions were direction for ABP and CCA to lobby for improvements to the AgriStability and AgriInvest program. These improvements were included in the ABP Business Risk Management program recommendations and the CCA position on BRM programs. The two organizations will continue to press for BRM programs that are better for cattle producers. The third resolution directs ABP and CCA to lobby for removal of the requirement for producers to be enrolled in AgriStability to qualify for the Advanced Payments Program. Again, this resolution is consistent with ABP policy. Somerville and Friesen discussed forage insurance. A CCA working group on BRM programs will be meeting on the first night of the CCA Semi-AGM and will bring recommendations to the CCA Domestic Agriculture Policy Committee. At the ABP Semi-AGM meeting in June, there was extensive discussion around the need for BSE surveillance. ABP as an organization needs to communicate with CCA that a meaningful BSE program is needed to maintain our OIE standing. The testing numbers should reflect the decrease in Canada s cattle numbers. Canada currently is meeting its point requirements for BSE surveillance under OIE, but is not testing the number of animals to which we have committed. Motion by Buckley/McKnight: That the ABP Board of Directors accept the recommendations of the Cow Calf Council for the Fall Meeting Resolutions. DIRECTION to the CCA representatives to bring forward these concerns at their Semi-Annual General Meeting next week in Ottawa. 5. In Camera 6. Discussion Items (a) Flood Strategy and Update: ABP has asked that the time frame for compensation applications be long enough to give producers the ability to identify required mitigation work. Sawyer has asked to be kept informed on the amount of damage producers have experienced due to the flooding. (b) Import Levy: CCA and Canada Beef did a news release last week on the implementation of the national import levy that will go into effect soon. Canadian Border Services seems to be more willing to help Canada Beef with information on cattle and beef imports. (c) Trade Update: CCA is part of a coalition that has filed an injunction against the mcool implementation. Another round of negotiations on the TPP is upcoming and Japan is now an official member. The CETA negotiations have been suspended for most of August so nothing is happening in that area. (d) PNWER report: Delver attended the PNWER meeting in Alaska in July. He presented a report to the board on the conference and on a number of issues that were discussed. (e) CCA Report: McKnight reported on the CCA town hall meeting that took place near Westlock. There was a good turnout of about 124 people. Fleming spoke about the Lethbridge town hall meeting, which also had around 120 attendees. These were good meetings. CCA Semi-Annual General Meeting is next week. IN the CCA financial statements, 75% of the assets are allocated to BCRC. They will also be looking into their funding model through the fall. The Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef has been established and Sawyer and Lowe attended the inaugural meeting. Lowe stated that ABP needs to be at the meetings. WWF US has money for payment to producers for EG&S for grasslands. WWF Canada is not set up for this but could be in the future. (f) Canada Beef Update: We have included this update as an agenda item for some time. Sawyer suggested that we have someone from the office visit with the CEO to discuss current issues. (g) Council and Committee reports: (i) Communications Committee Cailliau: Laverdure will be setting up a form to put out at the fall meetings to get addresses, as well as speaking notes on our search for addresses. Cailliau asked the board how hard they want to push to publishing only electronic copies of Grass Routes. A hard copy of the annual report has to be mailed out to producers. The committee has set out a target goal of 5000 mail addresses. The last mailed Grass Routes will go out in January with an article explaining the reasons and giving producers their options. The information will be Page 4 of 5

5 added to the Annual Report, the fall meeting DVD and the AGM. (ii) Environment Committee Lowe: Had a good meeting, and will present the report at the next meeting. (iii) Governance Committee MacLean: Canadian Angus gave their approval to use their governance manual as a template for the ABP manual. (iv) Marketing and Education Committee Francis: We are in the middle of the marketing campaign. Finished the Alberta exposure and are now moving into the lower mainland of BC. The bench marketing will be presented in October. (v) Research Committee Edge: No meeting lately (vi) Wildlife Working Group McKnight: Having discussions about waterfowl on cooling ponds of power plants; discussing EG&S; road allowances; (vii) Cattle Feeder Council Bekkering: Smith, Bekkering and Christie met with AFSC about AgriStability audits and connections to CPIP. The auditor general is leaning on NRCB to be more aggressive in overseeing confined feeding operations. (viii) Cattle Industry Council Delver: Had a well attended conference on beef traceability on June 14 th with a number of presentations that were well received. (ix) Cow Calf Council Buckley: Nothing further to report at this time. (x) Animal Health and Welfare Chomlak: Had a meeting July 3 rd. Wood Buffalo meeting the day before; all of the eight animals most recently tested came back negative. The oil companies gave funding to collar some of the buffalo and they were surprised at the number of times the buffalo moved in and out of the park and the distance they travelled. AFAC meeting, a number of issues with wintered animals this year. (xi) Audit Committee Buckley: The audit committee has sent out request for proposals for auditors. The deadline is September 1 st. (h) Zone Reports: Zone 1: The BBQ the zone held was well attended by producers and MLA s. Zone 2: They will attend the PC golf tournament and cook burgers. Zone 3: The booth set up at the Stampede was very successful. Bland and his daughter rode in the Strathmore parade with Chuck. Held a producer meeting. Zone 4: Down a delegate; participated in a number of parades in their area; will be holding a zone meeting soon to discuss fall meeting dates and speakers. Zone 5: Planning to do a supper for Ronald McDonald House in Red Deer Zone 7: Participated in a few parades. Zone 8: Participated in a couple of parades and will be holding a zone meeting soon. (i) WSGA update: Delver updated the members on the issues that came out of their last meeting. Stock Growers is concerned about the amount of money producers lose on sustaining wildlife. Conservation associations are buying agriculture land and turning it into conservancy land. In some cases the land is purchased at above market value. Sawyer suggested that the Land Use subcommittee look into all of these issues. 7. Reading Materials (a) BOD Resolutions and Action Items: (b) Beef Supply at a Glance: 8. Next Meetings and Upcoming Events (a) Board Meeting September 12, 2013, ABP Board Room, Calgary, AB (b) Board Meeting October 17, 2013, ABP Board Room, Calgary, AB (c) Resolutions Committee Meeting November 20, 2013, ABP Board Room, Calgary, AB (d) Board Meeting November 21, 2013, ABP Board Room, Calgary, AB 9. Adjournment Meeting adjourned on a motion by Chomlak at 4:40 p.m. (xii) Deadstock Subcommittee Hays: Hays is working on a report. Page 5 of 5