Wheat growers should get their ballots in the mail by Friday if they want to take part in the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.
The 2010 wheat board election enters its final stretch this week as 13 candidates compete for five seats on the national board. The board regulates grain sales in western Canada, and is holding elections in its odd-numbered districts.
Ballots for this year’s director elections are due this Friday, said election co-ordinator Ian Craven. “They have to be postmarked no later than Dec. 3, and they have to be received [by] our office no later than Dec. 10.”
There are about 28,000 ballots in circulation, he says, about 9,000 of which had been received as of last Friday.
Running in District One (which includes Sturgeon County) are Henry Vos and Dan Gauthier.
Vos, the incumbent, said most of the voters he had talked to approve of the board, but want its programs to be more flexible. “People want the freedom to make their own decisions on when they want to deliver grain.”
Cash-strapped farmers should be allowed to ship early for money instead of being forced to wait for the board to call, he said as an example, or later if they can afford to wait for better prices.
Gauthier said voters have told him that they strongly support a single-desk system, but want a better explanation of how the board’s payment systems work. “A lot of them find it a little difficult to understand.”
Gauthier was bullish on his election chances, saying that he has “a very good chance” of winning. Vos was less so, and predicted a close vote.
Both encouraged voters to get their ballots in on time. “Get your voice heard,” Gauthier said.
Election results will be announced Dec. 12. For details, visit cwbelection.com or call 1-877-780-8683.
Alberta is in the midst of one of its driest periods on record, says a provincial analyst, and it’s anyone’s guess as to how long it will continue.
Ralph Wright, soil moisture specialist with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, released a new analysis of Alberta’s moisture levels this week. The analysis compares the last five years of moisture to all previous five-year periods since 1961.
Sturgeon County has been exceptionally dry in the last five years despite this year’s soak, Wright said, ranging from 1-in-25-year lows in the northwest to 1-in-6 in the southeast. “There’s [just] three or fewer times over the last 50 years that we’ve had a five-year period this dry or drier.”
The county got about 300-to-500 millimetres less precipitation than normal over the last five years, Wright says, equivalent to about a year’s worth of rain. “You basically lost a year in the last five years.”
This year was actually a little dry compared to normal, he notes, despite this spring’s heavy rains. The county has been below average for precipitation in eight of the last 10 years. “We’ve lost sight of normal.”
It’s the same throughout the province, according to the analysis. The last 10 years have been pretty dry, it finds, especially in the Peace region. About half of the province is running a 1-in-6-year precipitation deficit and needs several years of wet weather to climb out of it.
Most of Sturgeon County is sitting at a 1-in-6 year low for moisture reserves heading into winter, Wright said, but it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen next spring. “Who saw this summer coming?”
The full report is available through Agri-News at www.agric.gov.ab.ca.
