SaskCanola and SaskFlax are planning to officially amalgamate to form one organization as of August 1 of this year.
After working together and seeking feedback on a potential merger over the past year, formal votes on combining the two oilseed crop commissions were held at their annual general meetings in Saskatoon this week, with delegates voting in favour.
“Last year at our AGM, the boards brought forward resolutions to explore amalgamation — what it might look like, to make sure that we could work well together, and to ensure that we would be able to provide value for both the canola and the flax levy. This week, we were able to bring that back to the membership, and it was unanimous for both organizations to move ahead with amalgamation,” explains SaskCanola executive director Tracy Broughton, speaking with RealAgriculture after the meetings this week (listen below).
Both commissions will now work with Saskatchewan’s Agri-Food Council to amend the necessary regulations to have the amalgamation officially occur on August 1, 2024. Both boards will remain in place until final audits are completed, after which there will be a single board and staff.
The vote this week means the two organizations can move ahead on determining how levies will be used, what the governance structure will look like, and on figuring out a name and brand for the organization. “Our boards didn’t make any final decisions before the AGM because obviously we wanted to bring it forward to the membership to make sure that they were in favor,” notes Broughton.
There are around 17 thousand farmers in Saskatchewan that contribute levies ($0.75 per tonne) to SaskCanola’s work on canola research, advocacy, and market development. SaskFlax has around 3,000 levy-paying producers, with a mandate to lead, promote, and enhance the production, value-added processing, and utilization of flax in the province. The SaskFlax check-off is $2.36 per tonne of seed and $0.50 per tonne of straw.
SaskCanola’s Tracy Broughton discusses the amalgamation of the provincial canola and flax groups, including synergies and future direction of the combined organization, with RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney:
Related:
SaskCanola and SaskFlax announce management collaboration
SaskCanola and SaskFlax seeking feedback on amalgamation
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