| Members and guests present | Minutes of the last annual meeting | Secretary’s Report | Financial report | Feed technical report | Food malt and industrial uses technical report | Bi-annual report | Malting quality competition | Canadian barley symposium 2007 | BDC Webpage | Officers for BDC board | Barley round table discussion | Adjournment
The annual meeting of the BDC was held at the Agriculture Canada Research Station in Brandon, Manitoba on July 21st, 2006. Chairman, Michael Edney, called the meeting to order at 8:30am.
Members and Guests Present
Mike Edney - CGC, Erin Armstrong - BMBRI, Mario Therrien - AAFC, Michael Brophy - CWB, Lanette Kuchenski - WGRF, Bill Chapman - AAFRD, Jesper Nielson - ABC, Gerald Kuefler - ARECA, Brian Rossnagel - U of S, Richard Joy - Rahr, Rex Newkirk - CIGI, Graham Scoles - U of S, Tom Zatorski - U of S, Bill Legge - AAFC, Jim Wilson, Amanda Soulodre - WGRF, Keith Degenhardt - WGRF, Dave Sefton - WGRF, Mike Leslie - ABC
Minutes of the Last Annual Meeting
Mike Edney gave a summary of the last annual meeting of the BDC that was held in Red Deer, AB (July 2005) in conjunction with the Canadian Barley Symposium/North American Barley Researchers Workshop. Brian Rossnagel moved that the minutes of the 11th annual meeting of the Barley Development Council be accepted. Mario Therrien seconded it. Carried. The minutes of the 11h annual meeting are posted on the BDC website.
Mario Therrien made a motion to accept the agenda as circulated. Seconded by Erin Armstrong. Carried.
Secretary’s Report
Lori Oatway gave the secretary’s report for Jim Helm. The BDC board had several meeting via conference calls. The Barley Round table meetings were discussed as well as changes to the BDC Mandate. They will be discussed later at this meeting. The other focus for the Board has been revising and updating the BDC Biannual report. Revisions to the report are complete with just some minor formatting to finish. We are looking at getting about 50 copies printed and then having some CD’s burned. Hard copies would be sent out to BDC members, funding agencies and governments. The report will also be placed on the web site.
Financial Report
The opening account balance was $19041.79 and the closing balance was $23,190.54. The increase in the account is die to the excellent sponsorship we received for the NABRW/CBS.
Richard Joy arranged to have Rahr Malting audit the financial records of the BDC for last year and Betty-Jo Schmidt found everything to be inorder. Mario Therrien made a motion to accept the Secretary’s report and the financial report as presented. Seconded by Bill Chapman. Carried.
Feed Technical Report
Mike Edney read the Feed Technical report for Ruurd Zijlstra, who was unable to attend.
Feed priority sections in the BDC report have been reviewed. The responses that were received fell right in the range of priorities in the previous report, indicating that the people submitting responses have not changed their priorities within the last two years. In other words, the previously established research priorities remain valid. On a positive note, it appears that in the last two years more research is being conducted in western Canada with feed barley, especially in relation to the number one research priority: rapid evaluation of feed quality. There was a motion by Erin Armstrong to accept the report as presented. Seconded by Mike Edney. Carried.
Food Malt and Industrial Uses Technical Report
Michael Brophy presented on Andrea’s behalf. The committee has spent a great deal of time updating the bi-annual report for publication. There is a gap in the industrial uses priorities for the report. Areas like biofuels and distiller’s grains should be identified. Andrea will be on Maturnity Leave for part of the next year, but Michael Brophy has offered to stand in for her while she is on leave. Michael will form a subcommittee over the next year to address industrial uses of barley. There was a motion by Mario Therrien to accept the report as presented. Seconded by Jesper Neilson. Carried.
Bi-Annual Report of the BDC
A copy of the bi-annual report has been sent out to members for approval. The content of the report remains very similar as previous year, with the exception of the research priority lists which have been revised by the technical committees. The list of researchers was also updated. Members have had the chance to look at the report and make revisions and note any areas of concerns. Other than some minor formatting issues, there has been no other concerns brought to our attention. There was a motion made by Mike Edney to accept the report as presented. Seconded by Jesper Neilson. Carried.
The Bi-annual report will be printed and distributed to researchers, industry and government representatives as done in previous years. Additional copies will be available to members as needed.
Malting Quality Competition
Erin Armstrong gave the report on the competition. The competition was not held last year, but will be held again this year. The posters are being printed and they have many sponsors already on board. The district winners program will not be held at Agribition this year and it will be moved to Farm Tech in January.
Canadian Barley Symposium 2007
Mike Edney gave a summary on the progress of the upcoming CBS. In 2007 the syposium will be held inconjuction with the Master Brewers Association. They have set the date for the last week in June, in Winnipeg. The local organizing committee has opened a bank account to simplify the organization of the conference. Mike expressed the need for some startup money for the conference. The money would be used for deposits, posters etc and would cover the costs until the registration and sponsorship money started coming in. Brian Rossnagel made a motion for the BDC to send $5000 to Mike for startup money for the CBS. Motion was seconded by Erin Armstrong. Carried. Mike will contact Jim or Lori to arrange to have a cheque sent out.
BDC Webpage
There was lots of discussion on the BDC webpage. Currently the webpage is being hosted by Alberta Agriculture on their website. Right now we are limited on our formatting and layouts by AAFRD’s restrictions. Several members commented on the difficulty of finding the site and navigating around within the site. It was suggested that now that the BDC has some money in its account it should look at forming its own independent web page. Bill Chapman made a motion to send the issue back to the Board and have them look into independent web hosting. Seconded by Brian Rossnagel. Carried.
Officers for BDC Board
The following members were nominated for the BDC Board: Mike Edney, Erin Armstrong, Mario Therrien, Jesper Neilson, Jim Helm, Ruurd Zijlstra, Jim Downey and Andrea Hilderman. Mario Therrien made a motion that nominations cease. Seconded by Bill Chapman. Carried.
Last year the BDC financial report was audited by Rahr Malting. Richard Joy has volunteered to audit the financial report again this year. There was a motion by Bill Chapman to accept Rahr Malting as the auditor for the BDC. Seconded by Mario Therrien. Carried. The board will send a letter of thanks to Betty-Jo for the audit.
Barley Round Table Discussion
Jim Wilson made a short presentation on the Barley Round Table Discussions and the format and function of different commodity groups. Mike and Erin gave an overview of Pulse Canada and the Flax Council and then the council spent the rest of the meeting in discussion.
There was lots of discussion on using the existing BDC as the starting point for a new council. There was general agreement that the BDC could expand its mandate and that it didn’t make much sense to start another council from the bottom up. The members of the BDC emcompass a broad range of the industry and while it could improve, it is worth preserving. Many members already wear different ‘hats’ and would like to avoid yet another organization. In developing the new council it is important that all the areas of the barley industry be represented.
There was a lot of discussion on the focus of a new council and some of the next steps needed in expanding the BDC. It was generally agreed that barley is not as clear cut as other commodities and so it is difficult to compare between different crops. There are also a lot of different groups involved in the barley industry with researchers, funding agencies (specifically check-off programs) and industry groups (feed, malting, brewing, food). It was suggested that we should be looking at the long term focus of the BDC and the role and interactions between all the groups. There seems to be very little communication across commodities. Researchers communicate but not across the value chain, so more communication across commodities and along the value chain would help in unifying the barley industry. Industry needs to be asked what they expect from a council and if we can meet their needs they are more likely to buy in. It was agreed that more discussion needed to take place before any changes should be made.
Groups like CFIA would like to have one group to speak for barley (and other commodities) nationally. It can get confusing to have several different groups to consult with. Having one group for barley would also have more impact on legislation and governmental issues. It gives all the expertise in one place.
Another concern was the budget required for a new Council. There was discussion on what was being proposed, whether we were suggesting an all encompassing organization, or something smaller, but with salaried employees. The expenses of a council can become large very quickly, and there were concerns about where the money would come from. Many different commodity groups are funded through industry check off, but some costs may be passed through to producers. The BDC has provided for fees and hiring of staff in their current by-laws, so we wouldn’t need huge ammendments. There was discussion on membership fees.
The Council agreed to form a committee to discuss further options including what changes to the mandate were needed, how much money was needed, where would the money come from, employees, the purpose and structure of a new council – basically a communication project. The committee will report back at the next meeting and then go forward. It was agreed that we need more information before we can get individual organizations to get on board. If you try and disband other groups you’ll have resistance.
It was agreed that the committee should be formed within the BDC and that we weren’t ready for a consultant or ready to apply for funding (2015 project). We need a first step to see how everything fits in first. It was agreed that 2015 shouldn’t come before more information was gathered.
It was suggested that BDC committee work with the barley working group (AAFC) and the round table discussion group to form a report. Bill Chapman made a motion for the BDC Board to organize and facilitate the formation of a group that will look at the further options and possibilities of forming a new council. Seconded by Brian Rossnagel. Carried.
Adjournment
Mike Edney thanked Mario Therrien for organizing the facilities for the annual meeting. He also thanked the Alberta Barley Commission for providing coffee and snacks for the break. Meeting was adjourned at 11:40am. |