Five Manitoba commodity groups continue to move forward with potential amalgamation.

Members will vote in-person at the annual general meetings as part of the CropConnect Conference on February 12 and 13, 2020.

The steering committee comprised of directors from the Manitoba Corn Growers Association (MCGA), Manitoba Flax Growers Association (MFGA), National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC), Winter Cereals Manitoba, Inc. (WCMI) and the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA), with assistance from their legal counsel, have drafted bylaws of the potential new organization (NEWCO), as well as a draft of the amalgamation agreement.

“To be open, transparent and provide as much information as possible prior to the vote in February 2020, the steering committee wanted to draft the legal documents with respect to the formation of the new organization (NEWCO),” says Gregg Fotheringham, NSAC President. “The draft bylaws cover topics including the purpose of NEWCO, who are its members, how NEWCO will operate, the duties of its crop committee delegate and board of directors, and how meetings are conducted.”

The steering committee has also reviewed a draft amalgamation agreement developed by their legal counsel.

“The amalgamation agreement sets out the terms and means of carrying out the amalgamation,” commented MWBGA Chair Fred Greig. “To address concerns from members, the agreement includes the provision that cash reserves collected by each of the five organizations prior to the date of amalgamation will be invested by NEWCO into research and market development initiatives into the specific crop types it was collected on.”

Meetings were held in May and June 2019 with the Manitoba Farm Products Marketing Council (MFPMC) and Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler to provide updates on the potential amalgamation.The MFPMC has determined that a vote in favour of amalgamation by the five organizations would be enough to establish the representative nature of the amalgamated organization.

The amalgamation proposal, draft bylaws and amalgamation agreement are available at www.mbcrops.ca.