Alberta Lamb Producers check-off - Your investment in your industry
As the voice of the Alberta lamb industry, Alberta Lamb Producers is doing everything in its power to make an already strong industry even stronger.
Alberta Lamb Producers operates under the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act, overseen by the Agricultural Products Marketing Council which has responsibility for facilitating the establishment and supervising the operations of agricultural boards and commissions in Alberta. For a copy of the Alberta Lamb Producers Plan & Regulation, please visit the Marketing of Agricultural Products Act & Regulations webpage or visit the ALP Regulations page.
In Alberta, a mandatory service charge (check-off) of $1.50 is paid by producers at the same time they buy Canadian Sheep Identification Program tags. This is not a tag cost; it is a very simple and efficient way of collecting the legislated check-off. Also a mandatory check-off of one cent per pound of wool marketed, will be deducted and remitted to Alberta Lamb Producers.
Check-off dollars are critical to the future success of Alberta's sheep industry. ALP's core operations and services depend 100% on producer check-off dollars. Industry support for external projects and research greatly enhances their funding level and success. Typically every check off dollar leverages around $3 of external funding. A pretty good return on your investment!
Industry service charges are very important to a producer group, especially to this relatively small but expanding livestock sector. Check-off maintains the infrastructure of Alberta Lamb Producers and also leverages substantial external funding to enable development of the sheep industry. The Marketing of Agricultural Products Act requires commissions to grant their members the option to claim check-off refunds. Payment of check-off is mandatory at the time of purchasing CSIP tags, but sheep producers are permitted to submit a service charge refund request for full reimbursement (see details below).
It is important that producers fully understand the implications of claiming a refund – reduced check off income will result in a reduction or elimination of the following services, opportunities and benefits. We run a very lean operation, there is no fat to cut, check off refunds will reduce services for all producers. If we want the future of the Alberta lamb industry to be sustainable and gain momentum, we all need to support it.
- Advocacy
- Quarterly producer N'ewsletters
- Extensive producer knowledge Resources
- Websites – www.ablamb.ca www.albertalamb.ca
- Information source
- External project funding
- Delivery of programs
- Media features
- Annual meeting & director elections
- Sheep producers included in government programs
- Opportunity to shape the future of your industry by speaking to your representatives and volunteering as a director to represent your fellow-producers.
Government need projects and advancements to be industry-driven; ALP provides that driver – your representation - to these projects. Without a strong infrastructure and a sound business plan, ALP could not participate to this level and leverage this kind of funding.
A refund request may be submitted for check-off payments made after September 1st, 2010.
- A refund request must be received by Alberta Lamb Producers by the 25th of the month following purchase, e.g. if tags are purchased in January, the refund request must be received by Alberta Lamb Producers postmarked or fax-dated no later than February 25th – the same date the remittance is received from CCWG. No extenuating circumstances will be considered.
- All refund requests must be submitted on the form provided by Alberta Lamb Producers and made available on www.ablamb.ca or from the office upon request. The refund request must be in the same name or names as the service charge was paid. If the purchase was recorded in two names, those same two people must sign the request for a refund and the refund cheque must be made payable to those two people.
- Alberta Lamb Producers will refund the service charge to the producer annually within 30 days of the Alberta Lamb Producers year end.
- Each producer will have the option of requesting a refund of the entire service charge or a portion thereof.
CSIP Ear Tag Service Charge Refund Request form (pdf)
Wool Sale Service Charge Refund Request form (pdf)