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Annual General Mee ngs (AGMs) are a cri cal part of the yearly process for organiza ons such as Alberta Pulse Growers. These events give the grower community a chance to bring up issues, debate, and to vote to make change for the organiza on. This year, growers were asked a cri cal ques on at the AGM and to respond with either: "I am IN favour of the proposed APG levy reduc on from 1% to 0.75%" or "I am NOT in favour of the proposed APG levy reduc on from 1% to 0.75%." The vote was IN Favour. In the next few months, APG will be working with the Agricultural Products Marke ng Council to change the regula ons to allow this amendment to be ready for August 1, 2018, the new crop year. Dealers will be informed of the change so that the appropriate levy amount will be provided to APG. In a year of market access challenges like the pulse industry is currently facing, this change is significant. APG has made appropriate steps to secure funding to allow for large investments in research so that we can con nue to address the important ques ons from the grower community. The 2018 growing year is shortly upon us and, like the market analysts are forecas ng, APG feels that there will be a decline in acres – not as significant a drop as was first predicted, but a drop nonetheless. The organiza on will con nue to closely scru nize research requests, and will be diligent about our spending as we transi on to the reality of a reduced funding collec on. While APG waits for the final plan ng inten ons to be made and a be er assessment of the acres, the organiza on will con nue to work to seek clarifica on on the current market challenges by ge ng a first-hand sense of what our largest market is doing in 2018. APG sent Zone 1 Director Rodney Volk to the 2018 Pulse Conclave in Delhi, India. He represented Alberta alongside Alberta's Provincial Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, the Honourable Oneil Carlier. The Conclave is the mee ng of all the Indian pulse industry and it was a good place to learn more about what the Indian industry is thinking, and learn where they will be sourcing their product for their needs in the coming year. In the future, APG sees that there needs to be further value-added processing established in Western Canada. By changing our market dependence away from one or two significant countries, the pulse industry should be able to create and capitalize on new opportuni es like protein, new crops and diversified markets. To that end, APG is hoping to learn of the opportuni es that the new Government of Canada Supercluster may bring to the industry. The organiza on con nues to feel that pulses are an opportunity for the future and APG will work for growers to expand market opportuni es, promote messages of health and sustainability, and engage in important research that advances the industry. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE FACING CHANGE & CHALLENGES HEAD-ON Leanne Fischbuch, Execu ve Director P U L S E C R O P N E W S S P R I N G 2 0 1 8 | 5

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