November has arrived, meaning regional meetings for the crop commissions and livestock groups are starting. A chance for farmers to have their voice heard and influence the industry.

Alberta Barley Chairman Mike Ammeter tells Rural Roots Canada this year they have partnered with the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission and the Alberta Wheat Commission in certain areas where they could.

“Just to make it a more full day in recognition of producers, their time is valuable and so if we can double up some of these things instead of taking two out of their schedule so they can attend a couple of commission meetings in one day,” says Ammeter.

Ammeter has been to most of the regional meetings since the inception of Alberta Barley and says he has seen a growth in the number of people attending the meetings.

“At the beginning, there probably wasn’t the knowledge of how much producers can be involved and how much of they can influence their industry. So I think that is one thing we have learned is how much influence we can have.”

He says it can be difficult at times for producers to see the difference they make.

“Sometime you wonder you maybe don’t see any tangible results tomorrow. You think ‘man I spend all of this time on these things and being involved and then I come home and I still have work to do and that didn’t get done’. But when you can influence the direction of an industry, maybe it’s not tangible today or tomorrow but when you can have an influence on your industry those changes come back to the farm.”

For a complete list of the major crop commission’s regional meetings click on one of the four following links.

http://www.albertabarley.com/news-events/

http://www.albertawheat.com/news-events/regional-meetings/

http://pulse.ab.ca/events-new#.VjeeMytXBuk

http://albertacanola.com/events/category/regional-meeting/

Ammeter says producers can also get a lot of information by attending the Alberta Barley Annual General Meeting which will take place in Banff on December 9th and 10th.

For more information click here.