ELECTORAL COMMITTEE NOVEMBER MEETINGTuesday, 29 Nov, 2005
The annual meeting between the Directors and Electoral Committee of UWG was held on Thursday 3rd November 2005 at the Commodore Hotel Copthorne. A range of business items were discussed including the 2005 election process, a proposal to widen the insurance scheme to cover other crops, and the QA Scheme audit results.
ELECTION PROCESS
The Chairman alerted the meeting to the issue of the published notification calling for Directors nominations not going into Straight Furrow in time due to an error of Rural News. As a consequence, the date for closing of nominations for Directors had been extended to the day before the meeting (2nd November), thereby in breach of the Constitution which requires 7 days prior to Electoral Committee meeting. An email had gone out prior to this meeting to all Directors, Electoral Committee members and the Grains Section advising of this issue.
Electoral Committee members informed the Chairman they were comfortable with the position as only 3 nominations had been received for 3 vacancies and no issue arose. The retiring Directors were duly re-elected, being John Wright, Syd Worsfold and James Sim.
Insurance
James Sim updated the meeting regarding the Insurance Scheme. Had spoken with Greg Leonard Jones of Farmers Mutual Group (FMG) who had expressed concern at estimated loss and actual loss error. Now coming to terms with the fact assessing not an exact science and dealing with different assessors methods. FMG appear to be trying hard to work in with UWG and understand what is being done.
Suggestion that assessors could go back to growers before crop harvested to compare tonnages. Claims not looked at until well into season so time would allow for this. James Sim added helpful if good notes made on the day and paddocks should be checked. Important to let FMG know this has been done and results will be forwarded in due course - no need to speed away asap.
Mark Robinson suggested an A4 piece of paper be developed, outlining procedure of what will happen when a claim is made. James Sim to follow this up.
Proposal to Widen Insurance Scheme & Operate In-house
Syd Worsfold then spoke to the meeting regarding the Insurance Scheme and the proposal from the Electoral Committee at the June Conference to research the possibility of widening the Insurance Scheme and undertake the Insurance Scheme In-House. The Board had undertaken the research after the June Conference and found although it was a good idea, it would not be workable and had circulated a report concerning this to the Electoral Committee earlier.
A suggestion was made that perhaps existing wheatgrowers could voluntarily place barley crops with FMG. It was noted the Act would not allow this and that anything under a voluntary scheme usually had a higher risk. Because the Wheat Scheme is compulsory, the risk is spread more evenly.
Guy Wigley spoke to the meeting, being the person who had initiated running the Insurance Scheme in-house at the Conference. After experiencing a claim personally he has reviewed the issue since the Conference and felt very heartened by the current scheme, noting in particular how prompt FMG had been payments. Did note however that if FMG came back next year with another increase the issue may need to be revisited.
Ian Morten commented it would still be extremely risky as UWG would need to build up a large capital sum to run scheme efficiently and if there was a disaster in the first year the scheme would never get off the ground - may be 12 years before adequate funds were built up in order to have same system of insurance as currently.
Ian Gifford commented that the proposal had merit but nothing should be done at the moment until such time as may be used.
Data Loggers
John Wright updated the meeting regarding the use of data loggers and presented results by powerpoint. FMG had provided 5 data loggers to date and these had been circulated to growers. Logs every 6 seconds and collects enough data to 132 days - can be adjusted. Useful information. Working in with FAR and working with Southland growers already on farm. Will be able to assist Don Wright in what he is looking for when claims are assessed.
QA Scheme & Audit
John Wright updated meeting with a powerpoint presentation which showed interim results of audits carried out up to July 2005 as follows:
1,056 currently registered on scheme
258 audits carried out prior to 27th June 2005
These results showed the following (note the QA registration list available on the UWG website is colour coded - blue or B is for growers registered but not yet audited, green or A is for growers who have been audited and passed, yellow or C is for growers who have been audited and passed, but need to be checked in a year for follow up and red or D is for growers who have been audited and failed):
A's x 191
C's x 39
D's x 28
Positive results to date. Noted failed audits included growers no longer growing wheat, etc and this should be filtered out to avoid giving an untrue percentage of failed audits.
Survey Results
John Wright reported on the results received to date for the recent Grain Survey carried out by Directors and Electoral Committee members and presented a powerpoint presentation showing these. 17 respondents received to date. After 4/5 years information the results now show a continued drop off in milling wheat, feed wheat and barley up and cereal silage continues to be static.
Balance of surveys still to be received - may change result due to certain regions responding better than others. Newsletter to go out prior to Christmas will include final results. Once a little more data received will be able to tie in use, volume grown and trends. Need to see where wheat is going - what types. Doesn't appear to be a lot of feed wheat in market.
Wheat Competition:
James Sim reported the Ravensdown Wheat Competition would again be on next year. Had received no response for any different ideas. Acknowledged and thanked Ravensdown for their continued sponsorship.
Colin Hurst suggested perhaps a wheatgrowing competition could be run. John Wright responded this had been previously discussed at the Directors meeting held earlier today. Noted Lincoln ones always good. Could look at husbandry, different management techniques and possibly milling wheat versus feed wheat.
Guest Speakers
Guest Speakers for the meeting were Nick Pyke of FAR who spoke about the AFIC Strategic Plan and how FAR will relate to that and where they will invest, Bill Griffin of Crop & Food who gave a powerpoint presentation based on the Crop & Food Research Strategy for 2005/06 and also John Wright who gave a summary of his recent trip overseas for the Nuffield Scholarship.
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