By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent
 
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) has announced a wheat checkoff referendum, to be held June 20-July 1.

If approved, wheat producers would be assessed a one-half of 1 percent of the value of their wheat sold at the first point of sale. The first handler or processor would start to deduct the full amount of the assessment from the total due the producer, and then give the money to the wheat program committee the month after payment is made to the producer. Wheat sold as seed would be exempt from the assessment.

The director of MDARD created a temporary wheat committee consistent with Public Act 232, which spells out the rules for checkoff programs in Michigan. Checkoffs, such as those for corn and soybeans, can be used for marketing, but they can also be used to further agricultural research to help with quality, yield and hardiness, for example.

“Based on the public hearing comments, the director approved it for a referendum,” said Bob Boehm, commodity and marketing manager at the Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB). The MFB formed a committee to help wheat growers who are interested in having the checkoff.

“I worked on this 20 years ago and we missed it by about 140 votes,” Boehm said. “We’ve worked with growers over the past few years. We’ve been doing a lot of work, but we sort of do it when we have time.”

He said millers and “end user communities” such as cereal makers need access to more high-quality wheat grown in Michigan. “They’re very supportive of a checkoff,” he said.

Boehm went on to explain wheat growers have been faced with challenges in recent years, especially the so-called falling number test, now used by grain elevators to determine the amount of sprout damage in harvested wheat. If the test shows a lot of damage, it can result in several dollars off the price of a bushel of wheat, Boehm said; that is money the farmer will not get.
Sprouting affects the quality of wheat, resulting in sticky dough and a lessening of shelf life for a loaf of bread, as well as a loss in its volume. It also results in softer cooked pasta.

Boehm said if the referendum passes he would expect the checkoff to start this fall “at the earliest. I would see it really kicking into gear with the 2012 season.”

Although checkoff dollars would fund a permanent wheat committee, no more than 15 percent of checkoff dollars could be used for general administration of the committee. The referendum will be held through the U.S. Postal Service. MDARD will mail out ballots on June 17 to 8,000 Michigan wheat growers. Completed ballots must be postmarked no later than July 1. Eligible farmers not receiving a ballot by June 20 should call MDARD at 800-292-3939. Farmers may also request a ballot by sending an email to merrilld@michigan.gov

An eligible grower is someone who’s produced any type of market wheat for commercial use valued at more than $800 at first point of sale, in any one growing season. That season must have occurred sometime in the past three years.

In order to pass, the referendum needs the support of a majority of those voting, as well as a majority of production, or more than 50 percent of the total bushels represented by farmers who vote.