2019 UNITED WHEATGROWERS DIRECTORS & ELECTORAL COMMITTEE ELECTIONS & AGM NOTICE

As per last year we will continue to have an Electoral Committee meeting combined with the United Wheatgrowers AGM.  This year’s Electoral Committee & Annual General Meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday 5 June 2019 at Mt Hutt Memorial Hall, 160 Main Street, Methven.

Nominations are called for one (1) vacancy on the United Wheatgrowers Board of Directors.  One director is elected each year, giving each director a 4 year term. This year Guy Wigley is up for re-election by rotational retirement and has indicated he is available for re-election.

See here for a nomination form.

Nominations are called for 14 vacancies on the Electoral Committee of United Wheatgrowers (NZ) Ltd.  These vacancies are created by the rotational retirement on the 5^th June 2019 of Electoral Committee members in the following regions:

Wairarapa/Hawkes Bay/South Hawkes Bay (x1), Rangitikei/Manawatu/Wanganui (x2),

Marlborough (x1), North Canterbury (x2), Mid Canterbury (x4), South Canterbury (x2)

North Otago (x1), Otago (x1)

Eligible retiring members are able to be re-elected for a further term by being nominated.

See here for a nomination form.

Notices advertising the nominations will be placed in The Christchurch Press.

The advertisement will indicate the availability of additional nomination forms at the offices of Brown Glassford & Co Ltd.  These forms must be in the hands of the United Wheatgrowers Returning Office, PO Box 39-195, Christchurch 8545 by 4:00pm on Wednesday 29th May 2018.

Election will be held by secret ballot at the United Wheatgrowers AGM.

United Wheatgrowers Cost Benefit Analysis

As part of the process of renewing our Compulsory Levy, The Agribusiness Development Group has prepared a Cost Benefit Analysis of UWG services.

Pleas click here to view this analysis.

2019 AIMI Survey Report

The AIMI New Zealand survey of cereal areas and volumes as at 1 April 2019 has been released.

Please click here to access the results.

The Levy for the 2019/20 harvest

The levy was set at $3.75 + gst  per tonne.

Payout for the 2019/20 harvest

Growers will receive a  pay out  of  $225 + gst per tonne on a claim. This is not full cover, but disaster relief to meet the cost of production. Growers can additionally top up the premium with their farm insurers.

A Reminder of how the scheme works

The premium is paid in arrears on the tonnage delivered, regardless of whether this is to a flourmill or any other end  user.  The levy is deducted from the payment and sent on to UWG. This is a compulsory legal requirement, endorsed by the recently held  grower election.

UWG has no problem with farmer to farmer trading, providing the levy is paid. The situation is the same if the wheat is not sold, but used within the same operation. In this case the grower is responsible for sending the payment to UWG.

Levy payment forms are available from  the UWG office, Brown Glassford. The contact is Nicola French. You can contact Nicola at nicola.french@brownglass.co.nz

If you have a disaster

If a grower is unfortunate enough to have a disaster they should first telephone FMG, our insurers to register their claim, on 0800 366 466. FMG will then appoint an assessor, this person will be a local grower, possibly a director or an Electoral Committee member. The assessor will make an initial appointment to visit your crop, then subsequent visits if necessary   to determine the loss.

When there is a serious event finding enough assessors can be a problem, so growers may have to wait for an inspection. We are always looking for more volunteers at these times.