Alberta and Saskatchewan grower groups won't be joined by their Manitoba counterparts.

The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) is defending its decision to not sign a Memorandum of Understanding that would explore a merger opportunity for five other provincial grower organizations.

Those groups include the Manitoba Corn Growers Association, the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Association, the National Sunflower Association of Canada, the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association and the Manitoba Flax Growers Association.

“The maturity of the canola value chain affords us opportunities on a national and international stage that we would not want to lose and have to keep in mind as we move forward,” commented Ron Krahn, MCGA Director. “Some of our key points of concern are; narrowing of farmer representation with potentially fewer directors around the table leaving us with a small voice for our members, increased workload for farm directors, weakening our relationship with our current strong canola alliances, inefficiencies of a larger organization, and potential addition of staff.”

MCGA has counterparts in SaskCanola and the Alberta Canola Producer Commission, in addition to the Canola Council of Canada that is connected to the complete canola value chain. It has national policy voice through the Canadian Canola Growers Association.

MCGA says it has been part of the previous merger discussions, and applauds the efforts of the other five organizations.

“Canola has a good working relationship with all of the provincial commodity groups and we look forward to continued partnerships moving forward,” states Bill Ross, Executive Director of MCGA. “We continue to look for collaboration opportunities in research, education and promotion, and member relations in order to leverage check off dollars.”

The group will monitor the progress of what a potential merger may look like and further evaluate the situation next spring.