Keystone Agricultural Producers president Doug Chorney said the resolutions passed at the organization’s recent annual meeting will direct their government lobbying efforts for the year.

Chorney, an East Selkirk farmer who was acclaimed for his third term as president at the meeting, said it’s obvious that the federal and provincial governments take KAP’s resolutions seriously, as they sometimes garner a swift response.

"They know that KAP puts out quality resolutions," he said, giving an example of the provincial government making copies of a workplace safety and health guide available to Manitoba farmers who employ workers.

District 3 representative Reg Dyck, who farms near Starbuck, Man., said a resolution asking the federal government and relevant government agencies for weekly reporting and publication of all export grain sales echoes a similar resolution passed by Alberta’s Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.

"It’s good to know how we stand compared to our competition," said Dyck, adding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires U.S. grain exporters to publicly report all sales over a certain size. This gives grain farmers an idea of current market demand, and how that will affect their prices.

Another resolution passed by KAP members asked the Western Grain Elevator Association to require country elevators to only use platform scales, not overhead scales to weigh grain deliveries. Chorney said some farmers feel that overhead scales don’t provide an accurate measurement.

They also called on the federal government to continue funding the Agroforestry Development Centre at Indian Head, Sask., until 2014 to allow sufficient time for development of a new business plan for the Prairie Shelterbelt Program.

 "My own farm is completely landscaped and sheltered by Indian Head trees," said Chorney. He added he has tried planting other trees but they lack the hardiness of those cultivated at the agroforestry centre.

To see all the resolutions passed at KAP’s meeting, visit www.kap.mb.ca.