06/22/05 U.S. Wheat to reconsider merger

06/22/05 U.S. Wheat to reconsider merger

Farm and Ranch June 22, 2005 U.S. Wheat Associates has a new plan to merge with the National Association of Wheat Growers and the Wheat Export Trade Education Committee. A bid to consolidate the three groups earlier this year failed to win the necessary approval by the U.S. Wheat Board of Directors. Dawn Forsythe, public affairs director for U.S. Wheat, says the new proposal comes in response to the concerns of the state wheat groups of Montana, North Dakota and Oklahoma, who vetoed the last consolidation effort. Forsythe: "And so the states came to the officers and said what do we have to do to get these three states to agree to it. So the officers talked to those states. Put a lot of thought into it. Now there is still nothing for sure on this. This is just something the officers hope the states will be able to discuss and hopefully come to some sort of consensus among themselves." Forsythe says the new proposal addresses concerns about state laws that prohibit the use of wheat checkoff funds for lobbying. She says the plan will be presented during a meeting in July. Forsythe: "And then the officers have stated that if there is a consensus that comes out of that July meeting to proceed, then the states will be able to take the agreement back to their states, look at their state laws, make sure everything is in line and is correct and that they agree with it. Then they would come to the next meeting of U.S. Wheat Associates in October." And only then if approved would it be sent to the National Association of Wheat Growers for approval in January of 2006. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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