What is the Manitoba Organic Development Fund?

The Manitoba Organic Development Fund (MODF) is a committee elected by organic grain producers in Manitoba and a subcommittee of the Manitoba Organic Alliance. The MODF is leading Canada’s first organic grain check-off program, which has come into effect August 12th, 2021. This regulation, authorized under the Agriculture Producers’ Organization Funding Act, directs buyers of Manitoba-grown organic cereals, oilseeds and pulses to collect and remit 0.5% of gross sales on a quarterly basis to the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA). 

The regulation is available here: https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/regs/annual/2021/062.pdf 

The role of the MODF is to manage check-off funds remitted by organic buyers. Proceeds of the check-off will be used to support organic research, extension, and market development initiatives, along with specific organic sector development activities. Funds from this regulation will also help support research and education to build resilience on organic farms on years like this with drought and climate variations.

Apply to MODF for Funding

MODF’s priorities are to support organic agricultural extension, research, and market development initiatives, along with specific organic sector development activities. MODF’s goals are to support research and education to build resilience on organic farms.  Its specific interests currently relate to:

• Cover cropping
• Fertility
• Weed control
• Livestock integration
• Resilience

MODF currently has one intake for funding applications a year. The deadline for applications is January 31st, but applicants may submit at any time. We encourage applicants to indicate your interest in applying by November 1st as applicants will be invited to MODF’s annual November meeting to present proposals and speak with the committee about their projects. The committee will determine which projects will be funded at their annual February meeting.

Reach out to us or submit your completed application, including the proposed budget (use budget template), to modf@manitobaorganicalliance.com.

Information for Buyers

While the Law applies to all designated organic grains grown in MB, it has no jurisdiction over buyers that do not have offices in the province. Therefore, MOA is asking these buyers to voluntarily collect and remit the fees according to the regulatory schedule.

Purchasers who buy a regulated product directly from a producer must calculate and deduct 0.5 percent of gross sales at the time of purchase and remit these fees quarterly to MOA according to the schedule in Table 1.Please refer to the table below for the quarterly collection and fee remittance schedule.

Buyers must ensure that check-off fees are collected only from producers with a valid organic certificate for that product. Buyers must not charge administrative fees to producers related to collecting and administering the check-off. When remitting fees, a purchaser must provide MOA with the following information about each producer from whom the regulated product was purchased:

• The name, mailing address and e-mail address of the producer.
• The total amount of the fees being remitted on the producer’s behalf.
• The quantity, price and type of regulated product purchased from the producer.

A purchaser of a regulated product must keep and maintain complete and accurate books and records respecting the purchase of the product and provide copies of them when requested to do so by The Farm Products Marketing Council.

How this Regulation Came to be

MOA was incorporated in 2009 by members of Manitoba’s organic community to become a voice for organics in Manitoba. MOA is a membership driven, non-profit alliance representing organic associations, farmers, processors, buyers, aggregators, retailers and researchers in Manitoba.

The MOA Board of Directors (BOD) is drawn from the organic value chain in Manitoba and includes livestock, grain, forage, dairy, poultry and horticulture farmers, organic certification agencies, the research community, buyers, restaurants, retailers, consumers and organic processors. MOA does not currently receive check off fees and the organization does not have a membership fee. Membership is free to all certified organic growers that farm in the province.

For the past three years, MOA has been receiving a small amount of core funding from the Prairie Organic Development Fund (PODF). This fund is supported by organic grain buyers across the Prairie region on a voluntary basis. Designating the Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) as the representative organization for certified organic grain production in Manitoba under the Agricultural Producers’ Organization Funding Act (APOFA) gives MOA the financial capacity to support activities that will build the organic industry in Manitoba. While the funds are welcome, they have not been sufficient to enable the organization to hire full-time staff and support the following strategic priorities for MOA:

Increase knowledge sharing between organic producers, including peer-to-peer networks to

• share information and resources
• Partner with extension providers and universities to increase available resources and extension activities
• Enhance the capacity of researchers to respond to the research priorities of organic producers
• Advocate for improved organic crop insurance
• Respond to emerging regulatory issues that impact organics

With this, there was a need to increase funds to support the organic industry including organic research, extension, and market development initiatives along with specific organic sector development activities. With a need for increased funds to support these goals and expand the organic industry, MOA came up with the idea to start Canada’s first ever organic grain check-off fee.

In the summer of 2019, MOA and Manitoba Agriculture ran two facilitated consultations. About 35 producers attended each consultation. The first consultation was broader in scope and was designed to probe producer opinions about the need/desire for a specialized organic check off, the crops that producers wanted to include, the amount of the check off, how check off fees would be collected, which organization should collect the fees and what the fees should be spent on. The second consultation focused almost completely on who should manage the check off and how administration should be structured. This consultation also probed the activities that should be funded in more detail.

In general, there was overwhelming support amongst producers for a specialized organic check off. Producers agreed on the need for a specific organic check off, on targeted funds for industry development – particularly for research and extension and that the Manitoba Organic Alliance was best positioned to manage the fund. Producers wanted to focus the fund on organic grains since there was no obvious market mechanism to collect fees for other crops and livestock. The vegetable and livestock sectors are also very small. The most contentious issue was marketing. Some producers believed that the sector should not spread funds too thin – i.e. away from research and training while others felt strongly that marketing should be included in the check off. When the facilitator probed into the reasons for the disagreement, most producers were interested in spending money on marketing initiatives that would directly help producers to market their grains – for example business-to-business meetings, trade missions, buyer and price lists etc. The split in opinion was related to broader marketing initiatives designed to build consumer support for organic food.

With the need for this regulation being addressed, the process of starting an organic grain check-off regulation in Manitoba began. After two years of consultations and planning, Canada’s very first organic grain check regulation was approved by the Manitoba Government and came into effect on August 12, 2021.

Producer Refunds

The Manitoba Organic Alliance (MOA) is the designated association in Regulation 62/2021 registered August 12, 2021 https://web2.gov.mb.ca/laws/regs/current/_pdf-regs.php?reg=62/2021. The regulation, registered under the Agricultural Producers Association Funding Act, enables MOA to collect a 0.5% check-off on designated organic cereals, oilseeds and pulses grown in Manitoba. The regulation requires buyers of these grains with offices in Manitoba to collect check-off fees. Buyers that do not have offices in Manitoba are requested to voluntarily collect and remit the check-off. The regulation applies to all designated organic products grown in Manitoba. If a buyer does not collect the check-off, producers must remit the check-off themselves. The check‐off is made at source by your buyer and the deduction rate is 0.5% of gross organic grain sales.

Producers requesting a refund from the Manitoba Organic Development Fund (MODF) must complete the form and mail or email the form and any relevant attachments to MODF. Check-off fees cannot be refunded until MODF receives the funds, along with details about the seller from your buyer.

The refund request must be completed using the name recorded by the buyer. A separate refund request must be completed for each producer or business name used. If the check-off was deducted under an alternate address, please ensure all possible addresses under which check-off could be deducted are included on your form.

According to Regulation [section 7(2)]: To apply for a refund of fees collected during a period described in Column 1 of the following table, a producer must submit an application for those fees on or before the date set out in Column 2. If the application meets the requirements (subsection (3) of the regulation), the association must provide the producer with the refund on or before the date set out opposite in Column 3:

Contact Us

If you want to contact MOA regarding the organic grain check-off, you can reach us at info@manitobaorganicalliance.com.