Team Alberta expands to amplify the voice of Alberta’s crop sector farmers

As the saying goes; if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. It is along these lines that Team Alberta was born into the crop sector.

Team Alberta was formed under the premise that working together to advocate for farmers on issues related to policy and government relations was an effective way to access government with a single voice. In essence, to go far together, in affecting, advising and mitigating the impacts of policy change on Alberta’s crop sector farmers.

Since its formation in 2015, the Team Alberta moniker has become synonymous with collaboration and is a unified voice among Alberta’s crop sector; it has become a recognizable brand at all levels of government and across numerous key external stakeholder groups.

It is under a precedent of success that Team Alberta reflected upon expansion for the further optimization of farmer resources, leveraging a now, well-known entity in effecting change, outcomes and governmental relations, all while amplifying the voice of Alberta farmers on policy issues.

To this end, over the past few years the Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions have worked collectively with our other Team Alberta partners, Alberta Canola and Alberta Pulse Growers, to explore the expansion of our collaboration by including groups from the former Crop Sector Working Group (CSWG), in which we share key policy priorities.

The CSWG was designed many years ago as an informal collaboration among crop groups to focus on agri-environmental issues and as a collective voice in interfacing with the Agri-Environmental Partnership of Alberta (AEPA). AEPA is a multi-stakeholder partnership of the agriculture industry, government and environmental non-government organizations, that works proactively to address agri-environmental issues from a policy perspective.

Since the inception of the CSWG, the crop commissions have grown core capacity on policy and government relations while agri-environmental issues have simultaneously become more front and center and demand a more attentive and active response than ever before.

It is with this in mind that in early 2022 we completed the process of formally including the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers, Potato Growers of Alberta, Alberta Seed Growers and the Alberta Beekeepers in Team Alberta.

"We are very excited to formally grow what was a naturally expanding collaboration under the effective structure of Team Alberta."

In March 2022, the newly expanded Team Alberta hired a shared, full-time employee to manage files of collective interest. We are very pleased to welcome Reg Warkentin to the role of Government Relations and Policy Manger for Team Alberta. Watch the online version of The Grain Exchange for updates from Reg, as well as the Team Alberta website teamalbertacrops.com for updates on the current issues that Team Alberta advocates for, on your behalf.