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APG’s Year-End Review Has a New Home (PCN Winter 2013) JAN 1 2013 | Consumers and Producers | Pulse Crop News

This article appeared in the Winter 2013 issue of Pulse Crop News.

Alberta Pulse Growers has made it easier for our members and stakeholders to find the information they need about the commission’s activities, through the newly launched Alberta Pulse Growers’ 2011-12 Annual Report. Jennifer Blair, Communications Coordinator for Alberta Pulse Growers, feels that developing an Annual Report is another positive change in the way the commission communicates with its members.

“APG’s Annual Report will continue to showcase the progress the organization has made over the past year on our steering committees and in our zones,” said Blair, “but this information will now be presented in a much more useable format.”

In past years, the commission’s financial statements were posted on APG’s website and included in the annual winter edition of Pulse Crop News, along with reports from APG’s zones and Board Steering Committees. Blair believes that a formal Annual Report is a better way to provide the information to growers. “The Annual Report will make it easier for our members and other interested parties to find important information about the state of our organization. Historically, that information was difficult to find on our website because of its placement in Pulse Crop News. Now, growers can find a complete overview of our activities and financial statements in an easy-to-find location.”

For producers and stakeholders who would still prefer hardcopy documentation of the organization’s yearly activities, print copies will also be available at the Annual General Meeting, at zone meetings, and by request to the APG office. These printed copies will offer a higher quality format of displaying the year-end information.

This shift will also allow the organization to place greater emphasis on crafting timely articles, rather than organizational data, for the winter edition of Pulse Crop News.

“Providing informative articles to our members is the real intent of Pulse Crop News – one that we’ll be better able to focus on by providing a new home for the organizational information we used to include in the magazine,” said Blair, who added that mailing the Annual Report alongside the winter edition of Pulse Crop News will ensure members have them in their hands prior to the Annual General Meeting, held this year at Northlands in Edmonton on January 30, 2013.

Publishing a formal Annual Report brings APG in line with other commodity groups, including Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Alberta Canola, who also produce first-rate yearly reviews of their activities. When combined with other new initiatives like APG’s updated website, set to launch next month, the Annual Report will offer members a better way of accessing the information they need in a format that makes sense.

According to Blair, increasing producer profitability was a primary focus of the projects APG has undertaken in the past year, and that focus will continue in the new year, with projects like an updated online pulse manual. By making improvements to the way the organization shares information, Alberta Pulse Growers will have the tools in place to respond quickly to producer needs, ensuring the competitiveness of our members now and into the future.