Published: August 20, 2008 01:47 pm            

Dry Edible Bean Research and Promotion Council to reaffirm checkoff

Hearings to be held Sept. 5; ballots will be mailed in November

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Minnesota Dry Edible Bean Research and Promotion Council will conduct two hearings next month for dry bean growers in Minnesota to reaffirm the existing 10 cents per hundredweight checkoff program.

Both hearings will be held Sept. 5 from 10 a.m. to noon. The first hearing will be held at the Detroit Lakes Public Library, 1000 Washington Avenue in Detroit Lakes. The second will be held at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, 625 Robert Street North in St. Paul.

Checkoff dollars fund ongoing domestic and international dry bean marketing programs. In addition, the Minnesota Dry Bean Research and Promotion Council provides grants to researchers conducting scientific studies directly related to dry bean production. Most recently, the Council has put checkoff dollars to work with the formation of a Dry Bean Health Research Program. The program will provide grant funding for research connecting dry beans and human health.

The Minnesota Dry Bean Research and Promotion Council encourages all dry bean growers to respond to the referendum materials sent by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. This will authorize the Commissioner of Agriculture to sign a new promotion order formalizing the present 10 cents per hundredweight amount.

        

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