Four candidates are in the running to take over the District 3 post as this area’s representative on the Canadian Wheat Board.
Locally, two southern Albertans are in the mix — Enchant’s Lynn Jacobson and Warner’s Brian Otto. Brett Meinert, from the Shaunavon, Sask. area and Swift Current-area farmer Stewart Wells are also in the running.
Jacobson is a third-generation farmer who has been on the farm for 35 years with his wife, Elaine. On 1,400 acres, Jacobson grows cereal grains, pulses, oil seed crops and alfalfa, and manages a cow/calf operation. In 1991, he was elected as a delegate for the Alberta Wheat Pool (AWP). He continued as a delegate for Agricore Co-operative Limited until it joined with United Grain Growers in 2001.
He was also elected to the board of the Alberta Soft Wheat Producers Commission (ASWPC) in 2000, and held the position of chairman from 2002 until 2006. He was also elected to the board of the Wild Rose Agriculture Producers Association in 2006. In 2007, Jacobson was voted to the position of first vice-president, a position he currently holds. In addition, he was re-elected to the board of the ASWPC in 2008 and presently serves as chairman.
Meinert, his wife, Rana, and son, Barclay, operate a 6,000 acre grain-farm producing a variety of crops, such as yellow mustard, field peas and flax, in addition to all the board grains.
He was the founding chairman of the Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association. In 1992, Meinert attended the University of Saskatchewan and earned a BSA and a M. Agr. degree. He then became the founding chairman of the Saskatchewan Mustard Growers Association.  He was elected director of South West Terminal Ltd. (SWT). Meinert currently sits as vice-chairman. He chaired the Inland Terminal Association of Canada (ITAC) for three years as well.
Otto, a third-generation farmer, has been a grain, oilseeds and special crops grower for 38 years. He also holds  a teaching degree. He and his wife, Carolyn, operate a 4,000-acre farm, Provident Farm Ltd.
Otto previously served as Region 1 director and vice-chair of  the Alberta Barley Commission. He helped start and has served in a number of executive roles in two provincial producer organizations, the Alberta Winter Wheat Association and the Alberta Safflower Growers Association. Otto also served on the Western Grains Research Foundation and is the current president of the Western Barley  Growers Association.
Wells has a degree in Agricultural Engineering, and with the exception of working on two oil and gas pipelining projects in the 1980s, Stewart has been farming full-time.
He operates a third-generation farm and has grown red spring wheat, durum wheat, winter wheat, barley, peas, lentils, kamut, flax, canola, alfalfa, clover and vetch.
He was a farmer-delegate to Saskatchewan Wheat Pool from 1990-1994 and in 1997, joined the National Farmers Union (NFU). In 2005, he participated in the World Trade Organization meetings. He has served as an advisor to the Board of the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute.
Voting packages have been sent out. Those who did not receive packages by Nov. 9 can call 1-877-780-VOTE. Producers eligible to vote have until Nov. 19 to validate their eligibility. Dec. 3 is the postmark deadline for ballots to be sent in. For more information, send e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .