Mr. Chair, committee members, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today.
I am Pamela Folkins, general manager of SNB Wood Co-operative Ltd. Attending with me is Christina Keating, supervisor of finance and wood purchase.
SNB is an organization of private woodlot owners that was incorporated in 1974 with 19 charter members. In 2012 we're at approximately 2,000 members. Prior to the cooperative, private woodlot owners were organized and formed an association in 1964. Their objectives were to help wood producers receive a fair price for the forest products, to promote good forest management, and to encourage the production of quality forest products from private woodlots.
SNB's vision statement is as follows: Woodlot owners managing individually and collectively to provide the maximum sustainable ecological, economic, employment, social, and cultural opportunities for the benefit of themselves and future generations.
SNB's mission statement is that we are an organization that strives to provide the best possible services for private woodlot owners in order to help them realize the maximum sustainable value from their woodlot resources.
We also have guiding principles operating under the New Brunswick woodlot owners' code of practice.
In New Brunswick there are over 40,000 private woodlot owners. They own 4.5 million acres of forest land. That represents 30% of the forest land base in New Brunswick. There are seven woodlot owner groups in New Brunswick. At our organization we have approximately 8,000 owners who own approximately one million acres of forest land.
SNB has a sister organization called SNB Forest Products Marketing Board Ltd., which operates under legislation in New Brunswick. The co-op acts as the business arm, and the marketing board provides representation under New Brunswick's Natural Products Act.
At our co-op we employ 12 full-time employees, and depending on activities for the year, we employ 25 to 50 seasonal staff. Our full-time staff are long-time employees and provide 150 years of experience in providing services to private woodlot owners in southern New Brunswick.
Needless to say, SNB is a grassroots organization. The co-op evolved from a few concerned individuals trying to earn a living from their woodlots. They held many kitchen meetings and volunteered many hours working to establish an organization to provide a fair system for woodlot owners to gain a reasonable return for their products.
Most private woodlot owners are also farmers. They are the backbone of the rural economy. The co-op structure provides a very important role. It enhances the opportunity for working together, for lobbying government, marketing our forest products, and sustainably managing our woodlots.
At our first annual general meeting in 1975 we had 500 members, assets of $7,000, members' equity of $2,500, and in the first year a loss of $63. At this past AGM, we're at about 2,000 members, assets of $1.3 million, members' equity of $700,000, and we had a bit of a gain of $65,000 this year. The majority of our years have experienced positive financial bottom lines, and profits were distributed back to the membership based on the business transacted through their organizations.
The mandate of SNB has never been to charge exorbitant service fees, but to provide services to its members at a reasonable level, which of course, in turn, provides a return. The members are very supportive of reinvesting their profits back into their organization, which allows for good cash flow and minimal requirements for borrowing moneys to operate.
SNB members are tremendous supporters of working together and great stewards of their forest land. Wood sales and forest management programs are a very large part of operations at SNB.
Wood sales have contributed as much as $27 million in a year, directly back to the local and rural economy, not including the additional spinoffs.
Forest management programs are administered by our co-op, employing the 25 to 50 seasonal people per year, just directly within our group. As well, there are contractors employing a number of local people who also carry out work on these private woodlots.
With the downturn in the forest industry over the past five to seven years, SNB members and their staff have had to look outside of the traditional box to ensure the survival of their organization. New services and revenue-generating activities over and above selling wood—thinning and planting trees—have been initiated, and research is ongoing.
In the early 1980s SNB transitioned to a new financial institution, Bayview Credit Union. SNB was instrumental in assisting it to establish a branch office in Sussex, New Brunswick, where we are based. We remain with them to this day, and they with us of course.
Looking back once again to the strength of SNB and how we've evolved over the years, we see it's not unique. Co-ops play an extremely important part toward the success and survival of rural communities and their people. Our co-op did not evolve from a large, corporate community. It evolved from the commitment of rural people to improve conditions for each other.
As shared earlier, SNB started out from discussions around people's kitchen tables over many cups of tea. It was incorporated in 1974, because woodlot owners had a vision and a common goal. The co-op started operations in a feed warehouse with a part-time employee, moved a couple of times, hired a full-time manager, obtained contracts with industry as a group to sell its products, established crews to work on people's woodlots, and moved to a new office, working with Bayview Credit Union. Eventually we purchased a demonstration woodlot, developed a Christmas tree operation, purchased another woodlot, and then built our very own office facilities.
The commitment and support of our members was even more evident in obtaining our new office. We could have borrowed the money for the construction, but to continue on the principle of working together, in 1986 members personally invested $88,000 for a five-year period and covered off the cost of building their own facility. We continued to grow, and in 1999 we expanded our office, with members again investing $101,000 in their own co-op.
Over the years we have experienced our share of successes, but not without our share of hurdles. The co-op is not unlike any business. There are ups and downs that require a true commitment, and it will only be sustainable with our members' support.
Co-ops must be respected by our governments and recognized for their contribution to the economy as well as, in our case with a private woodlot forestry, the contribution to the sustainability of our environment—air quality, water quality, etc.—and of course jobs.
We truly believe there is strength in numbers. Working together for the betterment of all is not a new concept. We as a whole must strive to not lose sight of what works well and continuously improve upon it. We are concerned with the state of our industry, the aging workforce, the lack of training, and the sustainability of our economy.
In closing, we wish to stress the importance of maintaining initiatives and strategies for the co-op movement. We strongly urge you at the federal level to provide the framework—work with us—and support for the cooperatives, which are an integral part of the Canadian economy within rural communities as well as the urban centres. Cooperatives deserve to be recognized for their contributions to Canada—no different from big business—and have the same opportunities and avenues.
Thank you again for the opportunity to share with you how we have evolved as a co-op. We wish to continue to sustain and improve conditions for the betterment of all Canadians.
Thank you.