Two wheat grower groups plan to push the North Dakota Legislature for an increase in the checkoff that farmers pay to support them, but the North Dakota Wheat Commission is not endorsing the effort.

The North Dakota Grain Growers Association and U.S. Durum Growers Association will ask state lawmakers to increase the checkoff from its current penny per bushel to 1.5 cents per bushel, said Lance Hagen, executive director of the two groups.

Hagen said the wheat industry is not funding itself adequately. "We're sitting here worrying about if we've got $900 to buy four airline tickets to go to Washington (in January) and work on farm aid," he said.

Both the Grain Growers and Durum Growers passed resolutions at their annual conventions supporting a checkoff increase, Hagen said.

Jim Peterson, marketing director for the North Dakota Wheat Commission, said that group is not supporting a checkoff increase. It would not help the commission with its funding woes this fiscal year anyway, because it would not go into effect until next fall, he said.

The checkoff funds all three wheat groups. Some of the money helps support national groups such as the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates. Farmers can ask for refunds. Some farmers oppose the checkoff because they do not believe it benefits them.

Larry Lee of Velva, chairman of the Wheat Commission, said there is opposition among some farmers to a checkoff increase.

"We're pretty dependent on (farmer) support. If we find refunding would escalate, there would financially be no net advantage to us," he said. "If our refunds would jump as they have in other states, go from 7 percent to 25 percent, it would be a net loss to us rather than a net gain."

Hagen and Ed Loraas of Fairdale, the Durum Growers' president, said they expect opposition to a checkoff increase proposal during the legislative session.

"There will be some farmers that think, the old cliche, 'These guys take our money and all they do is go eat steaks and travel,"' Hagen said. "But (the checkoff) is refundable … if you don't like it, and that's called job incentive for us."

Hagen said a lot of disaster aid that North Dakota farmers have received in recent years is the result of work done by groups such as the ones he heads.

Average wheat yields in North Dakota have increased by only about two bushels per acre in the past 15 years, Hagen said. By comparison, average corn yields have risen in that time period from about 70 bushels per acre to 110, because of such things as new varieties, he said.

"I've talked to a lot of farmers who feel we just need to fund our industry better," Hagen said. "We lost three lobbyists during (last year's) farm bill debate, and that's because we couldn't afford to pay them.

"If we don't help ourselves, no one else is going to," he said.

The Wheat Commission is struggling with its budget because of a drop in North Dakota's wheat production. The commission in July approved a $2.5 million budget for the current fiscal year - a cut of 15 percent from the previous year - based on a projected drop in wheat production from 2001, to 264 million bushels.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has since lowered the wheat production estimate for the state to 217 million bushels, a drop of 26 percent from last year and the smallest crop in 14 years.

The commission could be facing a shortfall next year of several hundred thousand dollars, and might be forced to make cuts, Peterson said.

"The bottom line is the crop is not going to get any bigger … so there's only so many bushels to draw from," he said.

The commission still does not endorse a checkoff increase, he and Lee said.

"I think it would be foolish to try to move legislation forward," Lee said. "It's poorly thought through."

Lee and officials with Grain Growers and Durum Growers say the issue has resulted in disagreement, but not contention.

"There's no hard feelings between us," said Bruce Lewallen of Bisbee, past-president of the Durum Growers.

The Legislature last increased the wheat checkoff in 1999, when it was raised from eight-tenths of a cent to a penny per bushel.