Reading Time: 7 minutes When the Canadian Wheat Board was losing the single desk, there was no shortage of dire predictions about what the fallout might be. Even many of those in favour of an open market conceded that there were a lot of moving parts, and it was going to be necessary to proceed with caution lest very […] Read more
Making change for cereal crop development
In the wake of deregulation, the cereals sector has needed to reorganize itself, and so far it seems like the major pieces have been picked up
Head of G3 promises to shake up Canada’s grain industry
Karl Gerrand thinks high-speed logistics are the answer to moving grain. But will his competitors play nice?
Reading Time: 7 minutes If there’s one thing Karl Gerrand understands, it’s that Canada’s newest grain company can’t afford to be just another “me too” operator. Gerrand is heading up Global Grain Group, or G3 as it has quickly been dubbed in the business, a phoenix arising from the ashes of the former Canadian Wheat Board with the backing […] Read more
Prairie farmers seek answers to the $6.5 billion question
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada –– The Canadian Wheat Board single desk has now been gone for 3 1/2 years, but there are still some in the Prairie farming community who would like to see it brought back. Whether that’s actually possible is a question for another time — but the data being used to make the case […] Read more
An open market is still a work in progress
A truly open market requires transparency of information, but the veil is still being lifted
Reading Time: 5 minutes When the Canadian Wheat Board lost its monopoly in 2012, Blair Rutter predicted that it would take 10 years to adjust to an open market system. “Moving from a centrally planned system to a market economy, it takes a while,” the executive director at the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association said in an interview. “We […] Read more
Does Western Canada still need a grain transportation co-ordinator?
The answer may be no, but there’s still a need for improved logistics between railways and grain companies
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s been two years since the start of the infamous grain transportation backlog of 2013-14, but there’s still debate about whether a new organization should take over the former Canadian Wheat Board’s role as a transportation co-ordinator. “Most people like to focus on ’13-14 and say, ‘Look at the problems we created without the single […] Read more
Wheat quality conundrum
Changes to the marketing system make providing consistent shipments more difficult than under the days of the CWB
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was in 2012 that the first complaints began to trickle in. Buyers long accustomed to high-quality Canadian wheat started expressing disappointment in the quality of their shipments. From nearly a tonne of peas in a 25-tonne wheat shipment to lower-than-expected protein levels and grade divergences, over the next few years the first quiet questions […] Read more
Former UGG, CWB chief Lorne Hehn, 79
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lorne Hehn, at his funeral last week, was remembered as the Saskatchewan farmer-turned-businessman who led the Canadian Wheat Board toward its next-to-last incarnation as a farmer-controlled marketing agency. Hehn, who died Sept. 16 at age 79, had farmed at Markinch, about 65 km north of Regina, and was involved in several farm organizations, becoming a […] Read more
Farmers play last card in planned CWB class action
Reading Time: 3 minutes One claim remaining from an unsuccessful bid at a class action suit by four Prairie farmers, over payouts to producers from the former Canadian Wheat Board, will be the farmers’ basis for a new filing. The four farmers, whose previous proposed class action was dismissed with costs in April by the Supreme Court of Canada, […] Read more
Are Canada’s farm organizations actually listening to their members?
Amid the falling commodity prices and rising input costs, one question is getting louder. Who do our farm organizations really represent?
Reading Time: 7 minutes The last few years have been tumultuous for Canadian grain farmers, especially in the West. Not only have we seen the end of the single-desk CWB monopoly, but we also watched as Ottawa passed Bill C-18, the Agriculture Growth Act (which included the approving UPOV 91) and as major changes were made to AgriStability. Farmers […] Read more
When farm leaders meet provincial politics
Does it always pay to put your “X” beside the farmer’s name on the ballot?
Reading Time: 8 minutes It isn’t a unique story. In the late fall of 2010, Manitoba farmer Ian Wishart called a press conference to announce that he was heading into provincial politics, and that he had decided to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination for his Portage la Prairie constituency. Until then, Wishart had been the well-regarded president of the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
