July 14, 2006
Canada agriculture ministry to discuss dual grain market
Canada's agriculture minister said on Thursday (Jul 14) he would schedule a meeting later this month with grain industry representatives who wish to opt out of the Canadian Wheat Board's near monopoly on marketing western Canadian wheat and barley.
Canada's new government had come to power campaigning on the idea that western Canadian grain producers could decide whether to market their products through the CWB, Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl said.
The round-table meeting aims to assist the minority Conservative government's effort to implement a dual-marketing system for grain farmers who want to opt out of the CWB.
Strahl said he and his team would plot an alternative that would ensure a strong and profitable CWB continues to serve farmers in the future. The CWB said previously it could not survive a dual market.
The wheat board is one of the world's largest grain marketing organisations, and annually sells more than 20 million tonnes of western Canadian wheat and barley through a single selling desk.
CWB Chairman Ken Ritter denounced the meeting as "inappropriate" and its agenda "skewed".
Changing the way western Canadian farmers market their grain without having comprehensive input from them is wrong, Ritter said. The Canadian Wheat Board Act calls for marketing changes to be made through a referendum, he added.