EDMONTON – Canadian cattle producers like the Canadian Wheat Board just the way it is, the Senate agriculture committee was told last week.
John Prentice, a director of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said April 1 cattle producers fear that a grain farmer-controlled wheat board will hurt the cattle industry by trying to keep feed grain prices high.
He said a wheat board run by government-appointed commissioners has a duty to the general public good.
A wheat board with 10 farmer-elected directors could be more bound to the interests of grain growers.
Read Also
Farmers urged to be grain-safe this fall
Working around grain bins comes with risk, from farmers falling to drowning in grain: Experts have five tips to help avoid grain-related accidents this harvest.
“It would be easy for a future board to ingratiate itself to its electorate by using its contingency fund to artificially drive up the open market price (of feed grain),” said Prentice. “The principal victims of its abuse of power would be the livestock producers.”
On behalf of the cattlemen’s lobby, he asked senators to remove from the proposed legislation the clause that would give the wheat board the ability to buy grains in the open market outright, outside the revenue sharing pools.
He said that is the main “tool” the new farmer-run board would have to manipulate feed prices.
“Bill C-4 sets up a situation where the proposed board would have the motive, the tools and the opportunity to cause damage to industries adding value to grain on the Prairies,” said Prentice. “Remove the opportunity. Keep the CWB system and the open market system separate.”
He said the existing board, with its obligation to a broader agricultural industry, has a policy of keeping grain reserves in the system to service the domestic industry.
Later, grain producers critical of the CWB pointed to Prentice’s comments as proof the board has not been working in the interests of grain growers. If cattle producers are happy that the board keeps feed prices low, then grain farmers interests are not being served, they argued.
Several senators also queried the cattlemen association’s position.
Alberta Conservative senator Ron Ghitter said it appeared the cattlemen wanted to prosper at the expense of feed grain producers.
Ontario Liberal Eugene Whelan, long an advocate of some form of orderly marketing in livestock, chided Prentice for representing an industry that requires low input costs to survive because it will not try to extract higher market prices.
“I’ve always said when it comes to marketing, cattle producers are the closest thing to Santa Claus,” he said.
Prentice argued that cattle producers sell into the open market and need to buy on the open market without fear that a large organization like the wheat board will be able to buy enough feed to drive up the domestic price.
“We can handle economics. We can’t handle politics,” he said. “We’ve grown comfortable with the Canadian Wheat Board as it’s currently structured.”
