RED DEER, Alta. – Farmers involved in a court challenge against the Canadian Wheat Board Act will likely have their appeal heard in February.
The Alberta Barley Commission, one of the leading plaintiffs in the case, spent $849,000 in 1997 and nearly $453,000 the year before on the challenge.
Feedback from farmers has been mostly positive and those who disagree give their support to other groups like the Wild Rose Agriculture Producers, said commission chair Brian Kriz.
“We haven’t been wishy washy. We’ve really direct and up front on what we stand for,” said Kriz in an interview during the commission’s annual meeting in Red Deer.
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The challenge issued by 21 individual farmers, the Alberta Barley Commission and the Western Barley Growers Association said the act violated farmers’ rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it did not allow them to market their grain as they choose. The original case was defeated last April and Justice Francis Muldoon awarded court costs to the defendants. No costs were paid because the case is under appeal.
In spite of the costly court case the commission has a healthy budget according to its financial statements.
Revenues increased to $1.5 million for the 1996-97 crop year compared to $1.2 million the year previous. This money is collected with a refundable service charge of 40 cents a tonne on all barley sold.
For this fiscal year $120,000 was refunded to producers who requested it. The percentage of requests for refunds has not risen because the volumes of barley sold this year had increased.
The refunds keeps the commission in line, said Kriz.
The commission supports a lot of research in the province, at just under $500,000 for 1997, but it focuses equally on policy issues.
Unique status
The group wants people to know barley is a unique commodity and, as Alberta’s huge livestock sector continues to grow, more feed grain will stay at home.
A report by KenAgra, an Edmonton consulting firm, said the 13 largest feedlots in Alberta use one million tonnes annually.
Kriz estimated only 500,000 tonnes of western Canadian barley will be exported this year and most of it will be of poorer quality than what is fed domestically.
