Grain farmers chose to bypass the commercial grain handling system in near record numbers in the 2006-07 crop year.
The number of producer cars loaded by farmers totalled 12,529, second only to the record 13,888 shipped in 1991-92.
Canadian Wheat Board grains accounted for 12,215 cars, including 7,305 wheat, 4,191 durum and 719 barley (largely malting or organic).
Non-board cars totalled 314, including 122 oats, 110 wheat, 34 rye, and small numbers of canola, flaxseed and pulse crops.
Based on an average of 90 tonnes of grain per car, that means roughly 1.13 million tonnes of grain were shipped in producer cars, representing about three percent of total shipments.
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Farmers who ship producer cars save an estimated $10 a tonne by avoiding elevation fees, so total savings would have been more than $10 million.
CWB chair Ken Ritter said as more farmers find themselves faced with trucking grain long distances to elevators, they are creating their own solutions with producer cars and producer-owned rail lines and loading facilities.
“As ongoing consolidation in the agriculture industry leads to service reduction and higher costs, we are committed to helping farmers save money on transporting grain,” he said.
The board offers administration services to farmers who want to ship board grains in producer cars.
Little non-board is shipped because of rules requiring sales agreements to be in place before shipment.
Last year, strong demand and spotty rail service resulted in a backlog that left many farmers with unfilled orders for producer cars when the 2005-06 crop year came to an end.
Canadian Grain Commission producer car officer Barry
Dakiw said that was not a problem this year.
“As far as we’re concerned, we were able to allocate all of the cars that producers wanted,” he said.
Industry officials say factors contributing to the rising popularity of producer cars include:
- Increased awareness among farmers about the financial benefits of shipping producer cars.
- Continuing increases in input costs, making the savings from producer cars more attractive.
- The development of a large number of well-organized producer car groups to assist farmers in making shipping arrangements.
- Local investment in producer car loading sites and short line railways aimed specifically at moving producer cars.
A large high quality crop in 2006 was also cited as a factor.
The increased numbers come despite what proponents say is a distinct lack of enthusiasm on the part of the railways for handling producer cars and a car allocation system that puts producer car shippers at the end of the queue after commercial contracts involving large grain shippers are fulfilled.
A ruling by the Canadian Transportation Agency this summer upholding a level-of-service complaint against Canadian National Railway was seen as a major victory for those fighting to retain the producer car option.
