Frustration, annoyance and anger simmered at the annual convention of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.
A few months ago, grain prices were high, hopes were strong to win more Canadian Wheat Board directors’ seats, there was the possibility of a WCWGA-friendly Conservative majority government being elected and by now, the board’s monopoly might have been heading toward extinction.
Instead, grain prices have fallen, pro-choice forces made no director gains in board elections, the Conservatives are stuck with another minority government, and the government’s assault on the wheat board’s monopoly appears to be on hold.
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The situation left WCWGA members unsettled.
“Are we on the verge of some major changes, or is it going to be the same-old, same-old?” asked Davidson, Sask., farmer Gerrid Gust, to open the convention Jan. 7.
While little progress has been made in Canada in dismantling the CWB’s monopolies, WCWGA delegates were pleased to hear about the recent end of the Australian Wheat Board’s export monopoly.
Neil Wandel, chair of Western Australian grain company CBH Group, said his co-operative is excited about the opportunities it sees in the new open market for wheat.
Many farmers like export monopolies that have price pools that ensure all farmers receive equal prices for equal qualities of grain, but “monopolies also can harbour inefficiencies, laziness and arrogance,” Wandel said.
He added that his company, which owns port facilities in Western Australia and flour mills in a number of Asian countries, doesn’t see any problems in taking over the roles that the AWB used to play.
Also at the convention, Informa Economics reviewed the findings of a report it produced in 2008, in which it concluded the CWB fails to achieve premium prices in almost every market and gets less than open market prices.
The report has been severely criticized by the wheat board for what it says are major errors. But the main complaint of a number of wheat grower members was that the report doesn’t go far enough in demonstrating the wheat board’s failings compared to the open market.
“The gap is much wider,” said Portage la Prairie, Man., farmer Jim Pallister.
“Many of us in this room have reduced our acreage in wheat. The second factor is that many of us have expanded our farms by being able to purchase land from people who have lost a lot of money growing wheat.”
New wheat board director Jeff Nielsen, an Albertan who opposes the CWB’s monopolies, was cheered and applauded when he went to the microphone to ask a question. He noted the frustration many farmers like him feel about the board monopoly.
“We really haven’t seen any progress there,” he said.
“We know there is an overwhelming desire to move this board to something that’s more proactive, providing opportunities to producers, being more open and proactive.”
Manitoba CWB director Bill Toews, a monopoly supporter, responded to Neilsen, telling him he’d soon see direct evidence of the CWB’s marketing results.
“When you’re at your first board meeting you actually do see actual sales prices against the actual competitive sales at the same destination at the same time,” said Toews.
That brought an angry challenge from farmer Rick Wildfong.
“How about every farmer having that information available,” said Wildfong.
“How come every farmer in Western Canada can’t have that information?”
Toews said no commercial grain seller could reveal that kind of direct sales information.
Wildfong said he knows farmers in Montana who get far more for their malting barley than he gets through the pools, and they get payment much faster than the wheat board provides.
“The end result, 18 months later, is what pays our bills,” said Wildfong.
CWB chief executive officer Ian White steered clear of the ideological debate over the monopolies, but heard the WCWGA view from people like Tom Jackson of Killam, Alta.
“I am one of the most frustrated people on the planet,” said Jackson, who has been a vocal critic of the CWB for many years.
In later comments to reporters, White said he believed prairie farmers are gaining from the CWB’s monopolies, but his priority is to find ways to demonstrate that to farmers rather than make ideological arguments.
“It’s not my responsibility to do anything about that. It’s an issue for the industry. It’s an issue for the government,” said White.
“I can say that we are getting a premium. There’s no question in my mind that we are getting a premium. They may never believe that that premium would be any better or worse under a different market circumstance. I don’t know how you bridge that gap.”
While many WCWGA delegates seemed disappointed at the reduced chances of breaking the CWB’s monopolies as long as the Conservatives don’t have a majority government, many expressed a resolve to keep up the pressure.
