The Manitoba Canola Producers Association has shelved plans to voluntarily market canola through the Canadian Wheat Board.
In April, the association placed ads in farm newspapers to gauge interest in the concept of selling canola in a pool through the wheat board.
However, the ads and related media coverage didn’t generate sufficient interest in the proposal, said MCPA marketing co-chair Ed Rempel.
“We only received about a third of the tonnes we needed, so I guess there may just not have been the appetite for this kind of initiative.
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Rempel was hoping canola growers would commit 200,000 tonnes to the pool marketing concept, but those who responded to the ads and online surveys committed only 75,000 tonnes.
He said he was disappointed by the response but not surprised, considering the price of canola.
“The fact that we had $12 to $13 canola around … probably lends an air of comfort to those holding the canola. Perhaps farmers in Western Canada felt there really wasn’t a need for another outlet.”
The Saskatchewan Canola Growers Association and the Alberta Canola Producers Commission made it clear they didn’t support the pool marketing idea.
“Because it wasn’t their initiative, it was quite legitimate for them to distance themselves from this,” Rempel said. “I know they had a few angry phone calls.”
The MCPA conducted the survey this spring to follow up on a resolution from the association’s 2005 annual meeting that asked the “board of directors to investigate an alternative marketing option for canola.”
Association president Rob Pettinger said it took the MCPA board several years to act on the resolution because it wanted to do it right.
“If there is (interest), we can pursue it further,” Pettinger said in April. “If there’s no interest, then this issue will be over.”
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