Prairie farmers on Canadian Pacific Railway lines will be able to deliver grain on the current crop year account after the year ends July 31.
“For CP, it is no secret that their performance for much of the year was below average, so as a result we plan to extend the crop year on CP points,” said Lisa Schmidtke, the Canadian Wheat Board’s manager of rail planning.
“It will likely be for several weeks.”
This winter, the CWB said CPR had fallen about two months behind in shipping.
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In April the CWB signed a service agreement with the railway and since then there has been a huge improvement in shipping, Schmidtke said.
“So now there is a chance to catch up and give farmers an opportunity to deliver,” she said.
Muddy yards, flooding and the demands of seeding have also slowed delivery, but the board hopes farmers will be able to take advantage of good elevator space as seeding winds down.
The CWB has issued a 100 percent delivery call on Canada Western Red Spring wheat, as well as No. 3 and 4 CW Hard White Spring wheat and CW feed wheat under the 2010-11 Series C contract program. The call reflects 100 percent acceptance of all farmers’ wheat offered during the current crop year.
Canadian National Railway shipping points generally will not have the extension because there was no back up in service, although there might be a few special cases where deliveries will be allowed after the end of the crop year, Schmidtke said.
