The Manitoba Canola Growers Association has a question for western Canadian producers: do they want to sell canola in a voluntary marketing system through the Canadian Wheat Board?
The association has placed ad-vertisements in farm publications to determine if canola growers are interested in such an option, said association vice-president Ed Rempel.
Producers can fill out an online survey at www.mcgacanola.org or tear off and mail in the bottom of the newspaper ad.
Rempel said the association will develop a marketing plan and give it to the wheat board for review if enough farmers respond positively to the concept and if it represents sufficient canola tonnage to make a voluntary marketing arrangement feasible.
Read Also
Yellow pea prices collapse on lack of demand
China’s tariffs and India’s accumulated stocks from previous imports have curbed those countries’ demand for Canada’s yellow peas just as harvest adds price pressure at the farm gate.
The association’s board of directors has set a tonnage level that would have to be met before the project could go ahead, but Rempel wouldn’t say what it is.
The association came up with the idea at its spring meeting in 2006. The idea was to develop a voluntary marketing plan in conjunction with an organization that wasn’t an elevator or canola crushing company.
Rempel said there were three primary reasons for pursuing the idea:
• a desire to attain higher average prices through pooling;
• wanting to reduce basis levels;
• a preference to sell canola to an organization that was working solely for producers.
“There was a sense that some Manitoba canola growers wanted to sell their canola to an entity that didn’t have an interest in a crushing facility in Western Canada,” Rempel said.
He said the board was the logical choice because it has the marketing and pooling expertise.
“The Manitoba Canola Growers Association, the directors, are fully aware of the polarizing nature of the wheat board,” he said.
“That’s why we have taken great pains to present this as an extremely neutral proposition.”
So far, the board has provided information to the MCGA but has approved nothing, said CWB spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry.
The CWB is curious to see how farmers respond, she added.
“I’d be interested to know how many producers would be interested in this,” she said. “We’re not in favour or opposed to this sort of approach. We’re neutral.”
Rob Pettinger, association president, said it took a great deal of time for the MCGA directors to follow up on the 2006 resolution. But they wanted to take the time and do it right.
Association president Rob Pettinger said it took a great deal of time for directors to follow up on the resolution, but they wanted to do it right.
He said he’s not sure how canola growers will respond.
“If there is (interest), we can pursue it further. If there’s no interest, then this issue will be over,” he said.
“If canola was $4 per bushel, there might be more interest in looking for another marketer.”
Rempel is confident growers want to market a portion of their canola through the board.
“Not much crop gets marketed in the top third of the yearly trading range,” he said, which is why producers might be attracted to pooling.
