Like children looking at toy displays in stores, farmers, grain companies and food processors get excited about the potential for identity-preserved shipments.
But like a budget wise parent trying to moderate their child’s expectations from Santa at Christmas, grain transportation analyst Mark Hemmers cautioned the Fields on Wheels conference about the costs of IP.
“Don’t forget there is a significant capital cost that comes with it,” said Hemmes in an interview during the conference, which is annually presented by the University of Manitoba’s Transport Institute.
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“We have to make sure that what happens in this process, in terms of the value we derive from it, is compensating for that increased capital cost.”
Hemmes noted that Canada already has a bulk grain transportation system that delivers high quality and dependable crops to world markets.
“One of the key attributes of Canadian grains is the fact that we have consistent product that we’re delivering into the marketplace, and the marketplace wants that,” said Hemmes in a speech.
“That’s our reputation: consistent, high quality grain.”
IP shipments have much potential for gaining higher prices than bulk shipments receive, but including IP in the system will leave some grain elevator bins mostly empty, making shipping systems more complicated and add extra considerations to the present bulk-dominated system.
