It’s an historic deal.
The Canadian Wheat Board has signed its first ever commercial agreement with a major corporate player.
The CWB announced it has reached a commercial agreement with Cargill, which has 30 country elevators in Western Canada and port facilities in Vancouver, Thunder Bay and Baie Comeau, Que.
The company also has a partial interest in a terminal facility in Prince Rupert, B.C. ,and is a joint owner of Prairie Malt in Biggar, Sask.
CWB president Ian White said it is an important first step that will clear the way for the formal roll-out of new CWB programs and post single-desk contracts.
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The CWB will continue to seek similar agreements with other grain handlers in hopes of improving delivery options for growers, he added.
“From our perspective, it (the Cargill agreement) is an important landmark … and now we’re obviously on to doing the same sorts of agreements with other companies.”
White said the CWB’s first farmer contracts are likely to be signed before the end of March.
“It’s probably going to be in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
Cargill is the third largest grain handler in Western Canada behind Viterra and Richardson Pioneer, which rank first and second, respectively.
Cargill vice-president Peter Rowe said the incentive to reach an agreement with the CWB was driven mainly by farmer interest.
The new agreement means Cargill will offer the CWB’s complete portfolio of contracts to farmers.
“We’ve talked to a lot of our farmer customers and they indicated they were very interested in doing business still with the wheat board in some form or fashion, so we have to respond to that need.”
