CALGARY–The Alberta government is circulating a policy paper which calls for an open market for wheat and barley sales in North America.
The proposals, which are part of a larger agriculture reform package, suggest that any producer, grain company or the Canadian Wheat Board could deliver wheat and barley anywhere on the continent. The paper has been delivered to federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale’s office and some informal talks have been held with grain companies, said Alberta agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski.
The primary focus is to allow the board to maintain its monopoly in offshore sales, but rather than buy grain from the elevators in the field, it could buy direct from the terminals, said Paszkowski.
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“That would allow the competitive forces to compete out in the field. Today we don’t have that. Everybody buys at the same price,” he said in an interview from his constituency in northern Alberta.
“We’re not advocating the demise of the wheat board.”
Grain companies would be able to make their own transportation arrangements, eliminating need for the grain transportation agency. Rather than being agents of the wheat board, these companies would be buyers and sellers in their own right.
“The agencies are only there to serve the farmer. Somewhere along the way we lost that,” he said.
Paszkowski has directed his ministry to write a complete document that fleshes out reforms to the board, transportation issues, labor difficulties on the West Coast and income safety nets. Release of those proposals would be followed by consultation with farmers later this year.
The time is ripe for change with the signing of international trade agreements and disputes with the Americans over grain sales south of the border, said the minister.
“We really don’t have that much flexibility. We are going have to make some changes and they’re going to have to be substantive changes.
“We’re past the days of little fix-its. We’ve got to make it a major overhaul. The wheat board is going to have to be restructured whether people like it or not,” Paszkowski said.
