The Alberta government and the Canadian Wheat Board continue to face off over the perennial issue of grain marketing choice.
A recent Alberta government survey showed more than 60 percent of Alberta farmers interviewed favoured marketing choice rather than using the services of the Canadian Wheat Board. Broken down between the two wheat board grains, more prefer marketing choice for barley than wheat.
The board says the survey is not credible.
Board chair Ken Ritter said farmers have made their choice by electing directors in three rounds of elections who support single desk selling.
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“The conclusions drawn from the survey conducted for the government of Alberta are flawed and lead farmers down the garden path to an outcome that is not feasible or realistic,” said the board chair in a News release
news.
A 1997 farmer plebiscite, in which 75 percent of western farmers voted, showed 63 percent in favour of retaining the single desk agency.
Ritter also said that operating the two systems together is not a viable option.
Choice no threat
Provincial agriculture minister Shirley McClellan disagreed with Ritter.
“There is no question Alberta producers feel different,” she said in a Nov. 15 interview in Red Deer.
“What they don’t seem to get at a wheat board level or a federal level is if the wheat board is that good, and I’m not saying they’re not, then there should be no threat in giving choice.” McClellan said she has met with wheat board directors to discuss the issue of choice and came away convinced the CWB is being protectionist.
“If you are so damn good, we are not a threat. Nobody would choose to market outside of your board, so what’s your problem?”
A private member’s bill being written to request a test market for Alberta will amend an earlier bill passed last December.
McClellan said more Alberta farmers have stopped using the board’s services and grow other grains for diversification purposes or philosophical reasons.
However, board spokesperson Rheal Cenerini said the number of permit books issued each year varies depending on a farmer’s growing decisions. Permit books are not required if farmers are growing other crops such as feed barley, special crops or oilseeds.
The wheat board reports 65,170 permit books have been issued for this crop year, 15,958 of them going to Alberta farmers.
