OAK BLUFF, Man. – Canadian Wheat Board chief executive officer Adrian Measner had the perfect day to face Manitoba farmers.
At the end of the board’s corporate accountability meeting in Oak Bluff Feb. 10, Measner was able to announce that, in the board’s view, its trading practices had been vindicated by a World Trade Organization ruling released that day.
Spontaneous applause broke out among the more than 100 farmers present.
Measner was also able to please farmers with the news that the board has asked for interim payments of $15-$30 per tonne for wheat, a bigger increase than the first interim payment farmers have received.
Read Also
Canola used in only quarter of Canadian biofuel
Less than one-quarter of the biodiesel and renewable diesel used in Canada in 2024 was made from canola oil feedstock
But he also had to contend with a glum undertone, in which a number of producers seemed concerned about why the board fell so far short in its pool accounts last year and why grain prices haven’t taken off this year.
Measner tried to explain why stronger currencies in the most lucrative export markets haven’t led to higher grain prices, but after his speech and a question and answer period, he still had to sit with a group of producers to explain why world grain prices haven’t compensated for the weak U.S. dollar.
Measner said a hefty increase in world ocean freight rates “means higher prices for the import commodities but lower prices for the net export commodities.”
He said that has wiped out the possible gains in grain prices from the increasing strength of currencies such as the Japanese yen.
“If the market’s willing to pay that extra $50 per tonne for that grain, if the ocean freight hadn’t increased, we would have anticipated that the price of grain would have gone up,” Measner said.
He hoped farmers could look beyond the pool account shortfall and the slow gains in wheat markets.
“It’s easy to focus on the negatives, but ultimately we did achieve good returns in last year’s marketplace – the second best ever,” he said in an interview.
“The market’s poised. Supplies are tight. It won’t take much to tip it higher.”
Measner also highlighted transportation gains made because of the new tendering agreement, which covers only 20 percent of grain shipments. So far savings of about $19.1 million have been made.
“It was controversial at first, but I think we’ve got a good tendering agreement in place and I think we’ll be in good shape when we look at the savings at the end of the year.”
He also said producer car shipments are charging ahead. Already 4,100 producer cars have been shipped – four times the amount sent in all of 2002-03, and wheat board country representatives think the number could climb to 10,000 by the end of the crop year.
