Last week’s announcement of adjustment payments for wheat, durum and feed barley highlights the need for the Canadian Wheat Board to take over responsibility for guaranteeing all payments other than initial ones, say board officials.
The board says it could get payments to farmers more quickly if it was in charge.
“This is a good example of the time it takes to get these payments through,” said wheat board spokesperson Maureen Fitzhenry.
The payments approved by the federal government last week were requested by the board April 3.
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By the time the government approved that increase, the board had already sent in a request June 7 for another increase in wheat and durum payments.
Last November the board proposed that it use its contingency fund to backstop adjustment, interim and final payments. The federal government would continue to guarantee initial payments.
At the time, CWB minister Chuck Strahl spoke favourably of the idea and said he would review the request. That’s the last the marketing agency has heard about the subject.
“We’ve had no indication to date what’s going to happen with that,” said Fitzhenry, noting that there have been more pressing issues between the board and government in recent months.
“It certainly remains our goal, but I guess you could say it’s on the back burner.”
To take over payment guarantees, the board would need to boost its contingency fund, now capped by law at $60 million, to at least $100 million.
Fitzhenry said the board could issue payments more quickly as market conditions warranted, and might be able to issue payments in smaller increments, allowing for a more timely response to market changes.
“The bottom line is it would provide way more flexibility in achieving the goal of giving farmers as much as you can as early as you can,” she said, adding the board would also have to take into account the cost of issuing payments.
