The Canadian Wheat Board has made one last effort to convince farmers to sign up for a new quality wheat storage program.
“We weren’t getting the sign-ups we required,” said Charray Dutka, the board’s manager of operational inventory. “I think these changes will bump up the tonnage in the program significantly from what it is today.”
The program, unveiled in May, provides a premium, storage payment, guaranteed acceptance and extra delivery opportunities for farmers willing to carry some of their top-quality 2006 wheat into the 2007-08 crop year.
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The goal is to ensure the board has enough quality wheat on hand to meet the needs of its regular premium quality customers in the coming year.
“It would be nice if they’d buy all their supplies in November but that’s not the way it works,” Dutka said.
However, the initial response to the program was disappointing, prompting the board to sweeten the pot.
It increased the premium for No. 1 CWRS 15 percent protein wheat to $17 from $10 a tonne and for 14.5 percent to $12 from $8. The farmer gets the premium at sign-up.
Participants also get a storage payment of $1 per tonne per month and an additional early delivery opportunity for the 2007-08 crop equal to the number of tonnes committed to the program.
Dutka said the board recognizes that carrying, for example, 500 tonnes of old crop wheat into the new crop year could create storage problems on the farm.
“So what we will do is give that farmer 500 tonnes of 2007-08 delivery opportunity over and above existing calls,” she said.
“That should generate bin space for him to carry over the old crop.”
