CAMROSE, Alta. – The votes have been counted from an Alberta plebiscite on grain marketing, the federal government is touring the Prairies asking farmers for opinions on grain marketing and now the Alberta agriculture minister is setting up his own panel to study grain marketing.
“We want to know what are the options that work best for Alberta,” said Ray Bassett, assistant deputy minister of agriculture, in Edmonton.
The first meeting of agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski’s grain marketing panel was scheduled for Jan. 15-16 in Edmonton.
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Invitations were sent to 40 producer groups, grain companies, malting companies, rail companies and grain processors to come to the two-day meeting. Up to four people from each company or each producer organization were to attend the first meeting, said Bassett.
A smaller group will be formed from the larger group to study some of the options and then report back to the whole group.
Unlike the federal panel, the Alberta panel will deal strictly with viable options, said Bassett. “This will allow us to say what is Alberta looking for.”
They hope the group will have a list of suggestions available in May.
Bassett said the panel was a natural progression from the plebiscite held last year. The government learned what direction farmers were facing and now the panel will help give them options to gain more grain marketing freedom.
