SASKATOON – Forget the plains. Wheat’s next big boom could be in the ridges and depressions of rocky British Columbia.
“It’s amazing how much wheat we can get grown on the side of the mountains or in the valleys of B.C.,” said Rudy Bergen, the plant manager of the Rogers Foods mill in Armstrong, B.C., in the northern Okanagan region.
Bergen said the price of wheat has risen so high it makes sense for many B.C. producers to plant wheat rather than barley or alfalfa next year, something most have not done since the two-price system was ended in the 1980s.
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Rogers hopes enough wheat can be grown in non-Canadian Wheat Board areas of B.C. that a large part of its flour mill needs can be found locally.
By buying locally, the mill can save the cost of hauling wheat from Alberta.
The Canadian Wheat Board covers Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Peace River and Creston-Wynndel areas of B.C., but any other wheat producers in B.C. can sell as they like. In board areas wheat sales generally require board approval.
Encouragement campaign
Rogers Foods will advertise by mail to producers and also by a radio campaign across the non-board areas of B.C., Bergen said.
The company is offering certified seed to producers, the cost to be deducted off their first deliveries.
“We can both benefit. We’ll pay more than they’re getting for feed wheat and certainly it’s a benefit for us if we can buy it locally in B.C. rather than take the freight from Alberta.”
Canadian Wheat Board spokesperson Jim Pietryk said Rogers Foods could legally buy its wheat from local producers who live outside the board jurisdiction, but “that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t try to sell wheat to him below what the producers in that part of the province are willing to take,” he said.
