SAN ANTONIO, Texas — The canola industry’s 26 million tonne production goal depends on a transportation system that can only easily move half that amount.
However, Canola Council of Canada leaders hope to wake up the railways about what’s going to come at them in just a few years time.
It wouldn’t make sense to back away from expansion goals just because the railways can’t clear this year’s 18 million tonne crop, canola council president Patti Miller said during the organization’s annual meeting held in San Antonio Feb. 24-26.
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“Transportation is a serious and complicated problem, and one that’s made some question why we’re aiming for more growth when the system is struggling to handle our production today,” she said.
“But we believe these difficulties only underline the need for sound, forward-looking planning. The market was, and it is, still there.”
Canola council officials said during the conference that the present transportation problems and the council’s aggressive production goals will likely prompt it to become more involved in railway issues, an area that the council has not generally addressed in the past.
Throughout the conference, farmers and others in the industry expressed frustration that every part of the supply chain appears to be achieving new productivity records except for the railways.
For many farmers, lack of rail service has brought storage problems, significant basis costs and the inability to move crop, almost like a penalty for being successful.
Canola council chair Terry Youzwa said the new production goals are based on future market demand and agronomic potential. The council is confident both will reach the levels it is projecting, he added, but obstacles lie between the field and the buyer.
“Canola growers like me, we realize that the exporters and the crushers can sell the stuff, and we know we can grow the stuff, but we have some challenges in between that we need to address,” said Youzwa. “It isn’t enough to simply grow our supply and demand. We need to make sure we’re growing in the right direction.”