QUILL LAKE, Sask. – Prairie farmers are getting their first look at some of the ideas being proposed to change the way Canadian Wheat Board grains are priced in order to improve farmers’ cash flow.
About 90 farmers gathered here Feb. 27 for the first of the board’s 1994-95 district meetings.
They heard officials describe a wide range of options, ranging from relatively simple housekeeping measures to fairly radical changes in the pooling system.
Many of the ideas focus on making payments more timely. They include increasing initial prices more quickly, making regular initial payment announcements regardless of whether an increase is planned, reducing the time lag between when the board recommends an increase and the federal government approves it, having interim payments deposited directly in farmers’ bank accounts and making a sizable interim payment as soon as possible after the pool accounts are closed in the fall.
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Flexible price system
Other proposals being put forward are aimed at increasing the “flexibility” of the board’s pricing system.
For example, farmers could have the option of cashing out their account before the end of the crop year. Some have even suggested letting farmers trade the certificate that qualifies them for interim and final payments or going to shorter pooling periods.
Board commissioner Gordon Machej said the agency hopes to decide by the end of March what changes will be possible for 1995-96.
Changes that require amendments to the CWB Act are unlikely to be done in time for the coming crop year, but some of the ideas being proposed could be implemented under existing legislation.
Questions and comments from farmers in attendance indicated there will be no easy consensus on what to do.
“These changes they’re talking about will destroy everything,” said Englefeld farmer Pat Gabriel, a staunch supporter of single-desk selling and price pooling.
But Dwayne Anderson of Fosston said what’s needed is a move away from year-long pooling to contract pooling for specific grains at specific times of the year.
Without such a change, the board marketing system will continue to come under intense pressure from farmers who want a dual market, he said.
