The finishing touches are being put on a system designed to show whether the Canadian Wheat Board is doing a good job selling grain.
The final version of a report by Richard Gray of the University of Saskatchewan was to be submitted to the board this week.
The so-called benchmarking project aims to put in place an objective mechanism to track and compare prices received by wheat farmers in Canada and the United States.
Neither Gray nor CWB officials would talk about the system in detail last week.
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But the agricultural economist said he’s happy with how things have gone.
“I think there’s information there that should be reported on a regular basis, and if it is reported will provide producers and the board with information that’s pretty useful,” he said May 30.
Once a benchmarking formula is adopted, the CWB will be able to track its performance on a regular basis.
Gray said the system will be made up of three components: it will compare farmgate prices at a number of comparable locations in Canada and the United States; it will compare port selling prices at Vancouver and Seattle and it will compare the handling and transportation costs on either side of the border.
The results, which will be reviewed by an independent auditor, will be used internally by the board to assess the performance of the agency’s sales people, and will be made public so farmers can make their own judgments.
CWB director John Clair, chair of the committee overseeing the benchmarking process, said assurances from inside the board aren’t enough for some farmers, who tell him they’d like to see a number that shows whether the board provides farmers with a financial benefit.
“They want to know is the board making us X dollars, or whatever the case may be,” he said. “There needs to be some sort of a formal process and I think we’ve got it here.”
The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association issued a statement saying farmers can’t understand some of the research papers released by Gray.
Association president Ted Menzies said they use “gobbledy-gook” language that is irrelevant to farmers. He said the best way to find out whether the board or the open market provides more money is to let a group of farmers sell wheat directly to U.S. customers for a specified period and then compare returns.
Clair said that wouldn’t provide a fair comparison, since those farmers would be able to cherry-pick the premium markets.
