The Canadian Wheat Board has completed its consultations with the organic industry and hopes to have a policy on marketing organic wheat and barley by the end of this year.
The agency held six meetings across the Prairies in June and July. CWB officials who attended the meetings have a month to compile a report and to draft recommendations for the board of directors meeting in September, said Tom Halpenny, the wheat board employee who organized the review process.
It’s unclear what exact shape that report will take, since the authors are in the preliminary stages of compiling notes from the six sessions, but Halpenny said there will be a strong focus on reviewing and updating the board’s buyback process.
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“That was one area that there was common agreement right across the country from Manitoba to Alberta to streamline that – make it as user friendly as we possibly can for those people that want to export grain individually and independently.”
One of the buyback ideas put out for discussion by the wheat board is a process that circumvents the grain companies, saving producers the administrative fees they now have to pay. But Halpenny said other “irritants and hurdles” were also discussed.
Almost 25,000 tonnes of Canadian organic wheat and durum were sold to domestic and export markets last year. About 20 percent of that moved through the board’s buyback program. The remainder was sold through grain companies or brokers.
Organic growers and exporters who are opposed to the wheat board’s involvement in the industry spoke out during the meetings – to the point of distraction, say some participants. But Halpenny said most of the dialogue was constructive and helpful.
Some people in the organic industry want the board to gather international pricing information on organic crops, something Halpenny said is hard to find.
That faction also wants the board to conduct market trend and competitive analyses for the industry, which would mean hiring someone to “birddog” the organic marketplace, he said.
Those suggestions will be included in the report presented at the board of directors’ September meeting.
“The directors will have to decide what resources they want to apply there,” said Halpenny.
