REGINA – Prairie farmers may soon have more control over how their grain is marketed.
Federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale announced here last week the government plans to turn the Canadian Wheat Board over to a board of directors, which will include a majority of farmers.
He said an interim board will likely be appointed next year, and “probably in 1998 the producer-director majority on the board of directors could be replaced by directors elected by farmers.”
Goodale said between 11 and 15 directors will oversee a more flexible, more accountable wheat board, and he announced proposed changes to the way the board does business.
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Legislation will be introduced to allow the board to:
- Make cash purchases of wheat and barley.
- Make adjustment payments as needed during the crop year.
- Terminate pool accounts at any time and pay out farmers as soon as possible.
- Issue negotiable producer certificates.
- Defray farmers’ storage and/or carrying costs.
- Allow farmer deliveries to condo storage facilities.
- Acquire grain through technology like on-farm mobile elevators.
More money to farmers
Goodale said the changes would put money in farmers’ hands more quickly and allow them more control over marketing decisions.
The proposed changes are part of a package Goodale announced after “an exhaustive and exhausting consultative process,” including a review by the Western Grain Marketing Panel, public hearings and thousands of producer letters and phone calls to Goodale.
Goodale said it was clear most farmers wanted at least some change while relying on the wheat board’s proven strengths.
While Goodale’s announcement, which included a vote on barley marketing, was carefully worded, a news release was worded more definitively.
Goodale said the cabinet has not made its final decisions and the legislation has not been drafted. But he said things are on track and he plans to have the matter settled during the current crop year, which ends next July 31.
