REGINA – A total of 424 farmers signed in at a rally organized by Canadian Farmers for Justice near Regina last week.
Harvest pressures came second for many producers attending the event in 37 C heat, and interior temperatures rose beyond that during two hours in a steel-walled structure.
Speeches by Farmers for Justice board members, Reform party members of parliament, Saskatchewan provincial politicians and concerned farmers dealt with free grain markets, the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly on wheat and barley, a summary of a report by FFJ on U.S. and Ontario wheat prices, and the issue of private property rights in Canada as they relate to the wheat board.
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“The low initial prices announced last week definitely ensured that I would be here,” said Cal Sawyer, a Langbank, Sask., farmer.
“There is lots to do for harvest right now, but I felt this issue was more important in the long term. We need the option of marketing outside the board.”
Timing was a concern for organizers, according to Jim Pallister, a Portage la Prairie, Man. farmer and FFJ board member.
“We were concerned about holding the rally at harvest time but the support we have now is very impressive. It shows we’re on the right track.”
Border rally cancelled
The rally in Regina was at one time intended to be a protest held at the Canada-U.S. border, dubbed the Andy 500. It was scheduled for July 15 but was cancelled.
“About the Andy 500, let’s just say the board had a lack of focus, a lack of determined leadership. Let’s just say we now have an expanded board of directors and we hope those problems are now solved,” said Pallister.
Farmers for Justice released a few details of a report, still in its early stages, that compares North Dakota and Ontario wheat prices.
The group’s findings are based on elevator company quotes from the DTN satellite agriculture service, the Wild Oats newsletter, a Winnipeg commodity marketing information service and prices provided by the Ontario Wheat Marketing Board.
The FFJ price summary indicated farmgate prices in the past grain year should have been 26 percent higher for hard red spring wheat, 18 percent higher for durum, five percent higher for malt barley and 58 percent higher for feed barley than were paid by the CWB.
The FFJ also said the current system prevents farmers from growing American grain varieties that produce higher yields, and it precludes a revised rail car system where grain companies deal directly with the railways. An open U.S. border would benefit all Western Canadian farmers, it said.
The rally ended with producers placing 50 bushels of bagged barley in the doorway of wheat board minister Ralph Goodale’s Regina constituency office.
Goodale’s office later donated the grain to the city’s Wascana Park as feed for resident Canada geese.
