BLUFFTON, Alta. – A group of farmers that lost money when an unlicensed grain dealer went bankrupt, worry other farmers will also lose money if the Canadian Grain Commission staff won’t enforce its licensing regulations.
“They should be interested that this doesn’t happen again,” said Mundare, Alta., farmer Gary Broenner who wants the Canadian Grain Commission to ensure grain companies that should be licensed are licensed. That provides some security to farmers who sell to those companies.
“If they (the grain commission) don’t even acknowledge there is a problem, I’m worried it’s going to happen again.”
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Broenner, and other farmers who lost money when Bentley, Alta., based All Grain (Alberta) Ltd., went bankrupt in February, met July 31 to consider their options.
“We hope the Canadian Grain Commission will see the wrongs they’ve done and come to the table,” said Broenner.
He said he felt the commission should have enforced its regulations requiring grain elevators to be licensed.
All Grain’s owner, Thomas Erling-Tyrell, refused to supply grain commission staff with information that would have allowed the commission to decide whether he should have been licensed.
Paul Graham, information officer with the grain commission, said enforcing the Canada Grain Act is not simple.
“It’s not always clear someone is in contradiction of the grain act,” said Graham.
Criminal prosecution is the only tool available to the commission when it has to enforce its licensing rules.
That means the commission must be positive about violations.
“The tools are a bit awkward or a bit crude,” said Graham, adding the commission investigates if it hears of violations.
Broenner said he thinks the grain commission should take some responsibility for farmers’ losses.
However, a letter from chief commissioner Barry Senft rejects that idea.
“The Canadian Grain Commission has considered your request.
“I regret to inform you that for the following reasons, we are not in the position to assist you in this regard,” wrote Senft.
“All Grain (Alberta) Ltd. was not licensed by the Canadian Grain Commission. Accordingly, the company has not tendered security to the Canadian Grain Commission to cover producer grain liabilities.
“Section 49.1 (1) of the Canada Grain Act states that producers who are owed money from unlicensed companies have no recourse against the Canadian Grain Commission.”
Broenner argues the farmers do have a case under Section 45 of the act, which says all elevators must be licensed by the grain commission.
“If the grain commission don’t want to do anything, we’ll have to see what other options we have,” said Broenner.
Leon Benoit, Alliance Member of Parliament for the Alberta constituency of Lakeland, said farmers have a false sense of security when dealing with the patchwork of licensed and unlicensed grain companies.
“The grain commission does do a lot of good work, but they have to do some things better,” said Benoit.
“I hope they’re embarrassed into tightening things up.”
Garth Patterson, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, said the group runs a continuing education program to educate producers about the risks associated with unlicensed dealers.
The association newsletter regularly publishes a list of companies specializing in pulses that are licensed and bonded. Of the 90 companies listed with the organization, 40 percent are not on that list.
“Quite a lot of our growers believe it should be buyer beware,” said Patterson.
The pulse growers have been working with the grain commission for years to find lower cost alternatives to the grain commission licence.
Some companies offer to provide insurance against non-payment when pulses are exported around the world.
Others provide working capital for pulse export.
“It may be an alternative to bonding,” said Patterson.
“One possibility may be the better education of growers that they understand the risks of dealing with unlicensed dealers,” he said.
Pulse growers usually do their own marketing instead of relying on large grain companies, so they tend to be more aware of the risks, he said.
“They’re much more familiar with this, but there’s always an opportunity for better education.”
