The Canadian Grain Commission will be licensing feed mills — it is only a matter of how and how many.
That is what the commission has determined after its initial round of consultations with industry.
“The minister of agriculture has also signified his intent to have these facilities licensed,” said commission spokesperson Remi Gosselin.
Consultations conducted between Feb. 9 and April 9 resulted in 43 written submissions from feed mills, commodity groups and producer organizations.
Feed mills have been exempt from the commission’s licensing requirements, but high-profile business failures provoked farm groups into lobbying the government to expand the reach of the commission’s payment protection program.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
In particular, farmers lost more than $1 million when Big Sky Farms and Puratone went out of business
Producer organizations made it clear farmers need protection when they deliver grain to feed mills.
Reaction from feed mills was more of a mixed bag.
“Some feed mills see (licensing) as an added bonus because producers will have a higher comfort level in engaging in grain transactions with feed mills,” said Gosselin.
However, many commercial feed mills feel it would be an unnecessary burden for an industry that has long-term relationships with farmers and a history of paying producers in good times and in bad.
Gosselin said the commission will develop a more detailed proposal that will set out the specific licensing requirements.
“That’s going to happen over the summer months, and hopefully we can launch a new consultation in the near future,” he said.
One complicating factor is the looming federal election.
The commission is not allowed to conduct a second round of industry consultations during the election, so it will attempt to have the new proposal ready and consultations completed before the anticipated Oct. 19 election is called.
Feedback to the commission included a call that all mills that buy grain directly from farmers should be licensed, which would exclude mills that buy from grain companies and small on-farm operations that use only their own grain.
Others were worried that the additional fees and reporting requirements would put further strain on an industry that is already operating on thin profit margins.
There were also calls for a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the proposal.
“Usually it is part of the regulatory process,” he said.
“We’re certainly not ruling it out at this point. It really depends on what kind of proposal comes forward.”
