The former chief executive officer of the Canadian Wheat Board is back in the grain business.
Adrian Measner, who was fired from the board by the federal government in December 2006 for publicly advocating retention of the single desk, is now the president and chief executive officer of Upper Lakes Group Inc.’s stable of grain companies.
The best known of those companies to prairie farmers would be Mission Terminal of Thunder Bay, a company that has been instrumental in supporting the increased use of producer cars.
Read Also
Interest in biological crop inputs continues to grow
It was only a few years ago that interest in alternative methods such as biologicals to boost a crop’s nutrient…
The group also includes three Quebec-based grain companies and Great Lakes Grain of Indiana.
Measner, who will work in Winnipeg, received a special waiver from the federal government’s ethics commissioner to begin working at his new job Oct. 16.
That included the condition that he makes no formal representations to the CWB before the Dec. 19 anniversary of his departure from the board.
Federal conflict-of-interest rules required that Measner wait one year before taking any job that might involve dealing with the board.
“The waiver allowed me to start working here so I could get my feet wet and work on some other projects not involving the wheat board,” Measner said, noting that some of the Upper Lake grain companies deal solely in the domestic market.
He expects to continue Mission Terminal’s focus on producer cars and bulk shipment of CWB grain and may try to develop partnerships with prairie producer groups through operating agreements or investment.
Asked if he will continue to be a public advocate for single desk marketing, Measner said he will speak out on any issue that affects his new company.
“If there are issues around the single desk that relate to Upper Lakes, then I would certainly respond,” he said, adding one such issue is clearly producer cars.
“To the extent that producer cars are mainly CWB grain, I think there is a very strong linkage between Mission, producer cars and the wheat board.”
If Mission is to maintain or increase that business, the CWB as a single desk marketer has a role to play, he said.
