Another group of Saskatchewan grain farmers is trying to take control of its own destiny.
In the last week of May, about 70 farmers will be loading 84 producer-leased cars along the network of CP Rail lines that zig-zag through southwestern Saskatchewan.
Organizers say the plan was inspired in part by the successful producer car trains organized last winter by the West Central Road and Rail Committee along some CN Rail lines west of Saskatoon.
But Allen Kuhlmann, who farms near Vanguard, said the main motivation is that farmers are tired of the way they’re treated by established industry players.
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“There is a fair amount of grain having to be trucked off this line because we can’t get good service out of either the CPR or the grain companies,” he said in an interview last week.
“Each one blames the other, so who do you believe?”
The farmers will be loading 84 cars for shipment to Thunder Bay, Ont. It will be mainly spring wheat, with some durum and Canada prairie spring wheat.
The grain will be loaded at a dozen points along the line, using track and weighing facilities at Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevators.
Kuhlmann said the farmers put the producer car train proposal out to as many grain companies as it could, and Sask Pool made the best business offer.
“They’ve been reasonably co-operative to this point,” he said, adding the Canadian Grain Commission and the Canadian Wheat Board have also been helpful in making arrangements with CP.
By loading the cars themselves and bypassing the elevator system, the farmers expect to save about $65,000 in handling and elevation fees.
But Kuhlmann said those financial benefits, and the opportunity to move grain that might not otherwise be moved, are only part of the reason for the train.
“Sure it’s a business thing, but it’s a message too,” he said.
The rail lines in the area have been “demarketed”, he said. The elevator companies and the railroad don’t seem interested in them any more and that has left producers in the lurch.
“We’re trying to say ‘hey, nobody ever asked us,’ ” he said. “We want some input into this thing.”
While none of the rail lines involved are in imminent danger of abandonment, Kuhlmann said producers and other area residents are worried that will happen.
That would have a devastating impact on roads in the region, which are already in “hellish” shape, he said.
“If we lose the rail lines and they start trucking more, we won’t have much more than billy goat tracks down here,” he said, adding the producer car train alone will keep a couple of hundred Super-B trucks from doing more damage to the roads.
