SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. – Prairie producer car shippers have re-established their voice in the grain handling and transportation industry in time to battle proposed changes to the Canadian Grain Commission.
The Producer Car Shippers of Canada Inc. has been in the works since last June, when a group decided to revive what had been the Prairie Producer Car Shippers Association.
President Garry Gadd, who loads producer cars at Briercrest Grain Ltd., said that association had dissolved and there wasn’t any place for producer car shippers to turn.
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Yet with changes looming at both the grain commission and Canadian Wheat Board, producers need an association more than ever, he said.
About 65 people met in Swift Current last week to discuss the organization’s next steps.
While the number might be small, those in attendance estimated they represented about half of the 12,000 producer cars shipped last year.
Former CGC assistant commissioner Donna Welke has been helping the organizers. She said some producer car loaders might not understand what is at stake.
Catherine Jaworski, CGC manager of policy, planning and producer protection, told the meeting that the proposed changes to the Canada Grain Act won’t take away their right to ship cars.
But the loss of inward inspection, weighovers and audits done by the CGC will result in a loss of data and the level of security farmers relied upon. Farmers worry about what will happen in disputes when there is no grain sample taken at delivery by a third party that is supposed to act in their best interests.
“The government has gone right over what the farmer wanted,” said one farmer. “Whose grain is it? It’s the farmers’ grain. The companies are an agent for the wheat board. Our only protection is inward inspection.”
Darrell Watamanuk, who for 21 years worked in Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s elevator system, said grain companies lobbied hard to have inward inspection removed from the CGC’s mandate because they can then offer the service and build the price into their tariffs.
He said the entire grain handling system is “terminally ill” and doesn’t represent farmers.
Producer car shippers will be able to request arbitration from the CGC if disputes arise, but some question what good that will do when there is no agreed-upon sample.
“The devil is in the details for producer car shippers,” said Welke.
Jaworski promised to take concerns back to the grain commission and urged producer car loaders to submit them in writing.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” she told the meeting. “That’s not my style.”
One farmer noted that they aren’t angry with the grain commission but at “our boneheaded politicians” who want to change its mandate.
Gadd said there are potentially 2,500 people who could be considered members of the producer car shippers group. Anyone who has loaded a car within the last two years and is in good standing is considered a member right now.
The shippers’ group has asked for an administration fee of $20 per car loaded. It has also asked for $1,500 from producer car loading facilities to kickstart the fund.
The organization has been working with four administrators at Mission Terminals, West Central Road and Rail, the Canadian Wheat Board and South West Terminal.
