Small volume crops suffering from service shortage, says oat growers group
Small volume grain shippers hope their concerns about inadequate rail service will receive a sympathetic reception among members of a federally appointed panel charged with reviewing the Canada Transportation Act.
Small block shippers, including shippers of milling oats, malting barley and other small volume crops, say poor or unpredictable rail service over the past year has had a significant negative impact on their ability to ship to buyers in domestic and foreign markets.
The Prairie Oat Growers Association outlined its concerns in a recent submission to the Canada Transportation Act review panel, suggesting that meaningful changes are required to ensure that the interests of small volume shippers are protected.
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“Shippers of all shapes and sizes need (market) access if we are to protect Canada’s reputation as an exporter and grow our markets,” said the POGA submission.
“Heading into this year’s CTA review, two things are clear.… The system needs to adapt to the increasing growing capacity of Canadian farmers, and the system needs to be able to accommodate small volume crops.”
Small block shippers, who normally ship a handful of rail cars rather than a full unit train, say rail service to their industries has suffered since Ottawa implemented a federal order requiring Canada’s major rail companies to meet weekly hauling targets.
Jason Skotheim, vice-chair of the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission (SBDC), said malting barley exports to the United States have been affected by the order in council.
Exports of Canadian malting barley to the United States approached 500,000 tonnes in 2013-14, which was the highest level in the past five years.
However, it was a challenge shipping barley to U.S. buyers, particularly on producer-loaded rail cars.
“We wanted to reiterate (to the CTA panel) … the importance that producer cars play for barley growers and the fact that they do give us another option … as far as serving that U.S. market is concerned,” the commission said
Robynne Anderson, an agricultural consultant with Emerging Ag Inc., said rail transportation issues are one of the most prominent challenges facing the western Canadian oat industry.
“Rail transportation has been a very significant issue and … remains a potent and difficult echo in the system,” said Anderson, who prepared POGA’s CTA submission.
“So far, trucking has spiked significantly to try and accommodate some of that (lost capacity), but we certainly need to see rail service return to normal levels.”
Anderson said Canadian oat production increased from 2.5 million tonnes in 2010-11 to almost four million tonnes in 2013-14.
However, oat exports have been declining during the past three years, falling from 1.2 million tonnes in 2011-12 to slightly more than a million tonnes last year.
Anderson said systemic problems related to rail transportation continue this year.
Rail service on southern routes to the United States is an ongoing burr under the industry’s saddle.
She said rail reporting requirements need to be scrutinized, and grain transportation data collected on southern rail routes should be made public more quickly and more regularly.
“For those southern corridors, the problems are very systemic and significant,” she said.
“We need some common carrier applications to ensure that all crops get looked after.”
Anderson said Scandinavian oats that were shipped into the U.S. last winter have now secured a permanent share of the U.S. oat market.
brian.cross@producer.com
