LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Stan Timmerman says he’s a rarity.
He’s an American wheat grower who can tell you how Canada’s grain marketing and transportation systems work.
“I know how they operate,” the Oregon wheat farmer said during last week’s convention of the U.S. National Association of Wheat Growers. “A lot of these guys don’t,” he said of his fellow Americans.
“They’re operating from a lack of knowledge.”
Timmerman tried to use some of his knowledge to influence NAWG policy during a meeting of the association’s marketing committee, but to no avail.
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As the committee considered a resolution condemning “Canadian transportation subsidies”, Timmerman intervened, telling his fellow wheat growers that with the Crow Benefit rail subsidy gone there was no need to have such a policy on the books.
That seemed to be news to some of the wheat growers, who asked for guidance from some U.S. government officials in the room. After a few minutes’ discussion, it was decided there might still be some “indirect” Canadian transportation subsidies in areas like ownership of rolling stock, and so the resolution was left as it was.
Next came a resolution calling for the elimination of Canadian transportation subsidies “to the U.S., Canada and Mexico.” That prompted Timmerman to ask exactly how Canada subsidizes grain shipments to Mexico.
He didn’t get an answer, but a comment by Karen Fegley, director of NAWG’s Wheat Export Trade Education Committee, that “there are some issues we are uncertain about” was enough to convince the wheat growers to leave the resolution on the books, just in case.
Finally, Timmerman took issue with NAWG’s standing policy that wheat imports be allowed from individual Canadian producers but not from the Canadian Wheat Board.
That’s a meaningless resolution, he said, because the wheat board will remain the single desk exporter of Canadian wheat for the foreseeable future and the U.S. has no legal basis to block imports from the board.
And besides, he said, “we should be free to trade with whoever we want.”
Once again, his argument held no sway with wheat growers who said they were willing to compete against farmers but not against a “state trading agency” and the policy was left in place.
Misinformation dangerous
Timmerman said later he’s no fan of the Canadian grain marketing system, but it’s dangerous to base policy decisions on misinformation. He wishes more U.S. wheat growers would make an effort to get the facts about Canada.
“It’s always best to be well educated about your competition,” he said. “The more you know about them, the easier it is to understand what you’re up against when you’re out there competing.”
One interested observer at the marketing committee meeting was Mike Halyk, a member of the CWB’s producer advisory committee.
In an interview later, he said while he was initially bewildered at how poorly informed the U.S. wheat growers are about Canadian grain policies, on further reflection it’s not that surprising.
“I also know that many Canadians are misinformed too … about the industry they make their living from.”
But he said he was taken aback by the number of “cheap shots” aimed at Canadians and Australians throughout the course of the meeting.
