SASKATOON – It’s not true that farmers are missing out on lucrative grain markets in the U.S., says the head of the Canadian Wheat Board.
Not only is the board selling into the highest-priced markets available, said Lorne Hehn, but because of single-desk selling and price pooling, all prairie farmers are reaping the benefits.
The board last week took the unusual step of issuing a public statement to assure all prairie farmers, but particularly those in Alberta, that the selling agency is “fully aware” of the strong prices in the U.S. and other world markets.
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“The CWB is currently selling grain at extremely attractive prices,” said Hehn.
Alberta agriculture minister Walter Paszkowski and some farm groups have expressed concern that the board’s monopoly is preventing some farmers in the province from taking full advantage of current high prices.
But Hehn said the board is making sales into the best available market, whether that’s the U.S. or overseas.
For example, the board has recently sold high grade milling wheat for prices as high as $420 a tonne, which works out to a Saskatoon farmgate price of $377 a tonne, or $10.25 a bushel. Feed barley has been sold for as much as $235 a tonne, which equates to a Red Deer farmgate price of more than $197 a tonne or $4.30 a bushel.
And Hehn used the strong prices to launch into a strong defence of the benefits of single-desk selling and price pooling.
“By marketing together, all farmers get to share in today’s strong market regardless of when they delivered their wheat and barley during the crop year,” he said.
By contrast, under an open market or dual market, only those who happen to get to a U.S. elevator before the local market gets flooded and the price drops would benefit from the strong market.
Meanwhile, board officials say it’s clear the results of last fall’s grain marketing plebiscite have put the Alberta government in a bind.
CWB communications director Bob Roehle said that’s the only way he can explain threats by the provincial government to look for ways to get around the CWB’s export monopoly on wheat and barley.
Getting around rules
Both Paszkowski and premier Ralph Klein have said the government is considering buying Alberta farmers’ grain for $1, shipping it across the U.S. border and then re-selling it to the farmers for the same price.
The wheat board says any such action would be illegal under the CWB Act and the provincial government should know that.
“Once you get into court, who knows what can happen?” said Roehle. “But our reading of the act is very clear. Mr. Paszkowski is whistling Dixie.”
Roehle said some Alberta farm groups are clearly pressuring the government to take action in the wake of the plebiscite, in which about two-thirds of those voting supported a dual market.
“I think the Alberta guys painted themselves into a bit of a corner,” said Roehle. “Now Paszkowski is trying to show that he’s doing something, or at least thinking of doing something.”
