SUPPOSE you buy a tractor from a reputable machinery dealership. You
select the most powerful tractor with top-rated performance because
you have tough jobs for it in the field.
Once you get it home, you find the tractor does not meet expectations.
Under the hood you find a far inferior engine to the one you were
guaranteed.
When you protest to the dealership, the salesman shrugs: “You wanted a
tractor with an engine, you got a tractor with an engine.” He says the
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inferior engine doesn’t make a difference to performance. The tractor
still runs, right?
Sounds like a ridiculous scenario, doesn’t it?
Yet this same irresponsible attitude is causing unlicensed wheat to
enter the grain system and jeopardize Canada’s reputation for seed
quality and performance.
Some farmers in east-central Saskatchewan have delivered unlicensed
American wheat varieties to elevators, claiming they were legal
varieties of top grade red spring wheat.
Maybe they didn’t know what they were selling or maybe they did it
intentionally to increase profits. Farmers frustrated by drought, low
prices and foreign subsidies may be attracted to unlicensed U.S.
varieties that return a 10 or 15 percent yield advantage over some
Canadian varieties.
Farmers who grow unlicensed varieties must tell grain companies what
they are selling at time of delivery. Then the grain can only be sold
as feed wheat.
But unlicensed varieties passed off as something else can have huge
financial implications for grain companies, harm the international
market reputation and ultimately affect other Canadian farmers.
Last spring, more than 5,000 tonnes of No. 1 Canadian western red
spring wheat were downgraded after 60 rail cars shipped out of Agricore
United’s elevator at Canora, Sask., were found to be heavily
contaminated with unlicensed wheat.
The cars, shipped to terminals at Thunder Bay and Montreal, contained
the U.S. hard red spring variety Oxen. The downgrade cost AU hundreds
of thousands of dollars.
In July this year, two truckloads of wheat delivered to the Pioneer
Grain Co. at Norquay, Sask. were contaminated with Oxen and 2375,
another unlicensed U.S. variety.
A cautious elevator manager binned the wheat separately, which limited
the extent of contamination, but there were still financial costs.
In July the Canadian Wheat Board and the Canadian Grain Commission held
a meeting in the east-central Sask. area to warn that unlicensed
varieties must be kept out of the grain export system. If the grain
reaches millers or bakers, the results could be disastrous, farmers
were told. Buyers would lose confidence in Canada’s quality control
system, and Canada would lose its competitive edge in foreign markets.
Consider the tractor example again. If you think you have the best
equipment for the job, you handle it in a certain way and expect
specific results.
Farmers must respect the integrity of Canada’s grain export system and
make every effort to meet the standards expected by their markets.
Whether they are selling to grain companies or to their next door
neighbours, farmers must be honest about what they’re selling.
Unlicensed varieties may have higher yields or appear to have other
benefits over licensed varieties, but farmers must accept
responsibility for what they grow.
There are reasons these varieties are unlicensed. Until they are
legally accepted, farmers should expect these crops will receive lower
grades and plan their crop choices and handling methods accordingly.
The CGC said grain sales mechanisms are slowly moving toward an
affidavit system. When that happens, growers will bear even more
responsibility for what they grow. There will be a higher level of
traceability and penalties will likely be imposed on those who break
the rules.
While the desire to maximize profit is understandable, it’s
short-sighted to seek those profits by deceiving buyers, accidentally
or intentionally.
If penalties or other measures must be introduced to identify and teach
the guilty farmers, so be it.
There is too much at stake to let unlicenced grain into the system.
Zero tolerance is a must.
