In … (an earlier) issue of Open Forum, Bill Cooper, a well-known apologist and supporter of the railroads, expresses his unreserved support for agriculture related value-added industries and his disappointment in the CWB for not allowing Prairie Pasta Producers, a U.S.-Canadian coalition of farmers and businessmen, to buy durum wheat directly from farmers without going through the CWB.
I personally commend the CWB for this decision. The truth of the matter is up to date prairie grain producers have benefited very little from value-added farm related industries.
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A prime example is the oat mill in Yorkton that was in part built by taxpayers’ money. They pay us a minimum world price for our milling oats, only six cents per bushel above livestock feed oats. When we objected to this low return for our milling oats, they threatened to buy subsidized oats from Norway.
This question begs to be answered. Why does Prairie Pasta want to locate on the Canadian Prairies rather than in the U.S.A.? The answer is simple.
U.S. grain producers receive an average subsidy from their government amounting to $60 per acre. This has the same effect on domestic grain prices as the Crow rate did on the prairies before its untimely demise.
Domestic prices in that country are kept artificially higher than the world seaboard price by their massive subsidies. In other words, if Prairie Pasta were to locate in the U.S., they would have to pay more for the same grain than here on the Prairies. …
By his statement that the CWB expects Prairie Pasta investors to take all the risks while prairie grain producers take no risk, Mr. Cooper indicates where his sympathy lies and as to who he is speaking for, certainly not for prairie grain producers. …
– George E. Hickie,
Waldron, Sask.
