Nielsen is president of the Western Barley Growers Association
Why must the Canadian Wheat Board give up its monopoly and create choice for farmers?
In two words: to survive.
The Western Barley Growers Association believes that maintaining the status quo will lead to the CWB’s extinction. We believe the CWB must align its business model to better meet the individual needs of all farmers and customers of western Canadian wheat and barley.
In the WBGA’s view and that of many others, it is time for the CWB to recognize that deregulation leads to innovation and that ultimately leads to an organization that is customer and market driven.
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For clarity, the WBGA’s policy position with respect to the CWB is for choice. We do not advocate for the ending of the CWB.
Rather, we advocate for the CWB to be a strong marketing alternative for farmers in a marketing choice environment. This is achievable within the CWB, and with desire and strong direction to adapt and change, it can.
The WBGA’s position is anchored on the reality that growing barley in Western Canada varies dramatically from one side of the designated area to the other.
With this, production realities due to
climate and soil types also change dram-atically. So do the market opportunities for that production as it has evolved and is reflective of the natural advantages of that region.
Crop production and marketing diversity have been and are two of the Prairies’ real strengths – strengths that need to continue to evolve and be leveraged to fully create the social and economic benefits fundamental to farmers and the broader rural population that farming supports.
The CWB monopoly business model is anchored in theory on sending centralized production signals and providing equal marketing opportunities to farmers across the Prairies.
The irony is that the CWB, intentionally or unintentionally, depending on your point of view, trumps the reality of pro-duction and marketing opportunities at
the local level.
It is reminiscent of Henry Ford’s famous quote: “People can have the Model T in any colour, so long as it’s black.”
We all know not everyone wants black. They want choice.
To provide some context, the WBGA is deeply concerned about the future of wheat and barley production on the Prairies. The reality is that we have seen a decrease of 28 percent in wheat acres, a 20 percent decrease in barley acres over the 10 crop years 1995-96 to 2005-06.
This amounts to a 23 percent wheat production and a 20 percent barley production decrease over that same time.
This is not rhetoric, but facts, and these dramatic declines come at a time when other crops like canola, oats and peas, to name a few, are increasing production and productivity.
Yet cereal crops like wheat and barley are fundamental to supporting the signif-icant value-added industries like livestock feeding regionally, as well as providing options critical to production risk management through crop rotations.
Structurally, the western Canadian wheat and barley industry has changed dramatically in 10 years. The emergence of new industrial markets like biofuel and changing preferences by international and domestic food processors in food markets are accelerating.
The world into which our products will be sold in the future will require producers and industry to be flexible, adaptive and responsive.
Speed will be a key competitive advantage, as will be providing customers with what they want when they want it. The industry will be more and more market driven.
The CWB is not structured or operated philosophically to do that.
For example, malting barley prices are now at an unprecedented high and yet the CWB has withdrawn from the market because it does not want to forward contract sales it feels it cannot attract from the market due to its pricing structure.
Essentially, a centralized decision is closing the door for local producers. Meanwhile, other producers around the world are capturing new markets and enjoying a market that is rewarding their innovation.
A case in point is the recent announcement of the Grain Research Development Corporation in Australia launching a new malting barley variety specifically for the Asian brewing market. What is particularly troubling for us as producers is the genetics for quality aspects of the new variety came from current western Canadian barley varieties.
I am not a large farmer, but in my community I see many specific situations. We have new farmers entering the business and others who, after many successful years, are looking for ways to transition out of farming. The needs of each of these individuals and their families are very different.
The frustration with the lack of flexibility in the current system is a major discussion point around kitchen tables and that points to a deeper concern about how agriculture will adapt to the realities and opportunities of the future in a regulated environment that fosters the status quo.
To the WBGA, the CWB is not the enemy. The inability to adapt to change is. Agriculture, like any business, must adapt and recognize that our neighbours and business partners are fundamental to our continued success
Let’s take advantage of our enormous strengths and face the opportunities of the future together in a way that fosters co-operation and innovation. Choice marketing best achieves both of these objectives.
