Changes in agriculture are coming so quickly some farmers must want to jam both feet on the brake until they get a better view of the confusion ahead.
Market analysts have been urging farmers to get out of wheat and barley and diversify. When farmers did just that, the world market crossed everybody up and it turns out wheat and barley will meet good demand in the coming months.
A friend of mine who said last spring he planned to grow “that exotic crop, wheat,” is grinning from ear to ear.
Read Also
Topsy-turvy precipitation this year challenges crop predictions
Rainfall can vary dramatically over a short distance. Precipitation maps can’t catch all the deviations, but they do provide a broad perspective.
However, farmers are learning that transportation costs under the post-Crow arrangement are higher than they were expecting. The problem of long freight hauls is still with us, although it is masked at present by the prospect of higher grain returns.
When the golden spike was driven by the Canadian Pacific Railway to link Canada from sea to sea, the government’s objective was to maintain a country independent from the United States. Billions of dollars were spent establishing all-Canadian transportation routes to Britain, Europe and the Pacific Rim. We established an independent trading country more or less united from sea to sea.Then came the free-trade agreement and the push to establish a North American economy.
Now we have decided to explore the possibility of moving massive quantities of grain and other trade goods over U.S. carriers in competition with the huge transportation superstructure we as taxpayers have financed in Canada.
After all, we must strive for efficiency and efficiency means reducing our operating costs. Doesn’t it?
