Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said Monday he is confident the Canadian Wheat Board will strike agreements with grain handlers to allow it to start buying farmers’ 2012 crops for future delivery. A new federal law will strip the board’s marketing monopoly for Prairie wheat and barley as of Aug. 1. The Wheat Board plans to […] Read more
Ritz sees CWB gaining grain handling deals
CWB aims to expand sales to China
The Canadian Wheat Board is aiming to expand the types of crops it sells to Chinese buyers, as Ottawa opens Western Canada’s grain market later this year, the board’s chief executive said Friday. In August, the CWB is set to lose its monopoly to buy and sell Western Canada’s wheat and barley for export or […] Read more
Canada cattle herd to shrink despite trade wins
Canada’s cattle herd should keep shrinking for several years, making it tough for the No. 3 beef exporter to capitalize fully on new overseas opportunities, the head of the country’s new beef industry group said. The Canadian herd fell to an 18-year low of 13.87 million head midway through last year, even as Chicago live […] Read more
Port group to close as CWB monopoly ends
The 103-year-old organization that co-ordinates shipments through Canada’s two biggest grain-shipping ports is winding down, saying it may not be needed once the Canadian Wheat Board loses its monopoly. The Winnipeg-based Canadian Ports Clearance Association (CPCA) will cease operations this summer on Aug. 31, one month after the Wheat Board loses control over western Canada’s […] Read more
Judge reserves decision on CWB directors’ request
Suspending a new law that ended the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly would sow confusion in Western Canada’s grain industry, lawyers for the federal government said in court on Wednesday in a hearing on a plea from eight former directors. The onetime CWB directors, Prairie farmers ousted when the bill to revamp the CWB became law […] Read more
Case underway: Farmers ask judge to suspend CWB law
A Manitoba judge questioned on Tuesday whether he, and not another court, should rule on whether to suspend a law that will end the Canadian Wheat Board’s grain monopoly. The case, brought by eight farmers who were directors of the board until Ottawa took control last month, is one of the final attempts to save […] Read more
Dry winter on Prairies a worry for cattle, winter wheat
Canada’s Prairie farm belt is the driest it has been in five years, raising concerns for cattle and winter cereals in a region that has been recently more prone to floods. Large pockets of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have received less than 40 per cent of normal precipitation during the past three months, especially northwestern […] Read more
CWB 2.0 backs out of directors’ court challenge
A court challenge of the new law ending the Canadian Wheat Board’s marketing monopoly proceeded in a Manitoba court on Friday, while the government insisted it was full steam ahead on its market-opening plans, and grain handler Viterra began offering forward contracts. Eight now-former farmer directors of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), who had launched […] Read more
Supply management on table in EU talks, negotiator says
Canada is willing to talk about its protected farm industries in free trade negotiations with the European Union, but its goal is to keep its protectionist mechanism, supply management, in place, the country’s chief agriculture negotiator said Wednesday. The Conservative government, sensitive to sentiment in vote-rich Eastern Canada, has long said it will maintain supply-management […] Read more
Cargill considering a 2012 Prairie wheat pool
Cargill may run a pool for western Canadian farmers’ spring wheat in 2012 and will also be ready to offer farmers forward price contracts for their grains in an open market, the president of the company’s Canadian division said on Thursday. If a government bill to strip the Canadian Wheat Board of its monopoly as […] Read more
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