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District 8 cwb meeting

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    District 8 cwb meeting

    At the meeting in Weyburn, Art Manil asked for a show of hands of those in favor of dual marketing. 75% of the 75 in attendance stood up.

    Following is gleaned from The Weyburn Review:

    Candidates do battle over CWB single desk
    By GREG NIKKEL of the Weyburn Review


    The five candidates running to be elected as a director for the Canadian Wheat Board in District 8 battled it out for voters at the candidates forum held at the Weyburn Legion Hall on Monday evening, with candidates lining up on either side of the issue of the CWB's single desk monopoly.

    Incumbent Rod Flaman was challenged on his change of position in the last election held in 2000, and supported the single desk monopoly along with candidates Terry Hanson and Paul Beingessner.

    On the opposite side of the issue, candidates Art Mainil and Ron Saal argued for a voluntary and competitive wheat board, saying there is no justification for keeping western farmers under the CWB's thumb for milling wheat, durum and malting barley.

    The forum was attended by about 75 producers, more than double the number who attended the first candidates' forum held Nov. 10 in Regina. Electors now have until Dec. 3 to have their ballots postmarked, and the results will be announced on Dec. 12.

    During the question-and-answer part of the forum, Flaman was asked why he didn't step down and run for re-election after he changed his initial position, which was in support of dual marketing, supported by two-thirds of the voters.

    Flaman responded that he would not find fault with someone who changed his position based on the "different set of facts" he found before him as a director than what he had before him during the election, in which he defeated Terry Hanson.

    "I thought dual marketing was the problem, but the numbers I saw prove that we do get a premium price for our grain. It wasn't the single desk, it was the pooling system that was the problem," he said, adding the new pricing options introduced in the last few years are part of the solution, but don't go far enough in his estimation.

    Another question noted that value-added is touted as vital for the agricultural sector to grow and prosper, but yet the CWB will not grant the exemptions necessary for producers to take part in the Prairie Pasta bid to be shareholders in the Dakota Growers pasta plant in North Dakota.

    Hanson said his understanding is that the Dakota Growers plant doesn't qualify under the new generation co-operative rules because the plant is located in the U.S. rather than Canada.

    "I don't believe you can pick and choose who you give exemptions to," he added.

    Flaman said since free trade the milling capacity in western Canada has been growing quickly, even faster than eastern Canada, but added that for a pasta plant to survive in the Weyburn area, it would have to be subsidized, which would then be challenged under international trade rules.

    "The margins are so slim, there are companies going bankrupt. It's not the kind of industry where you want to have speculative investments," said Flaman.

    "I don't think it's anybody's business but the investors. The CWB is the federal government. They're the ones who protect the eastern pasta plants, but in western Canada they have to buy it back from the CWB," said Art Mainil, asking where the premiums are, promised to farmers by the CWB for maintaining their monopoly.

    "I don't think they thought there was a need for an inland terminal in Weyburn 20 years ago either. WIT was ahead of their time," commented candidate Ron Saal.

    The consultant for Prairie Pasta states on their own web site that a pasta plant would not be viable here in Canada, said candidate Paul Beingessner.

    A written question asked if farmers are receiving a premium for their grain, why they pay good money for wheat board staff members to sell at low prices "when we could sell it at a loss ourselves," earning applause from the audience.

    Saal responded this is why farmers need a voluntary wheat board, pointing out he makes good money on pulse crop and oilseeds but not on board grains.

    Beingessner said in his area around Truax, a lot of producers have made a good living growing durum.

    Hanson said when he began farming in 1962, he began growing quite a bit of flax and pulses, but in a year like this one it hasn't worked out, noting one 800-acre field of flax was a write-off as there was no yield this year.

    "To compare one marketing system against another doesn't cut it," added Hanson, saying other factors like growing conditions and farming techniques have to be considered as well.

    Flaman said it's unfortunate that wheat is heavily subsidized by other countries, making it difficult for Canadian farmers to compete, and noted there is "heavy volatility" in the pricing for non-board grains.

    "It all boils down to management," said Mainil, noting the CWB forces farmers in to A contracts if they want to sell their durum, but then the board turns around and says they won't take all of it.

    "This is not marketing, this is stupidity," he added.

    Another written query asked how the CWB can justify its buy-back requirement for organic wheat when the CWB doesn't compete in that market to begin with, and the U.S. imposes a 14 per cent tariff on top of that, further reducing any return to the farmer selling it.

    Beingessner noted the CWB has to ensure that farmers aren't just trying to get around the pooling system, and that organic producers have to be certified. He agreed that organic growers should have more latitude than is given by the CWB.

    Hanson said the problem lies in the certification process for organic producers, and noted this needs to be sorted out before the CWB can allow exemptions for organically grain.

    Flaman said he made a motion a few years for organic producers to be given a break, and said with the 14 per cent U.S. tariff, wheat growers should be given the open door to sell into the U.S. "and really piss them off. Since we're not making sales down there any way, let's open it up."

    Mainil said organic grain is an area that the CWB has no expertise in and are only "fouling things up."

    Saal agreed, saying the CWB is not interested in niche markets, so organic farmers should be left to sell on their own to whoever they want.

    Farmer Barry Farr of Lewvan questioned the board where the money in the pooling system is going, and said, "Every one of us here is getting ****d. I want to know where the money is. We're short money."

    Hanson replied that Canadian wheat sold in the U.S. does get a premium, it's just that up to 80 per cent of the income received by American farmers is subsidy.

    "I like the pooling process, we've got to share in the gains and the losses. You've got to take the good with the bad. The pooling process has worked for the benefit of most farmers," he said.

    "I think you've hit it right on the head. It's the pooling system. I'd like to look at different ways of restructuring pooling so we can pick and choose to a certain extent," said Flaman, adding, "There's high prices and low prices. You pool them all in one basket. It all gets lumped together. Everybody gets the average and I don't think it has to be like that."

    One producer noted that the CWB actually had dual marketing until 1943, and that it was working, so it should be able to work now.

    "It's really interesting listening to these three socialists. They talk about options one minute. If they worked as they suggest, where's that money coming from? Does someone have an explanation?" replied Mainil.

    Hanson said his understanding is that the dual marketing system didn't work that well, and pointed out the pricing options developed by the CWB don't affect the pool accounts.





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    The Weyburn Review
    Box 400, 904 East Avenue
    Weyburn, SK
    S4H 2K4
    Phone: (306) 842-7487
    Fax: (306) 842-0282
    E-mail: production@weyburnreview.com

    This web page and its contents are copyright of the Weyburn Review (1987) Ltd.
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