Farmers should beware industry efforts to further erode the Canada Grain Act’s mandate to assure quality in the producer interest.

Opinion: Grain quality and the producer interest

The CGC’s historical role has slipped, and that’s a problem

The Canada Grain Act has a dual mandate: to regulate and safeguard the handling and quality of Canadian grain, and to do so in the interests of grain producers. Most farmers are aware of the Act’s provisions that defend their interests at primary elevators – independent arbitration of disputes and producer payment protection, for example

In 2022, the Canada Grain Act is all that’s left of farmers’ heroic historic efforts to build and codify grain producers’ rights in Canadian law.

Comment: Back to the future for grain regulation

Progressive Era origins of the Canada Grain Act are key to its future

Industry criticism of the Canada Grain Act (CGA) tends to portray the legislation as outdated and a bar to improved efficiency, which is grain company code for increased deregulation and privatization of Canada’s grain inspection system. While the CGA has proven an unreliable defence against reduced regulation, and private inspection has grown apace, accusations that


Screenshot from an Alberta Agriculture video profiling Innisfail-based pulse and grain handler W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions. (Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)

W.A. Grain’s farmer suppliers to get 80 cents on dollar

CGC program to provide $5.6 million of $7.1 million owed

Farmers owed $7.1 million by W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions, which had facilities in Alberta and Saskatchewan, will get $5.6 million, or about 80 per cent of the money owed to them, via the Canadian Grain Commission’s (CGC) Safeguards for Grain Farmers Program. “While we regret producers didn’t get 100 per cent (of what they

Producers can ask the Canadian Grain Commission to do a sample analysis when they disagree with an elevator but currently they have to be present when the sample was taken and must launch the dispute process at that time.

More flexibility proposed for CGC’s binding grade and dockage option

Current regulations for in-person, immediate requests no longer work in the age of the hired trucker

The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is proposing to give farmers more flexibility when it comes to disputing grades and dockage assigned by licensed primary elevators. Under Canada Grain Act regulations if farmers don’t agree with the grade and dockage the buyer assigns, the farmer can ask the CGC to determine it — a process referred

Producers can ask the Canadian Grain Commission to do a sample analysis when they disagree with an elevator — but currently they have to be present when the sample was taken and must launch the dispute process at that time. (CGC photo)

Farmers may get time to dispute grain grade, dockage

Canadian Grain Commission proposes extended time frame

Prairie farmers seeking more time to dispute a grain elevator’s call on their grain’s grade and dockage — whether they’re present at delivery or not — may soon get that time under a new proposal from the Canadian Grain Commission. The CGC on Monday opened up proposed regulatory amendments to an 11-week public consultation period


“It’s extremely important to hear from everyone — the producers, the grain handlers and the exporters and even our trading partners as well. We will want to consult with them. There’s a lot of data that we want to collect and analyze over and above the consultation as well.” – Marie-Claude Bibeau, Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister.

Canada Grain Act review completion months away

With talk of an early election, reforms could be thwarted as they were six years ago

Completion of the Canada Grain Act review, followed by legislation to amend it, are months away, Canada’s Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, said in an interview May 27. Some wonder if the process will have been all for naught, given talk of an election. While one isn’t scheduled until Oct. 16, 2023, pundits speculate Prime Minister

canadian grain commission

Editor’s Take: Coming and going

Farmers and the grain trade may have many common interests, but they are not perfectly aligned

What’s the right amount of oversight in Canada’s grain quality assurance system? That’s the fundamental question at the heart of an ongoing review of the Canadian Grain Commission and Canada Grain Act. As our Allan Dawson reports, many in the grain trade want to see the regulatory burden lighten. The Western Grain Elevator Association, which

cgc

KAP recommends keeping grain commission’s mandate

It also wants to maintain CGC's role in in outward inspection and ensuring the quality of Canadian grain exports

The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) should continue “to operate in the best interests of producers and Canadian grain industry an an independent third party to establish grain grades and standards.” That’s one of 17 recommendations Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) makes in its submission to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), which is seeking views on changes


The Canadian Grain Commission building on Main Street in Winnipeg. (File photo)

Virtual town hall on federal Grain Act set for Friday

Time is running out on consultations, but the April 23 event gives farmers a chance to provide input

The deadline for submitting comments to the federal government’s review of the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is April 30, but farmers can also offer feedback at a ‘virtual’ town hall meeting this Friday. The Grain Act and its regulations provide the framework for Canada’s grain quality assurance system and it’s the

“The grain companies have never wanted the CGC. They would much prefer a situation wherein they can make all the rules themselves... “ Stewart Wells, NFU.

Grain act, grain commission review revived

The ongoing examination is sure to reveal fractures and differing interests

Two pillars of Canada’s $26-billion grain industry are again under review — a process reviving long-standing divisions between some farmers and grain companies over grain industry regulations. The Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission which administers it, deal with grain buyer licensing, grade standards, grading disputes, quality control and producer payment protection. Some submissions