Rail shippers look to legislation to address service issues

The federal process to negotiate service level agreements or a dispute settlement mechanism for railway customers didn’t deliver, but the exercise was still a success, according to Greg Cherewyk, executive director of Pulse Canada. That’s because it clearly demonstrates federal legislation is required to make it happen. “The Dinning process has done a great job



Our History: October 31, 1974

Crow Rate to end? This issue reported on a meeting of the Canada Grains Council, where Canadian Wheat Board Minister Otto Lang first proposed a review of the Crow Rate. Lang suggested that railways be allowed to charge commercial rates, but that farmers be directly compensated for the extra cost and that payments have to

Canada Working On Low-Level GM Presence Policy

Just a trace of an unapproved genetically modified (GM) plant can close borders costing grain traders and farmers millions in lost sales, something Canada knows all too well. In 2009 flax exports to the European Union (EU) were disrupted after they were found to contain low levels of CDC Triffid, a GM flax approved in


Phytosanitary Grain Rules Need Work

The international grain trade needs better phytosanitary rules and tolerances for low-level presence of genetically modified (GM) crops, says Dennis Stephens, a consultant contracted to co-ordinate the Canada Grains Council. “Zero thresholds are no longer obtainable,” Stephens told the council’s 42nd annual meeting in Winnipeg earlier this month. “We’ve reached a stage where we have

World Needs Modern Agricultural Technology

CropLife International executive director Denise Dewar promotes pesticides and genetically modified crops from her Washington, D.C. office, but as a young, idealistic student, she dreamed of saving the world from pesticides. “At that time I was being influenced by the environmentalists’ very negative anti-pesticides environment,” she told the Canada Grains Council’s annual meeting in Winnipeg


A Boost For Wheat Research

It’s nice to see headlines about the need for more investment into wheat research these days, even if some of the stories swirling around that topic are a mite confused. Last week started with news reports in mainstream dailies across Canada citing a leaked memo from the National Research Council and reporting that genetically modified

It’s Wet Across The West

Snow is still piled deep on Humphrey Banack’s Camrose, Alberta grain farm at a time when he’s usually tuning up his tractor for planting. The wettest fields before planting since the 1970s look to frustrate Canadian farmers’ zeal to sow their fields on time this spring and cash in on wheat and canola prices that


GM Wheat Is Coming –Eventually

The need to make more money growing wheat will see genetically modified varieties commercialized in seven to 10 years, according to a leading American wheat organization. “I think this is a matter of when we have GM wheat products in the market, and not so much an if at this point,” Vince Peterson, U.S. Wheat

Producer Cars Receiving Special Treatment, Farm Leader Charges

Producer cars and short line railways receive special treatment from the Canadian Wheat Board, according to the president of the Grain Growers of Canada. “Producer cars are not always profitable,” Doug Robertson told a symposium put on by his organization and the Canada Grains Council last month. “Sometimes certain agencies (CWB) make them profitable for