FCWB launches $17-billion class-action lawsuit

The wheat board’s single desk must stay or western farmers should get $17 billion in compensation for its loss, says a class-action lawsuit launched Feb. 15 against the federal government by four farmers with the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board (FCWB). It’s the latest salvo in the fight against the Marketing Freedom for Grain

Crops Briefs, Feb. 23

Farmers favouring corn over wheat kiev / reuters / Ukraine is likely to bring in a grain harvest of 45 million tonnes in 2012 — its fourth largest in 20 years — despite a severe drought and cold snap which has hit winter grain crops. “This year’s harvest could total 45 million tonnes thanks to


China trip boosts food industry

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trade mission to China seems to have opened doors for major Canadian agri-food exporters. Now they’ll have to translate those agreements into orders. The beef, pork, pulse and canola sectors all received special attention during the visit and the Canadian Wheat Board got to remind everyone it isn’t going out of

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


It’s today’s price, not the future price

Stirling Moss, a famous racing driver of the 1950s, once said that the male of the human species will admit to not being good at just about anything except being a good driver or a good lover. If we are talking about some of the grain farmer subspecies, we might add a third skill, that

Checks and balances needed, post-CWB

With the end of single-desk grain marketing in sight, producers and farm organizations are focusing on filling in the gaps and supporting a stable transition to an open market. “There are more questions than answers,” said Don Dewar, chairman of an ad hoc Keystone Agricultural Producers committee looking at issues grain producers will face in


Class action against railways considered

Aproposed class-action suit against Canada’s two major railways over grain freight rates was due Feb. 1 in a Calgary courtroom, where it will be decided whether the suit can proceed on all Prairie farmers’ behalf. In a letter to potential “class” members, Regina lawyer Tony Merchant said the certification hearing in Alberta Court of Queen’s



Letters — for Feb. 2, 2012

Are court cases really baseless Mr. Ritz? It was really quite funny to watch the minister of agriculture strut around in front of his flock at the recent Western Canadian Wheat Growers conference. He used his bully pulpit to call the recent court cases, against his government implementing legislation dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board’s

Our history, Feb. 2

Our Feb. 6, 1975 issue covered concerns that a recent grain price boom was softening, following reports that the Soviet Union and China had cancelled wheat and corn purchases from the U.S. The Canadian Wheat Board announced contracting programs for some new varieties, including Glenlea wheat, Wakooma durum, Beacon barley and Klages barley. The House