Opinion: Putting a price tag on the grain backlog

Opinion: Putting a price tag on the grain backlog

There’s demurrage and contract defaults, but the biggest cost is to Canada’s reputation

We’ll never know exactly how much this year’s grain backlog cost Western Canada’s grain industry, including farmers, but it will be in the millions of dollars. A bigger backlog in 2013-14 cost members of the Western Grain Elevator Association — Canada’s major grain companies — $90 million just in demurrage, contract extensions and defaults. That

Producer car loading at Darlingford, Man. Canadian Grain Commission statistics show producer car numbers 
have been declining. The National Farmers Union wants changes to protect and enhance producer cars.

NFU has plan to bolster producer cars

Producer cars are in decline and according to the National Farmers Union it is by design

What good is a statutory right to a producer car that can’t be loaded or unloaded? That’s the question former National Farmers Union (NFU) president Terry Boehm wants answered. It’s also why the NFU wants C-49, the Transportation Modernization Act, amended to protect and enhance farmers’ access to producer cars — rail cars farmers load


A former United Grain Growers elevator, believed to have been built around 1950 and considered a local landmark, was demolished at Birch River, Man. last week.

FALLING NUMBER: More wooden grain elevators bite the dust in Manitoba

Just 133 wooden country elevators remain in Manitoba, says a Manitoba 
historian who also estimates about 40 per cent of these are now abandoned

Rural Manitoba lost one more wooden grain elevator last week with the demolition of a United Grain Growers site at Birch River (above). The building was owned by the RM of Mountain which took possession of it in a tax sale after its private owner passed away. Equipment operators rolled in March 5 after council

Confusion over CN rail cars to Manitoba

Confusion over CN rail cars to Manitoba

CN delivered cars to Manitoba in Week 30, but they were back-ordered cars and not the cars ordered for Week 30

There’s confusion over how many rail cars CN Rail sent to Manitoba in shipping Week 30. According to one news report last week, CN sent no grain cars to Manitoba elevators in Week 30. The Ag Transport Coalition (ATC), which monitors grain shipping for a group of grain shippers and farm commodity groups, says CN

CN’s grain-shipping performance getting worse

CN’s grain-shipping performance getting worse

Grain companies and farmers are pushing the Senate to pass legislation to improve grain transportation

CN Rail’s grain-shipping performance started off poorly early in the crop year and is getting worse. So say grain companies and farmers, who add their complaints are backed by statistics. CN blames “bitter cold and heavy snowfall,” for its struggles, while shippers accuse CN of taking resources away from grain shipping to handle an unexpected


Annexes were built when more grain storage was needed than the elevator could provide. During the Second World War, numerous annexes were built across the Prairies to hold grain that could not be shipped to European markets. “Balloon annexes” were wooden frame structures, so named due to their tendency to balloon outward from the weight of grain inside. Here we see the Manitoba Pool elevator at Eden, in the RM of Rosedale, that had three balloon annexes when this photo was taken in the late 1940s. Built in 1928, the elevator closed in December 1977. Its railway line was abandoned in early 1981 and the tracks were removed. The elevator is no longer present at the site.

PHOTOS: This Old Elevator: January 2018

The Manitoba Historical Society wants to gather information about all the grain elevators in Manitoba

In the 1950s, there were over 700 grain elevators in Manitoba. Today, there are fewer than 200. You can help to preserve the legacy of these disappearing “Prairie sentinels.” The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) is gathering information about all elevators that ever stood in Manitoba, regardless of their present status. Collaborating with the Manitoba Co-operator it is

A 28,000-bushel grain elevator at Rossendale, 18 miles southwest of Portage la Prairie, was built in 1916 by the Grain Growers’ Grain Company, predecessor of United Grain Growers. Over the years, two annexes were built to increase its capacity, a 25,000-bushel balloon annex in 1951 (demolished around 1970) and a 30,000-bushel crib annex in 1954. Closed in 1975, the elevator was demolished three years later while the crib annex was moved to the Baker Hutterite Colony. Along the way, the annex had to be hauled up a 70-foot hill under muddy conditions. This photo was one of several taken by Eddie Maendel, now living at the Airport Hutterite Colony, who helped with the move. The annex is still in use.

PHOTOS: This Old Elevator: December 2017

The Manitoba Historical Society wants to gather information about all the grain elevators in Manitoba

In the 1950s, there were over 700 grain elevators in Manitoba. Today, there are fewer than 200. You can help to preserve the legacy of these disappearing “Prairie sentinels.” The Manitoba Historical Society (MHS) is gathering information about all elevators that ever stood in Manitoba, regardless of their present status. Collaborating with the Manitoba Co-operator it is

Grain shippers in between legislation as rail service declines

Grain shippers in between legislation as rail service declines

The Fair Rail for Farmers Act is dead and the Transportation Modernization Act hasn’t become law

With rail service not meeting grain company demands, fears about a gap in remedies to deal with it have come to pass, says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA). “What we predicted is exactly coming true,” Sobkowich said Dec. 14 in an interview. “We don’t have Bill C-49 (Transportation Modernization


A new elevator and retail site at Viking, Alta. is expected to complement Parrish and Heimbecker’s Dakota crop services centre at Sedgewick, shown here. (Parrishandheimbecker.com)

P+H plans new east-central Alberta elevator

Winnipeg grain and agrifood firm Parrish and Heimbecker is set to reinforce its recent arrival in the east-central Alberta retail market with a new grain elevator. Privately-held P+H announced Tuesday it will build a new 46,000-tonne capacity grain elevator and crop input centre at Viking, about 120 km southeast of Edmonton. The Viking site will

grain train canola field

CN car fulfilment dropped in weeks 11 and 12

However, the company says it is bringing more crews and power online to pick up the pace

CN Rail is still struggling to fulfil grain car orders in Western Canada, according to statistics collected by the Ag Transport Coalition (ATC). A CN spokesperson says the company is committed to meeting grain company needs. To that end CN has ramped up hiring and this quarter will add another 250 new crew members, Kate