Choose your middleman carefully

“Shop it around.” “Read the fine print.” “Work with companies you trust.” “Don’t try doing this without professional help.” The advice is flying thick and fast as farmers try to wrap their heads around the prospect of selling their wheat, durum and malt barley on the open market for the first time since their great-grandfathers

Forecast calls for record canola acres, output

Canola futures on the ICE Futures Canada trading platform were mixed during the week ended Jan. 20, with the nearby months seeing small gains while the deferred values were slightly weaker. A continued strong export lineup at Canada’s West Coast, along with strong domestic demand from the processing sector, helped to generate some of the


Judge delays decision on CWB

Suspending a new law that ended the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly would sow confusion in Western Canada’s grain industry, lawyers for the federal government said in court Jan. 18 in a hearing on a plea from eight former directors. The one time CWB directors, Prairie farmers ousted when the bill to revamp the CWB became

New ICE Canada grain contracts off to slow start

Traders took a cautious approach to new IntercontinentalExchange grain futures and options contracts introduced Jan. 23 as the exchange looked to capitalize on the approaching end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly. ICE Futures Canada, based in Winnipeg, launched new milling wheat, durum and barley contracts for delivery in October and later, after the wheat



Co-operating with its competitors

Attendance was down at the annual Canadian Wheat Board breakfast at Ag Days this year, but the farmers who came were encouraged by what they heard. “That just made my day. Now we have a choice,” said Jake Hofer, a wheat producer from Treesbank Colony after listening to a presentation by Gord Flaten, the board’s


New twist in wheat board legal battle

The battle over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board has moved off the farm, out of the parliamentary chambers and into the courts. Two new court actions were launched early in the new year, including a class-action lawsuit claiming $15.4 billion is owed to farmers upon the dismantling of Canadian Wheat Board assets. “The



CWB final payments for 2010-11

The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) has issued final payments to farmers for the wheat, durum wheat and barley they delivered to the CWB pools during the 2010-11 crop year. These payments represent the balance of the money owing to farmers after their grain has been marketed through the CWB pools, and after operating costs have

CTA issues revenue cap report

Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) exceeded what it’s allowed to earn hauling western Canadian grain to port by $1.25 million last crop year (2010-11), while Canadian National (CN), was $913,447 under. The results didn’t surprise Ian McCreary, a former Canadian Wheat Board elected director and farmer at Bladworth, Sask. “Rail competition just isn’t there,” he said