Mixed reviews one year after the CWB monopoly ended

REGINA – One year after the federal government eliminated the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly, farmers on both sides of the fight are still at odds over whether it was the right move.

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was on a farm near Pense, Saskatchewan on Thursday to mark the anniversary. He told the supporters gathered that farmers themselves are showing the decision was the right move.

“There’s about 2-million more acres, roughly, of wheat being seeded in western Canada than there has been historically,” Ritz said.

Among the farmers that have added wheat back into the rotation is Levi Wood, whose farm hosted Ritz.

“Just being able to run your own business,” said Wood, who also serves as the President of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, a group that lobbied against the single desk. “Having wheat as a cash crop allows us to better manage our farm and make decisions based on our needs when we need to sell, and not necessarily when we’re told to sell.”

For supporters of the Canadian Wheat Board, the battle is far from done. A $17-billion class action lawsuit is still before the Supreme Court of Canada.

“Farmers are a resilient people,” said Matt Gehl, a member of the Canadian Wheat Board Alliance. “When they get beaten down by the market they have a tendency to come together like they did 100 years ago to build these institutions up.”

Gehl believes farmers are losing premiums for high protein wheat, and that relationships with trading partners in China and Japan have taken a hit.

“We had a large corporation effectively working on our behalf, giving all the profits back to us,” Gehl added. “Now, we’ve got large, very, very large corporations that are out to make their money off of us.”

Ritz says it’s simply untrue that trading relationships have been harmed, pointing to an increase in sales to both Japan and China. And as far as premiums are concerned, if farmers have a concern with an offer for their grain, they are now free to go elsewhere.

“At the end of the day a farmer has the right to say no, I’m going to go down the line. There is competition still out there, including the CWB that’s still there.”