Two Alberta agriculture groups are voicing their displeasure over a decision by the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) to spend part of a $130 million surplus accumulated over recent years on programs and services.
The CGC announced a plan this week to invest $90 million in “strategic investments” they said “will deliver clear benefits to producers and add value to the grain sector into the future,” according to the group’s website. The remaining $40 million is being set aside to protect against potential future declines in the volume of grain delivery.
The commission plans to spend the investment in a number of areas, including grain quality science and innovation. Tom Steve, however, the general manager of the Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley, said the money should be returned to farmers in the form of lowering their inspection fees, in an effort to reduce costs and increase profitability.
“The CGC chose to ignore that recommendation,” Steve said in an interview Saturday on Global News Morning.
“We have an issue with them now taking that $90 million and spending it on programming and expanding their services.”
The CGC indicated that they considered using the money to offer a temporary fee reduction, but some stakeholders were not in favour of the move and the commission ultimately decided it would be best to use the $90 million on programming. Steve countered by saying the majority of groups supported the reduction.
“There were some that definitely were interested in investing in new service offerings and I think it’s a balancing act,” Steve said.
“Our issue is that they’ve decided to take the entire $90 million and spend it on new programming, which they have yet to specify.”
The commission’s surplus was built up over the past five years and is due to fee calculations that were based on their expected level of grain delivery volumes. The volumes proved to be higher than predicted, resulting in the surplus.
Steve said he now plans to engage with Canada’s minster of agriculture and agri-food minister, Lawrence MacAulay. He plans to argue that there is still “a strong case to be made to simply lower the fees over a period of time, rather than spending on unspecified programs.”
“When farmers are profitable it drives the economy,” Steve said, “particularly in rural Alberta.”
“We believe that the lower the cost to the farmer, the more profitable they are.”
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