The Rural Voice, 1990-12, Page 14Copper
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1
10 THE RURAL VOICE
CHANGES AT THE
CANADIAN WHEAT
BOARD
Robert Mercer is editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter, a weekly
commodity and policy advisory letter
from Markham, Ontario, L3P 3A9.
The world grain marketing system
is being shaken up by trends that sug-
gest there should be a more market-
oriented system in place. GATT is
working towards that end. The U.S./
Canada Free Trade Agreement is
trying to make trade more market
responsive, and the new U.S. Farm
Bill has been developed in a way that
will allow farmers more flexibility in
their choices under crop support
programs.
Regarding the Canadian Wheat
Board, a review panel has suggested
some significant changes to the
operations and management. It's also
time for an in-depth review of the
operations of the Ontario Wheat
Producers' Marketing Board. Times,
marketing, trade patterns, and condi-
tions of sale are changing faster than
ever and lost sales mean lost dollars.
The operations of the two boards are
different, but producers with interest
in the operations of the OWPMB
should review the changes recomm-
ended for the CWB and see where
there is room for improvement in the
costs of operation as well as the way
of doing business.
The changes for the CWB were
proposed when the current Chief
Commissioner, Esmond Jarvis,
resigned after being with the CWB
since 1977, to take the position of
Canada's High Commissioner to New
Zealand. Then, about a week before
the official release of the CWB
Review Panel Report, the federal
Minister for Grains and Oilseeds,
Charlie Mayer,appointed Lorne Hehn
as the new Chief Commissioner. Hehn
at the time was president of The
United Grain Growers Ltd., which is a
large prairie grain handling co-
operative with very strong ties to the
open market concept for trading. It is
said that the UGG was behind an
unpopular move to have the marketing
of oats taken from the CWB and
returned to the trade. There are five
commissioners with the CWB. Three
of these would appear to be aligned
with the Minister for Grains and
Oilseeds. Most of the previous
appointees were made by former
Liberal governments.
The Review Panel Report released
on October 11 recommended that from
an operational point of view, the CWB
should operate similar to a grain
company. This includes using U.S.
futures markets in its sales program.
Regarding management, the panel
advised that the board of five
commissioners which currently
administer the CWB be replaced by a
part-time board of directors. The
board would hire a full-time president
and chief executive officer to attend to
the day-to-day operation of the board.
A majority serving on the board of
directors would be farmers and the
remainder would be appointed by the
government and business sectors to fill
needed areas of expertise.
The panel also advised that
structural change is necessary because
the board should be more accountable
to farmers.
In the area of marketing, the
review panel offered several ideas that
would make the CWB more flexible
and responsive in its marketing
approach. It recommended the board
allow customers to have a choice to
purchase on the basis of their
individual selection criteria rather than
the usual official grades used by the
board — upon customer requests.
On the tricky issue of marketing in
the U.S., the review panel
recommended that the CWB's
monopoly in the market remain. It
added that the board needs to offer a
more innovative marketing approach
to U.S. customers to ensure that niche
markets are not overlooked. These
innovations include off -farm sales of
contracted grain to American buyers,
1