SOWING FOR GRAIN BY Canadian National

SOME people would have you think that all the grain grown in Western Canada is captive to one railway or the other – to make that statement is misleading.

In fact, 100% of grain handling and processing facilities in Western Canada have access to more than one rail carrier. Before we cover that statement in depth, let’s look at the competitive landscape of the grain handling and processing business in Western Canada.

It all starts in a truck

Think of the grain handling network of the 1980s and you’ll think of a three-ton truck hauling six or seven tonnes of grain five or ten miles down the road to a wooden grain elevator. And that farmer’s grain typically went to a single grain handling company.

The three-ton truck has been replaced by the Super B hauling 40 metric tonnes of grain or more over much greater distances. The availability of larger truck capacity and the associated economies of scale have created options for grain producers. Farmers today have access to multiple grain companies served by different rail carriers. Almost 85% of the primary elevator system on the Prairies is within 50 miles (80 km) of a grain handling facility located on a different rail network or is served by more than one rail carrier. That gives farmers options they didn’t have in the 1980s.

This new system is the result of a lot of private investment. Investment in Prairie grain handling infrastructure really took off in the early 2010s with government’s elimination of the Canadian Wheat Board. Farmers invested in semi-trailer units and on-farm storage. Grain companies invested in high throughput elevators, many with loop track capable of spotting 150-plus