THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011
VOL. 89 | NO. 22 | $3.75
CROP REPORTS | P5, 24-25
SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923
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AND THE WHITE STUFF KEEPS FALLING
Manitoba reveals flood compensation program details
The end is near What’s next | How will the Canadian Wheat Board operate when the single desk is gone?
Government praised for holding consultations first BY ED WHITE W INNIPEG BUREAU
Manitoba farm groups think the provincial government’s flood compensation program will work, if it’s done right. “The general approach is certainly accepted … but the length of time (the flooding lasts) is going to play a huge factor on how beneficial it is,” said Jay Fox, president of the Manitoba Cattle Producers Association. “If lake levels stay high for 12 months, there are going to be longterm effects on the land.” Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agr icultural Producers, praised the provincial government for talking to producer groups before putting together the compensation package. “There was a lot of back and forth,” said Chorney.
BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
When Brian Hayward was chief executive officer of Agricore United, his board would sometimes discuss the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board’s export monopoly. Directors favoured a dual market for wheat and barley, but Hayward would issue a note of caution whenever the topic surfaced. “I’ve said it more than once, be careful what you ask for because you may get it. The devil is in the details.” Hayward said the same message holds true today in the wake of the C o n s e r v a t i v e g o v e r n m e n t ’s announcement that it intends to end the single desk in time for the start of the 2012-13 crop year. How the government handles the dismantling of the board’s monopoly will reverberate in the grain industry for years to come. Hayward said in the past, he would explain to the Agricore United board that the monopoly is worth something and Ottawa would need to compensate the CWB if it was eliminated. Agricore United and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool later merged to form Viterra. Hayward said the wheat board would need assets to secure a line of credit from the bank to pay farmers for their grain and for margin calls when it hedged grain on futures markets. “Does it get … a bag of money on Day 1 so it actually has some capital?” he said. One of the hypothetical numbers tossed around at that time was a severance package worth $2 billion, enough money to seriously disrupt the dynamics of the western Canadian grain industry. “What if they start building elevators and overbuilding elevators?” said Hayward.
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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv-:# JUNE 2, 2011 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4
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SEE NEW SCENARIOS, PAGE 2
RISING WATERS | COMPENSATION
Rob Knight yells over the noise of the auger to let Doug Van Verdegem know his truck is nearly full while loading urea on the Van Verdegem farm northwest of Strathmore, Alta. | KEVIN LINK PHOTO
IN THE EVENT OF A POSTAL DISRUPTION, WE HAVE A PLAN. SEE PAGES 72,73.
The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Inc. Publisher, Larry Hertz Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240; Registration No. 10676
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