June 9, 2011 - The Western Producer

Page 1

THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2011

VOL. 89 | NO. 23 | $3.75

SILAGE CUTS COSTS |

SERVING WESTERN CANADIAN FARM FAMILIES SINCE 1923

|

FEED GRAIN ALTERNATIVE

P20

WWW.PRODUCER.COM

FAMILY TAKES LEAP INTO VEGETABLE BUSINESS

Lyndon Coté jumps over a freshly planted raised bed of sweet corn. He’s sprinting with a tray of seedlings to supply the water wheel transplanter. This is the first crop for Tierra Del Sol — Land of the Sun — a family run business near Saskatoon. See page 75. | WILLIAM DEKAY PHOTO

MONOPOLY END | RIOT ACT

Pulse markets feel tremors from plan to end monopoly

Ritz issues orders to CWB Aug. 1, 2012 | Ag minister tells board “status quo is not an option” BY BARRY WILSON

BY SEAN PRATT

OTTAWA BUREAU

SASKATOON NEWSROOM

The pulse industry will have to compete harder to maintain grower interest after the Canadian Wheat Board loses its export monopoly, says an industry analyst. Stat Publishing editor Brian Clancey said Australia is a good example of what happens when a wheat monopoly loses its powers. Wheat acreage jumped in that country after the Australian Wheat Board lost its single desk authority in 1999. access=subscriber section=news,markets,none

SEE PULSES FEEL TREMORS, PAGE 2

»

Agriculture minister Gerry Ritz paid his first visit to Canadian Wheat Board head office last week to meet the board and in an estimated 22 minutes, essentially read the riot act. He told board members the single desk monopoly will end in less than 14 months and if they want to see the CWB receive the tools needed to have a fighting chance of surviving in the grain market, they should cooperate with the Conservative government to help design the postmonopoly legislation.

GERRY RITZ FEDERAL AGRICULTURE MINISTER

After summer consultations, legislation will be written and tabled in Parliament when it begins to sit again in September. “The ball is in their court,” Ritz said June 1. “Two things they need to come to grips with — Aug. 1, 2012 is the date and the status quo is not an option.”

He said he asked the board to work with the government to advise on what is needed “as they develop and reform into a new generation co-op, brokerage, selling shares, however they want to do it. We’re here to help them transition.” CWB chair Allen Oberg said in a June 6 interview Ritz used the meeting to make clear legislation is coming and that there will be no farmer vote, “which I think is a huge mistake.” He said the board will not negotiate new legislation with the government but will lay out what it believes a reformed voluntary CWB would need. access=subscriber section=news,none,none

SEE RITZ ISSUES ORDERS, PAGE 2

IF YOUR PRODUCER IS DELAYED BY A POSTAL DISRUPTION, SEE PAGES 72,73.

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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv-:. JUNE 9, 2011 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 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

CWB END | PULSE CROPS


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