Canada: Canadian Wheat Board officials deny accusations by agriculture minister on barley program

Officials with the Canadian Wheat Board are denying accusations by the federal agriculture minister that they're not listening to producers or the industry after introducing a new program on barley marketing, Canadian Press reported January 17.

In a bluntly worded news release issued Thursday, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz called on the board to join a meeting of producers and industry officials in Ottawa Jan. 29, saying there's a "major gap" between what producers and the industry want and where the board is going with its new program.

"It's high time the CWB stops fighting with producers and gets in a room with them to start hammering out real options for marketing choice," said the minister in the release.

Ritz said that the board is forcing the program on the industry by refusing to sell new crop malting barley to maltsters until they sign onto the new program.

The board unveiled the new pricing program earlier this month. It offers malting barley producers a guaranteed, up-front price based on the cash spot market. Farmers would be allowed to negotiate additional terms with grain-handling companies and would also continue to have the traditional option of pool sales, where the price doesn't fluctuate as frequently.

Some grain companies panned the program, saying it could give farmers a lower initial payment and could convince producers to switch crops - which would reduce supply.

Deanna Allen, a spokeswoman for the wheat board, called the tone of Ritz's news release "baffling."

She said Greg Arason, the president and CEO of the board, had already agreed to the meeting in Ottawa before the minister's office issued the statement.

"(It) infers that we're stonewalling, and then also (makes) lavish accusations about us not consulting, not listening and that we are overriding the views of producers," she said in an interview from Winnipeg. "It's just factually incorrect."

Allen said there's no "gap" between producers and the Canadian Wheat Board on the CashPlus option.

"We've met with large groups of farmers in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta just since the beginning of January. Our experience has been that all those farmers want to know more about this program and how it could fit into their operations."

Allen insisted that reaction to the program has been mainly positive, not negative.

"The minister is taking counsel from the Western Barley Growers (Association), who want the wheat board out of barley completely," she said.

Allen suggested the association does not represent the majority of the country's approximately 12,000 barley producers.

She said the program was developed after uncertainty developed in the marketplace last year, as the government moved to end the board's barley marketing monopoly.

Allen said industry players demanded a system that would ensure barley supplies so they could meet their sales commitments, and the board has been told the CashPlus program meets those operational requirements.

She said the timing of the meeting in Ottawa is "curious" given that the agency's board of directors is slated to meet in Winnipeg Jan. 30 - one day after the sit-down in the nation's capital.

"I can only assume that by putting this meeting the day before this planning session that he's looking to influence how that planning session might take place," Allen said.

She said she expects Ritz may be sending a message to the board about a federal government proposal to develop a deregulated North American barley marketing system - an idea she said board officials have promised to consider at the meeting in Winnipeg later this month.

18 January, 2008