Wheat Board Not Fond of Roundtable Line-up

A closed roundtable meeting announced by Chuck Strahl, minister responsible for the CWB, excludes the vast majority of western Canadian wheat and barley farmers, Ken Ritter, chair of the CWB's farmer-controlled board of directors, said today.

"This meeting is inappropriate in virtually every respect," said Ritter. "For a start, the agenda is skewed. To be laying out a course for a fundamental change in the way western Canadian farmers market their grain without farmers having decided that they actually want such a change is wrong.

"According to the Canadian Wheat Board Act," he continued, "decisions regarding the future of the CWB belong with western Canadian farmers and no-one else."

The act calls for a plebiscite of farmers directly affected by any significant change to CWB's marketing mandate before such a change is made.

The CWB, which markets wheat and barley on behalf of 85,000 western Canadian farmers, was not invited to the meeting, to take place in Saskatoon on July 27. Nor were other key farmer organizations representing the majority of farmers, such as the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, the National Farmers Union, the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and Alberta's Wild Rose Agricultural Producers.

According to the AAFC news release, invitees to the roundtable are those who "support the advancement of marketing choice for farmers".

"We have always maintained that what is touted as "marketing choice for farmers" would in fact remove from farmers the only realistic marketing choices that enable them to participate successfully in the global grain trade," said Ritter. "Ignoring this fact denies reality."

He added, "Meeting with a handful of like-minded groups who represent a minority of farmers to discuss a pre-determined outcome can't possibly constitute the widespread consultation the minister has always promised. As a farmer-controlled organization, we look forward to constructive dialogue involving the minister and the representatives of all affected farmers."

Controlled by western Canadian farmers, the CWB is the largest wheat and barley marketer in the world. As one of Canada's biggest exporters, the Winnipeg-based organization sells grain to more than 70 countries and returns all sales revenue, less the costs of marketing, to Prairie farmers.