04/04/07 Is CWB`s barley export monopoly over?

Farm and Ranch April 4, 2007 Canada's Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl plans to move ahead and end the Canadian Wheat Board"s monopoly over barley exports. This follows a government run grower plebiscite in which 62 percent of the western Canadian farmers who voted said they want the choice of either marketing through the Wheat Board or any other domestic or foreign buyer. Minister Strahl told this week's annual meeting of the Canadian Grain Council that he believes the government has the authority to provide this marketing choice by simply changing Wheat Board regulations. Strahl: "The Act itself is quite clear that we can make changes either by regulation or by legislation. I want to work with the Wheat Board to make that marketing choice happen for barley producers. I am asking them to respect the results of the plebiscite and the mandate given to government by barley producers." Canadian Wheat Board Chairman Ken Ritter says they believe the wording of the plebiscite ballot skewed the results and that ending the Board's barley monopoly can't be done as easily as the Ag Minister says. Ritter: "It is also the Board's position that if any change is made to the products the CWB markets, the government needs to change the Act through legislative change. You cannot change the CWB's mandate through a change in regulation." When pressed by reporters Ritter was not ready to say if the Wheat Board would pursue legal action to maintain its barley export monopoly. There is some difference of opinion in the U.S. barley industry as to whether ending the Wheat Board's monopoly would be a positive or negative for U.S. growers. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.