08/06/07 Canadian Wheat Board keeps barley export monopoly

Farm and Ranch August 6, 2007 In a plebiscite held earlier this year by the Canadian federal government, 62 percent of western Canadian farmers said they wanted the option to market their own barley rather than maintain the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on export barley sales. The Canadian government had intended to give farmers that marketing choice by August 1st but Ken Ritter, chairman of the Canadian Wheat Board, says a Canadian judge changed that with a court ruling last week. Ritter: "And what she said in her ruling was that the single desk for barley cannot be removed without parliamentary approval. I believe that affirms what we have been saying all along that farmers are in control of this organization and that if the government wants to change the mandate that the CWB has it has to flow through the appropriate process as set out in the CWB Act, which means consulting with the board of directors, a proper plebiscite and then legislation to go through the House of Commons." In a marketing year-end news conference Wheat Board President and CEO Greg Arason said the board's barley sales were impacted by the government's plans. Arason: "Pool volume projections had to be reduced because of market uncertainty while at the same time world barley markets were rising sharply. The result of this was we did lose some sales opportunities during the latter part of the year." The Canadian government can appeal the court decision. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.