Canadian Farmers Vote to Keep Monopoly!
Canadian wheat and barley farmers have a unique way of marketing their grain. Unlike the US where each farmer can determine their price each day by calling the elevator, the local ethanol plant and looking it up on the Internet, Canadian farmers belong to the Canadian Wheat Board which is a monopoly for these farmers.
Canadian farmers currently market all of their wheat and barley through this organization. Federal Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz has proposed eliminating this monopoly as early as next August. This did not go over well with the farmers who have now voted 62% in favor of keeping the monopoly. However, Mr. Ritz indicates this is simply a survey of farmers and is not binding on his decision.
This is headed to court and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Having a monopoly in the US would make things easier for marketing your grain, but it seems almost “Unamerican” to me.
Here is an article from CBCNews outlining the vote and the issue.
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
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