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.