Canadian Wheat now cheapest in the world

This just in from the Reuters news agency out of Hamburg, Germany: Canadian wheat is now the cheapest in the world. How times change! With the single-desk Canadian Wheat Board farmers sold directly to overseas markets and got premium prices because of reliability of supply, honesty, and guaranteeing the highest quality grain in the world.

Thanks to Ottawa that is all gone now and Canadian sourced wheat is being sold into the Middle East for less than even wheat from nearby Russia.

This comes as no surprise to western farmers, the majority of who supported keeping the farmer-controlled single-desk.

In a related story, three weeks ago an Alberta farmer with durum wheat to sell went to his local foreign-owned elevator and was offered a mere seven dollars and change per bushel. Quite a letdown from prices that were usually more than double that with the farmer-run Wheat Board.

When he said he would wait, the elevator operator said they also had US pricing for durum which would give him twelve dollars a bushel. Not near the Wheat Board pool prices for durum but better.

Of course we know that for the first time in memory durum wheat prices are now higher in the US than in Canada and have been since Minister Ritz announced he was killing the Wheat Board.

For those who were paying attention, we have a very objective source on durum prices. Some years ago the International Trade Commission conducted an inquiry to see if the farmer-controlled Wheat Board was dumping durum wheat into the US.

The inquiry was conducted under international law like a court case. The Wheat Board sales staff were put under oath and cross examined. CWB and private trade sales in the US and from the CWB were subpoenaed and compared along with cross examination by lawyers and experts that cost almost as much per hour as a new combine.

The conclusion by the International Trade Commission was that in the five years of sales they examined the single-desk Wheat Board got premium prices for durum wheat compared to US prices in 59 out of 60 months. In the following years these findings were confirmed by three other similar tribunals.

Thanks to Minister Ritz and his tiny group of core supporters, Canadian hard red spring wheat delivered into the Middle East is now the cheapest in the world. Of course it is not really Canadian wheat any more. Ownership now changes hands to foreign corporations as soon as the Canadian farmer dumps it at the elevator – the companies get the profits by giving farmers lower prices. Thanks Minister Ritz!

Original Article
Source: cwbafacts.ca/
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