Canadian Wheat Board: More Bad News
Following on the heels of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in April to not hear a class action lawsuit on the dismantling of Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), federal Minister of Agriculture, Gerry Ritz, announced that the assets of the CWB are being handed over to the G3 Global Grain Group, a joint -venture between Bunge Ltd and a subsidiary of the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Co. In exchange for the considerable physical assets of the Canadian Wheat Board paid for by Canadian farmers over its 70-year history, along with the market network and access of the CWB, G3 commits to investing $250 million in the company.
This is the final step in the Harper government’s agenda to wrest control from farmers of the marketing of their grains and hand it over to the private sector. NFU Board member Doug Scott, reflects on the impact on farmers when they are no longer in control of a single desk marketer of their product: “With the CWB we got close to 100% of the full world price of grain, and sometimes more. Today, we are getting 60% if we are lucky, and economists predict that will keep going down as grain companies and railways flex their muscle.” (from NFU News release, 10 April 2015)
Bunge Ltd is one of the world’s four largest grain handlers while the Saudi’s Investment Company was set up specifically to secure food supplies for its citizens.
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