Wheat needs a champion

The Canadian Wheat Board is a champion for Prairie-grown wheat. By champion, I mean it represents you in the battle to sell your wheat in the global market. Regardless how you feel about the CWB, if it dies, you will need a “champion” to replace it. Here’s why:

I just read the 2007-08 annual report for U.S. Wheat Associates (USW), which was inserted in the October issue of Dakota Farmer magazine. The farmer-run organization uses farmer contributions and a great deal of funding from USDA to market U.S. wheat around the world. It is a champion for U.S. wheat growers. To prove my point, I selected these excerpts from the report:

“Mexico now imports about half of its wheat via rail. Recognizing that direct connections between buyers and sellers would help preempt competition from Canada, USW sponsored a Transportation and Logistics Seminar in Mexico City last November. Large Mexican wheat buyers and importers as well as executives from Mexico’s two principle railroads met over two days with U.S. wheat producers, country elevator operators and wheat commission representatives from five states.”

“The world is talking about transgenic wheat. The seeds of progress on development of transgenic wheat have taken root around the world…. USW and (the National Association of Wheat Growers) are working together to help build support for the inevitable introduction of transgenic wheat…. We are defending the environmental and social benefits of the technology, with the best interests of producers, handlers, millers, processors and consumers in mind.”

On the topic of durum wheat, the report states: “Another emerging opportunity is Japan’s increasing interest in contracting for U.S. durum as an alternative to unreliable Canadian supplies. USW is working with state wheat commissions to ensure Japan can fulfill this growing demand.”

This is what you’re up against when trying to sell your wheat into the global market. Where does USW gets it resources? It got $2.59 from the USDA for every $1 from producers in 2007-08. “This allowed wheat growers to invest only one-quarter of a penny per bushel to fund almost $15 million in foreign market development,” the report says.