Fred Grieg spent time with end users in five countries last month
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Reston, Man. grain farmer spent most of November discussing Western Canadian production with millers and bakers in South America.
Fred Greig, the chair of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association, traveled to Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Chile as part of the New Crop Mission with Cereals Canada and the Canadian International Grains Institute.
The trade missions help build relationships with customers and teach them how Canadian farmers produce quality products.
“You always assume that everyone knows what you’re doing, but I was quite surprised at how engaged the millers, bakers and others were to hear what I had to say,” Greig told Farms.com. “I talked a lot about how we use no till to reduce erosion and how we’ve increased organic matter in our soils to help improve grain quality.”
Greig also noticed a theme among presentation attendees.
“I was approached many times and through a translator was told someone wanted to hear what the farmer had to say,” Greig said. “It’s not that they didn’t like the presentations from the other groups, but they wanted to talk to the person producing the crop.”
The trip also brought to light the need for a new resource.
Many of the milling groups use Canada’s sustainable grain production as a method of keeping a strong customer base. Creating a handout to highlight Canada’s production methods could help everyone in the supply chain, he said.
“We should have document ready so when we go on these trade missions we can pass them out and say ‘Here’s the practices we commit to on our farms to ensure our sustainability,’ because (millers and bakers) had lots of questions about what we’re doing and how we can prove that it’s true.
“We’ve seen a decrease in wheat consumption in Mexico, so a document could also help dispel myths surrounding wheat.”
Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association photo