The Canadian Grain Commission has backed down over new regulatory changes that sought to impose export grade standards on wheat delivered to country elevators.
In a short release Friday, the CGC said simply that it was repealing the planned change for various classes of wheat, in response to “stakeholder concerns.”
A number of farm groups, including most recently the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Wheat Growers Association (WGA), publicly opposed the change, which was due to take effect on Aug. 1 with the official start of the 2023-24 crop year. They argued the GCG’s plan would cost farmers money given the official export grades for bulk wheat when it is loaded into ships are slightly higher than the benchmarks for country elevators. As such a load of wheat that would have otherwise been graded No. 1 and fetched a higher price under the old system, might suddenly now be graded lower and see a resulting decline in the price paid to the producer.
In a joint release earlier this week, the NFU and the WGA asked that the planned change be at least put on hold until a proper costing analysis could be completed to determine the true impact on farmers. The CGC for its part has said Prairie farmers typically deliver a higher quality wheat anyway.