Agriculture Ministers from Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia are welcoming the Government of Canada's plan to give producers marketing choice for wheat, durum and barley. This will give western Canadian farmers the same right other farmers have in Canada and around the world to choose how to market their grain. Ministers committed their support for marketing choice at the Annual Federal-Provincial-Territorial Agriculture Ministers meeting, where ministers gathered to discuss how to better work together to help farmers grow the agriculture industry and continue to drive the Canadian economy.
"Saskatchewan farmers spend their own hard-earned money on land, machinery and inputs to grow their own crops, so why shouldn't they have the marketing freedom to decide how, when, and to whom they sell their grain?" said Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Bob Bjornerud.
Following the May 2 federal election, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced that the Government of Canada would deliver on their commitment to end the Canadian Wheat Board's (CWB) monopoly and give farmers the right to choose how to market their own grain by August 1, 2012.
