WASHINGTON, May 11, 2016 - Planning on
sending some wheat to Canada? Be prepared to take a hit on the quality – and
price – of your grain.
American wheat producers and exporters are
expressing concern that when wheat is exported to their neighbor to the north,
it is graded
as feed grain. Wheat grown in Canada is graded on a scale with 20 classes, and
feed grain is the lowest classification.
In a recent letter
to Canada’s agriculture and trade ministers, leaders of two American wheat
trade groups asked the officials to work with the Canadian Parliament “to give
wheat varieties grown in the United States and registered in Canada equal
treatment to Canadian wheat in your bulk grain handling system.”
“For everyone to fully benefit from more
open trade, we need to be able to compete fairly,” U.S. Wheat Associates
Chairman Brian O’Toole and National Association of Wheat Growers President
Gordon Stoner said in the letter.
The letter follows a Foreign Agricultural
Service report
submitted to Congress in April detailing the issues. The report said that a
“number of grain sector policies limit the ability of U.S. wheat and barley
exporters to receive a premium grade in Canada, including the provisions of the
Canada Grain Act and Seeds Act.” Among other things, that act establishes grain
grading, but only for Canadian grain. As evidence, the report cites the
regional classifications in Canadian wheat grades (Eastern and Western), which
“further underscores that grading is only available to Canadian grains.”
U.S. politicians are starting to take
notice. In an interview with Northern Ag Network, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont.,
said Canadian grading needs to be fair to all grain.
“Quite frankly, we know it’s good stuff and
we know they’re not taking it up there and feeding it to their hogs,” Tester
said. “They’re taking it up there and using it to make macaroni or flour or
whatever it might be.
“All I want is fair. I don’t want to treat
them negatively nor more positively, but I do want our farmers in Montana to be
able to take advantage of that market in a fair and efficient way.”
As for why the Canadian wheat grading system operates the
way it does, a spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington said in an
email to Agri-Pulse that the system “helps ensure that end-use
customers get the quality of grain that they contracted for.
“Customers then have confidence in Canadian grain grades
because they are part of Canada’s grain quality assurance system, which is
underpinned by the 'Canada Grain Act,’” she added.
She added that the Canadian government is “aware of U.S.
concerns over wheat grading and said Ottawa is “looking at what changes may be
needed in the grain sector to better align it with a changing market.*
“We will consider their interests, and how
to best address them, while maintaining the protections and assurances the
Canada Grain Act provides to Canadian producers and their customers,” the
statement continued. The embassy, however, did not offer an explanation as to
why U.S. wheat is graded as feed.
According to the FAS report, U.S. wheat accounted for 74
percent of the wheat imported by Canada over the last three marketing years.
*Story updated 5/11/16 to include the Canadian embassy spokeswoman's statement.
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