CALGARY — Grain handler Viterra Inc. said Friday it is ready to start marketing wheat and barley on behalf of growers right away, now that the Canadian Wheat Board no longer controls sales of those grains.
Legislation ending the Wheat Board’s seven-decade monopoly over western wheat and barley sales became law late Thursday, which means Viterra can start signing contracts with farmers immediately.
“The Government of Canada has fulfilled its commitment to Prairie growers, taking a major step forward for western Canadian agriculture,” Viterra CEO Mayo Schmidt said in a statement.
Viterra can start signing forward contracts for deliveries beginning Aug. 1, 2012.
The company (TSX:VT) has long marketed oilseeds, pulses, oats and other grains, and now it can do the same with wheat and barley without the board dictating price and logistical considerations, such as transportation.
“It just really expands to some degree what we’ve already been doing for the history of the company,” Schmidt said in an interview.
Now farmers, and companies like Viterra that handle their crops, will have a greater say over how and when the products get to market.
For instance, it’s much more cost-effective and efficient to bundle shipments of non-board controlled crops like canola and wheat if they’re headed to the same place than to handle the shipments separately, Schmidt said.
“So it just creates a wholesome system as opposed to the more fragmentation system that we’ve had in the past.”
The Harper government’s Wheat Board move will allow Canada to compete more effectively on the world stage, Schmidt added.
“The more effective and efficiently we can get to those markets, the better that our farmers do, the better that our public and private companies in the sector do. It creates a more fluid system for greater revenues for all those that participate.”
The company operates 82 grain and 258 agri-product facilities across Western Canada and it also has marketing offices worldwide. Viterra, formerly known as the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, has head offices in Regina and Calgary.