Saskatchewan ag minister tells feds and others to prepare for large crop

Aug 11, 2016

Lyle Stewart wants to avoid a grain backlog

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Farmers in Western Canada could produce large crops this year, and Saskatchewan’s ag minister is telling the proper authorities to be ready.

“In early July, we wrote the federal government and the two railways to advise of a potential large crop,” Lyle Stewart said in a release. “We stressed the importance of ensuring the grain handling and transportation system is prepared to move this year’s crop in a timely and efficient manner.”

Lyle Stewart

“We see a large to very large crop coming this year, here in Saskatchewan and … Manitoba and Alberta, as well,” Steward told reporters Wednesday, according to the Regina Leader-Post. “We’re doing everything we can to avoid a situation regarding a transportation backlog like we experienced in 2013-14.”

The backlog was the subject of a study conducted by Richard Gray, professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan.

"The lack of grain halding transportation capacity relative to the exceptionally large 2013 grain crop had a multibillion dollar negative impact on the income of Western Canadian grain producers," the study reads.

Gray’s study revealed that producers lost about $6.5 billion as a result of the backlog.

Stewart is urging the federal government to do its part should labour disputes arise.

“For example, if there is a strike at the Port of Prince Rupert, we encourage the federal government to consider back-to-work legislation to ensure the timely movement of harvest,” he said in a release.

Reports say workers there have given their union a strike mandate to back contract talks.

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