Canola Seed Shipments To China Remain A Concern

Mar 25, 2019

The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan is expressing grave concerns over news that we are now seeing very limited sales of canola seed into China.

APAS Vice President Ian Boxall says he’s very concerned noting our policymakers need to be doing everything they can to clear this up.

“Canola’s a $25 billion dollar industry to Canada and it employs hundreds of thousands of people. This doesn’t just affect me and other producers and rural Canada, this is an economic driver in all of Canada. The Canola sector’s as large as the automotive sector and people need to understand that.”

Boxall says with producers just weeks away from planting the 2019 crop, a trade issue with our largest Canola seed customer is very disturbing.

He admits there’s always a concern that the situation could impact other commodities.

“They’re a buyer of lots of our commodities and we need to ensure that market access is there for producers. You piggyback this on the back of a billion dollar loss last year from pulses and a reduction in overall farm income it’s very worrisome.”

Boxall says this is the time when our elected officials need to step up and use every possible avenue to resolve these very serious issues.

Source : Discoverestevan

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