Farmers File CWB Case With Supreme Court of Canada

Dec 17, 2014

A group of farmer plaintiffs who have filed a Class Action lawsuit in regards to the government's dismantling of the CWB, are asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear their case.

Stewart Wells, chairperson of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board says that there are three levels of loss that are being incurred including the values of the ongoing business, the hard assets of the contingency fund, and the misallocation of funds during the transition.

Wells notes that together those losses total about a $17 billion loss to western Canadian farmers.

"Clearly we believe the brand and the good name of the farmer-owned Wheat Board is also a form of property built and paid for by farmers, and this appeal will allow the Court to address this very substantial loss," he explained.

Wells adds that the seizure of the CWB assets and Ottawa's claim that farmers have no rights to them has brought the farm community together to lay claim to all the Wheat Board assets that farmers bought and paid for, and not just the cash remaining in the Pool account.

Sorce: PortageOnline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.