Maintaining producer control regarding the future of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) remains high this year on a list of priorities outlined in the CWB’s annual producer survey.
Released last month, the report revealed 76 per cent of respondents believe the federal government should not eliminate the CWB without producer consent, a view shared by respondents both in favour of and opposed the single-desk model.
In addition, 79 per cent indicated the decisions about the CWB must be made by producers and not by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“Farmer control is essential,” said CWB district 3 directorLarry Hill. “Eventually, an act change will be necessary to enhance this — farmers want this, according to surveys.”
The survey results also suggest producers believe producer control of the CWB is being further eroded by the federal government.
Sixty per cent of respondents said they believed the federal government has more say than producers over decisions at the CWB, compared to 49 per cent in 2009.
“The government actions and court rulings have caused farmers to question farmer control but, major policy is still made by the board of directors,” said Hill.
Overall support for the organization remains high amongst western farmers, with 70 per cent indicating they support the CWB, a drop of only one per cent over 2009. Even higher is support amongst those who do at least 25 per cent of their business through the CWB, at 76 per cent.
Regarding marketing structure, 69 per cent of those surveyed supported retaining the single desk for wheat.
Amongst barley producers, results are more complex. Forty-eight per cent prefer the CWB model for barley over the open market, while 49 per cent of barley growers said they believe the CWB can get better prices than the open market, compared to only 29 per cent  who believed an open market could achieve higher barley returns.
Support for the dual-marketing system for barley has also dropped significantly over the past five years, from a high of 54 per cent in 2005 to 39 per cent today.
“The cash-plus program may have changed the barley position some. Farmers are pessimistic due to price drop,” said Hill.
More than half of respondents, at 53 per cent, stated they also believed agriculture is on the wrong track, compared to only 31 per cent in 2009.
Top concerns were the low price of wheat, the high cost of inputs and the expense of grain transportation. Eighty-three per cent  said freight costs are unreasonable, with 92 per cent wanting the CWB to advocate for a government review of railway costs.
Full results of the survey are available at www.cwb.ca.