Trade Focus:
Prairie flooding
CETA Will the EU buy our beef? » PG 37
High-yielding soybean varieties
Footing the bill expensive » PG 25
dowseeds.ca
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 12 | $1.75
March 24, 2016
Pulling the PIN
manitobacooperator.ca
Co-operator staff
Big crops feast of fees for CGC
A
BY ALLAN DAWSON
The organization will create a scholarship endowment with remaining funds BY LORRAINE STEVENSON
Talks will begin this fall on a new fee structure for the 2018 crop year
fter spending nearly two years struggling to reinvent the organization, the board of the former Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council (MRAC) is winding up the group. The Prairie Improvement Network (PIN) as it is now known, will cease to exist as of Mar. 31. Directors agreed last week, during a final annual general
Co-operator staff / Portage la Prairie
T
he Canadian Grain Commission is working on a plan to reduce its service fees after racking up a surplus since 2013 that is bigger than its annual operating budget. As of March 31, 2015 the CGC had a $63.3-million surplus, according to its most recent annual financial statement. It’s expected the surplus will have grown this fiscal year, which ends March 31. C G C c o m m i s s i o n e r Mu r d o c h MacKay told the Winter Cereals Manitoba meeting here March 16 that will likely mean farmers pay lower fees starting with the 2018 crop, the next time fees are adjusted. Aug. 1, 2013 Canada’s grain industry, including farmers, was complaining bitterly as CGC user fees, on average, jumped 44 per cent after the government ordered the regulator to be selfsufficient. The CGC’s official outward inspection fee, which pays for part of the renowned ‘Certificate Final’ guaranteeing customers’ grades, tripled to $1.60 a tonne.
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
See PIN on page 7 »
See CGC on page 6 »
The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) will consult Canada’s grain industry this fall about new, lower user fees to take effect Aug. 1, 2018. As of March 31, 2015 the CGC had a $63.3-million surplus due to higher Canadian grain exports than anticipated. Most of the CGC’s revenue comes from services related to export grain. PHOTO: ALLAN DAWSON
B:10.25” PRODUCER CARS: Should loading sites be licensed? » PAGE 6 T:10.25”
S:10.25”
cropscience.bayer.ca/Varro
1 888-283-6847
@Bayer4CropsCA
Always read and follow label directions. Varro is a registered trademark of Bayer Global. All other products are trademarks of their respective companies. Bayer CropScience Inc. is a member of CropLife Canada. ®
BCS10508448_Varro_101.indd
+10%
YIELD OVER LATE APPLICATION OF GROUP 2 HERBICIDES
None
C-78-02/16-10508448-E
T:3”
* 2015 Agronomic Development trials, 3 replicated trials, 6 different treatments: Varro® or Simplicity® or Everest® + Pixarro™ or Paradigm™
B:3”
To learn more watch the Early Weed Removal video at cropscience.bayer.ca/YieldGain and enter for a chance to WIN a spray performance kit.
S:3”
EARLY WEED REMOVAL 10% YIELD INCREASE*