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GRASS ROOTS WHEAT TRADE WITH CANADA to be automatically designated at the lowest grade or feed grade While Montana family farms en- status. Canada claims this system joy accessing markets in Canada is to protect the quality of wheat with many of our commodities, processed into the Canadian marone problem continues to exist ket. Montana Farmers Union bewhen it comes to wheat trade. lieves this an unfair trade barrier. Producers continue to have very Canada’s VRS only allows a few limited ability to access Canadian test plots to verify data to be used wheat markets because Canada for approval. Canada controls the has restricted wheat purchases number of varieties to be tested to only the varieties approved by making it very difficult for the Canada. While there have been U.S. to register varieties in Cana number of barriers in the past, ada. the primary barrier today is the Canadian Variety Registration According to the U.S. DepartSystem (VRS). ment of Agriculture, wheat trade with Canada is so restrictive unThe restrictive policy of accept- der the VRS system that in 2017 ing only registered wheat varieties only 50,751 tons of wheat were approved by Canada is not fair. shipped from the U.S. into CanTheir market system limits all for- ada. That is less than 2% of the eign grain forcing Montana wheat of 2.8 million tons of Canadian BY KIM MANGOLD G OV E R N M E N T A F FA I R S D I R E C TO R
wheat shipped to processors and millers in the U.S.
promises for harmonization beten the two countries. To truly harmonize grain movements between the two countries we need to remove the unfair trade practice of Canadian’s restricting wheat purchases to their approved variety list.
wheat shipped to processors and millers in the U.S.Throughout trade discussions, I frequently heard discussions and promises for harmonization between the two countries. To tru
Montana Farmers Union recently contacted Montana State University about participating in meetings to discuss the process of varietal acceptance between both countries. Dr. Bajwa, MSU Vice President, has indicated that she will participate in these discussions. Since technology transfer could be a vital part of this process, Dr. Bajwa will bring in University experts. This summer, the Pacific Northwest Regional (PNWR) meeting is going to be held at Big Sky, Montana. C O N T I N U E D PA G E 6
PRIMARY DEBATES
NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE
PAID
tentatively scheduled for April 25, 2020. The democrats will debate at 7 p.m. with the republications following. May 2, 2020 is the tentative date for the congressional race. Republicans will kick off the congressional debate at 7 p.m. with the democratic debate following.
LIVINGSTON, MT PERMIT NO. 93
Candidates have beeen invited and most have confirmed their attendance. Both debates will take place at the CMR Auditorium. Montana Farmers Union will ask candidates for governor and congress to put agriculture and rural issues frontand-center when they debate in Great Falls in late April and early May. MFU is partnering with Northern Plains Resource Council, Montana Cattlemen Association, U.S. Cattlemen Association and Cowles Media Group to host a congressional primary debate and a gubernatorial primary debate in Great Falls. The gubernatorial debate is
Each party will debate for 45 minutes and moderated by David Parker, professor of political science at Montana State University. The debates will be broadcast statewide by Cowles Media and Northern Ag Network. The debates are free and open to the public. More information will be available in the next edition of Montana Grassroots.