SPG is providing input to the Canada Grain Act Review on two topics of specific interest to pulse producers – producer payment security and grain sales reporting.
April 30, 2021 – Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) works on behalf of the 15,000 pulse producers in Saskatchewan primarily supporting research, market development and the communication of information to producers. SPG is pleased to provide input to the Canada Grain Act Review. The last comprehensive update to the Act was took place in 1971, so there are many areas where the Act needs modernization to reflect the needs of producers and the rest of the grain industry for the future.
SPG is providing input on two topics of specific interest to pulse producers – producer payment security and grain sales reporting. We are members of Pulse Canada and Grain Growers of Canada and we have participated in the development of their submissions on a broader range of topics. We support the submissions of both Pulse Canada and Grain Growers of Canada and have attached those to this submission.
Producer Payment Security
The Safeguards for Grain Farmers program provides valuable protection to pulse producers in cases where grain buyers encounter financial difficulty and have been unwilling or unable to pay producers for delivered grain. Producer payment security is a core producer protection mechanism provided by the Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) and producer payment security should continue to be a condition of licensing by the CGC. However, SPG is supportive of enhancements to the system that reduce costs, improve transparency in program operating costs and operations, or address coverage gaps among grain buyers as long as producers remain fully protected against non-payment by grain buyers.
Information and Statistics – Sales Reporting
One of the important market information gaps to fill to increase market transparency, grain handling and transportation system performance, and to support grower marketing decisions is the availability of current grain sales information. Market participants currently have access to historical information on primary elevator deliveries, stocks, exports and other information. However, since exports occur long after grain sales commitments are made, and since there is a significant lag in reporting exports, export data is historical information, not current information. Transparency in the marketplace and growers’ marketing information would improve substantially with the creation of a mandatory grain sales reporting system in Canada similar to the program in place in the United States. The creation of such a program would provide producers, marketing advisors and other supply chain participants with more timely information about the amount of the crop already sold or committed and reduce the information asymmetry that currently exists between grain companies and growers.
Pulse producers passed two resolutions at SPG’s 2021 AGM calling for the establishment of a mandatory grain sales reporting system where all grain sales over a minimum volume must be reported daily, otherwise reported weekly and aggregated information released in a timely manner. The members of several other Saskatchewan crop commissions passed similar resolutions at their respective AGMs. SPG strongly supports the creation of a mandatory grain sales reporting system through the Canada Grain Act, whereby grain companies would report grain sales over a certain volume daily (5,000 tonnes for pulse crops) and report all grain sales on a weekly basis.