Grain Growers Ask Ottawa to Address Rail Transportation Issues

Jan 20, 2014

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

Grain Growers of Canada (GGC), a farm lobby group that represents the country’s 50,000 grain farmers, is asking the federal government to come up with a plan to address the persistent rail transportation issues plaguing prairie farmers.

In a Jan. 17 letter sent to the minister of agriculture Gerry Ritz and transport minister Lisa Raitt, the group expressed concern over the inadequate number of rail cars used to transport farmers’ crops to port.

“We ask the federal government to seriously assess the evolving rail capacity issues for Canadian farmers and provide recommendations for alleviating the concerns we have brought forward,” the GGC said in the letter.

Rail inefficiencies are causing economic hardship for farmers who cannot get their grain moved fast enough after last year’s record harvest. The farm lobby estimates the lost profits to be about $20 million.

GCC predicts that farmers will continue to yield bumper crops in the future, noting improved varieties have created a new norm. “Last year’s harvest is the new normal,” GCC explains.

In the letter, GCC request to participate in the consultation process for the upcoming 2015 rail service review, and says farmers are anxious to see the rail service issues resolved before the upcoming crop year.

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.