Farmers Waited Years For Legislative Fix To Rail System

May 28, 2018

The President of the Grain Growers of Canada said, after roughly 30 years, farmers finally have a legislative fix to Canada's rail system.

Jeff Nielsen notes Bill C-49 (The Transportation Modernization Act) was introduced in the House of Commons about a year ago, and was finally passed last Tuesday, May 22.

He said there's important aspects of the Bill they want to see in place for the coming crop year starting in August.

"One would be the ability to have the grain companies in the contracts, so the railroads have reciprocal penalties in there. That will ensure that if, myself as a farmer, if I have a delivery month, that my grain will be delivered in that month to the elevator."

He said it will take some time to get parts of the Bill working properly.

"We would've rather had this done back in early winter, and we could've started working on some of these things. One of the components of it is the long haul interswitching. With CN dragging its feet throughout most of the winter, we could've probably used that to ensure producers effected by the slow down on Canadian National rail lines had the ability to move grain."

Video: Residue Management

Residue Management conservation practice manages the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while limiting soil-disturbing activities used to grow and harvest crops in systems where the field surface is tilled prior to planting. This video explores how Ryan McKenzie implemented this conservation practice on his farm in Samson, Alabama.

Practice benefits:

• Increases organic matter

• Improves air quality

• Decreases energy costs

• Reduces erosion

• Improves soil health

The Conservation at Work video series was created to increase producer awareness of common conservation practices and was filmed at various locations throughout the country. Because conservation plans are specific to the unique resource needs on each farm and also soil type, weather conditions, etc., these videos were designed to serve as a general guide to the benefits of soil and water conservation and landowners should contact their local USDA office for individual consultation.