(The following story by Neil Scott appeared on the Star-Phoenix website on May 2.)
REGINA — Angered farm leaders are demanding a review of proposed increases in grain transportation rates.
Terry Boehm, a Saskatchewan grain farmer and vice-president of the National Farmers’ Union, is among a group of representatives of several major farm organizations that have joined forces in issuing a news release expressing concern about the situation.
Transportation costs “are the single biggest cost a grain farmer faces,” Boehm said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Recent indications that grain transportation rates will increase by eight per cent in 2008-2009 are bad news for farmers, Boehm said.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) should review the proposed increases to see if they are justified, Boehm said.
A review is also demanded by Glenn Blakley, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan.
A larger railway service review covering a wide variety of freight is already under way, Blakley noted. But that larger review could take 18 to 24 months, Blakley said.
“It is unreasonable to expect grain farmers to wait years for redress when we know there is a problem and have offered a convincing body of evidence in support,” Blakley added.
While farmers are benefiting from high grain prices, Blakley said they are offset by higher costs for shipping, fertilizer and fuel.
Although Blakley conceded that railroads are also experiencing higher costs because of higher fuel costs, he said the railways should be able to afford it because they have been charging farmers too much for some time under the existing system for determining appropriate charges.
Farmers have had to pick up extra costs, such as hauling grain longer distances to elevators and building more grain storage facilities on their farms, to deal with the changes in the grain transportation system, Boehm said.
Railway officials deny farmers are overcharged.
Grain transportation costs in Canada “are among the lowest in the world and comparatively lower than for equivalent moves in the U.S.,” said J. J. Ruest, CN’s senior vice-president of marketing.
Ian McCreary, a farmer director with the Canadian Wheat Board, said farmers “want the railways to be profitable because farmers rely on good service.”
But “today’s situation is beyond reasonable,” McCreary said in a news release, adding that the railroad companies are making too much money.