Harder checks pulse of canola growers at Picture Butte roundtable

Lethbridge MP Rachael Harder held a roundtable last week in Picture Butte for those interested in speaking about the canola crisis.

Although attended by only a relatively small group of people, there was no shortage of discussion and debate about what the next steps might be if China keeps its borders closed to Canadian canola over a longer period of time.

Harder also made no bones about China’s intentions in the current dispute, although she said it is still uncertain exactly what China is angling for beyond the obvious Huawei executive dispute.

“What this comes down to,” said Harder, “is a retaliatory action from China. We know sometimes China plays these games to take something away from a country and withhold it. It’s a nasty negotiating tactic they have employed several times.”

Harder asked roundtable participants what their concerns are if the canola dispute continues.

Participants told her canola is the one cash crop farmers have been able to rely on year in and year out, and if the prices drop below $10 per bushel it

makes growing that crop break even or less for farmers.

Harder asked if farmers could grow alternative crops to replace what canola brings to the table?

Participants informed her they could always grow another crop with irrigation, but none would be as profitable. Any substitute, like wheat for example, under the current market conditions would represent planting seed for the sake of planting seed – break even in their prospects at best for the amount of acres sown.

Producers were asked if current AgriStability programs would be sufficient if the canola dispute became protracted?

Most said current programs were too expensive to insure their canola crop and losses would have to be truly catastrophic to make them pay for the amount of coverage you would have to buy.

Participants were asked if trans-shipping their canola crop through the United States to avoid the Chinese ban on Canadian canola was an option?

Most said “yes,” but only in limited quantities and only if you were already located close to the border. Beyond a certain radius the shipping cost would be

prohibitive to most producers and would eat up any potential gains by doing so. Most believed there was some merit in a federal transport program which could subsidize freight charges to make shipping canola into the States more viable.

Participants asked Harder if she knew of any federal government plans to intervene directly with China on behalf of the canola industry? Harder said Conservative requests for emergency debates on the issue had been repeatedly denied by the Liberals. She also said any high-level delegation would have to be welcomed by China first, which it doesn’t seem inclined to do at the moment, leaving the federal government with few options.

“My sense is they (the Trudeau government) doesn’t have an answer or a good strategy,” said Harder.

Most participants said they were likely planning to plant the same amount of canola this year anyway and hoped the Chinese position would change. Harder promised to keep trying to raise awareness of the issue in any which way she could on behalf of local canola growers and the canola industry in general.