Our Board Our Business

Why Farmers Support the Canadian Wheat Board

Edited by Darrell McLaughlin, Terry Pugh

Our Board Our Business is based on presentations made to a symposium on the Canadian Wheat Board organized by the National Farmers union held in Regina, Saskatchewan, February 24 and 25, 2006. The central purpose of the book is to help farmers and non-farmers better understand the essential role of the CWB in the lives of western wheat producers and their communities, and the Canadian economy. The need for such an understanding has been made all the more urgent by Prime Minister Harper’s neo-liberal open market agenda which will guarantee corporate domination of Canadian grains. This book, like the symposium from which it is drawn, does not debate the advantages and disadvantages of the CWB. Rather, it sets out the context, operational mechanism, and role of the CWB, in order to make the case for its economic, social, and political value.

Contents

• Foreword (Nettie Wiebe)
• Preface (Terry Pugh) 
• Introduction: The Global Context of the Canadian Wheat Board (Darrell Mclaughlin) 
• The Global Grain Trade and the Canadian Wheat Board (Adrian Measner)
• The Empire Strikes Back: The Global Grain Trade and Farmers’ Struggle to Market Collectively (Ken Larsen) 
• Comparing Apples and Oranges: The Canadian Wheat Board and the Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board (Stewart Wells) 
• The Economic Impact of the Canadian Wheat Board (Richard Gray) 
• Grain Transportation and the Canadian Wheat Board (Ian McCreary) 
• The Farmers’ Right to Producer Cars (Donna Welke) 
• How the Canadian Wheat Board Helps Local Producer Car Loading Groups: The Story of the Landis Producer Co-op. (Glenn Harris)
• Keeping Things on Track: The CWB and West Central Road and Rail (Rob Lobdell) 
• What is at Stake if the CWB Marketing Advantage is Sacrificed? (Terry Pugh)
• Appendix: Position Paper of the Prairie Producer Coalition

About the Authors

Darrell McLaughlin is an assistant professor of sociology at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. His publications include “Grounds for Change: Linking Experience with a Vision of Sustainable Agriculture” and “From Self-Reliance to Dependency to Struggle: Agri-business and the Politics of Potatoes in N.B.”

Terry Pugh has worked as a reporter and editor on several rural weekly
newspapers in Saskatchewan. From 1981 to 1994 he was editor of The
Union Farmer, and has served as National Farmers Union executive-secretary since 2004. He is the author of Fighting the Farm Crisis and Prevailing Westerlies: A History of Sailing in Saskatchewan.

Excerpt

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