World Grain - October 2004 - 10

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CWB will pay premium to farmers
to deliver grain directly to mills
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA -
The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) has
announced a plan to pay a C$3 per tonne
premium (U.S.$2.31) to
farmers who deliver their
wheat, durum and malting
barley directly to mills and
malting plants in Western
Canada.
The value-added incentive program was
designed to promote farmer direct delivery.
The premium will be paid retroactively on
all deliveries for the 2004-05 crop year.
"Under this new initiative, money that
would have been paid to a grain company
will instead be paid to farmers," said Adrian
Measner, CWB president and chief executive ofﬁcer, noting that carrying costs are

between C$3 and C$4 per tonne (U.S.$2.31
and U.S.$3.08) when grain sits in an elevator. "Millers and maltsters will also beneﬁt
because they will be able to
source the product, quality
and quantity of the grain
they need to meet their
processing needs."
Other beneﬁts of the program cited by CWB include giving farmers
earlier delivery opportunities, reducing storage costs for the CWB and the possibility of
overall lower handling costs, which could be
beneﬁcial for pool returns.
Farmers can receive the VIP premium by
delivering to any mill or malting plant in the
CWB-designated area that is licensed and
bonded by the Canadian Grain Commission.

E.U. approves 17 varieties of GM maize
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - The European
Commission has approved 17 varieties of genetically modiﬁed maize, allowing the seeds
to be marketed and cultivated throughout the European
Union. All the varieties are
derived from MON 810, a
Monsanto variety that has
been authorized under the
E.U. GM legislation since 1998.
David Byrne, commissioner for Health
and Consumer Protection said that the maize
has been thoroughly assessed to be safe for
human health and environment. "It has been
grown in Spain for years without any known

problems. It will be clearly labeled as GM
maize to allow farmers a choice." Byrne said
inscription in the E.U. Seed Catalogue is
a logical step, as the
E.U. regulatory framework on GMOs is now
up to date.
Monsanto provided
a monitoring plan that
was positively evaluated by the Scientiﬁc
Committee on Plants and approved by member states in the Regulatory Committee. The
MON 810 varieties will be subject to labeling
and traceability requirements as established
in the new regulatory framework on GMOs.

Feed technologists for
the whole world
UZWIL, SWITZERLAND - 14 students from
11 nations received their diplomas qualifying
them as feed technology engineers in the
25th anniversary year of the international
Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT).
They successfully completed their studies at
the Institute in Uzwil. Since its foundation in
1979, over 400 students from 60 countries
have attended its specialist courses for animal feed technology.
Best in class this year was Gino Catacora
from Bolivia, who achieved a ﬁnal mark of
5.6 out of 6. The trained agronomist has been
the manager of a feed manufacturing plant in
Bolivia for seven years.
Catacora said: "Safe feed, safe food is an
important topic for me, and I have learned a
lot of new things about it at the SFT. It is also
important to me to keep abreast of new technologies, which I was also able to do."
This year's diploma course was held in English. The students came from North and South
America, Africa, and Europe. They all invested
a lot of time during the six-month preparatory
course and the subsequent nine-week main
course at the school's base in Uzwil.
The examination subjects included process
engineering, animal feeding and feed science,
electrical engineering and automation and
business administration. The focus, however,
was on process technology, which accounts
for about 60% of classes and counts double
in the examinations.

U.S. loses WTO appeal against Canadian Wheat Board
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - An appellate body of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
upheld a February WTO panel decision in favor of the Canadian Wheat Board.
The WTO again ruled against U.S. claims that the CWB conducted unfair trade practices,
had incentive to undercut wheat prices because of its structure and did not operate according
to commercial considerations.
"This decision clearly demonstrates the need for new WTO rules to ban state-authorized
export monopolies such as the Canadian and Australian wheat boards," said Alan Tracy,
president of U.S. Wheat Associates. "The current rules are obviously not strong enough to
curb the trade-distorting practices of these archaic, socialistic and anti-competitive beasts."
CWB chairman Ken Ritter praised the WTO ruling, which does not affect countervailing
anti-dumping duties the U.S. government has placed on spring wheat imports from Canada.
Canadian producers are required to market their wheat and barley through the CWB, the
world's largest wheat and barley marketer. Farmer members control the CWB, a key aspect in
the WTO ruling. "In view of the CWB's current governance structure the CWB has incentive
to maximize returns to the producers whose products it markets," the ruling stated.
10

The best in this year's class of feed
technologists was Gino Catacora from Bolivia.
The president of the SFT, Uwe Wehrmann,
handed him a commemorative plate for his
top performance. From left to right: Uwe
Wehrmann, Gino Catacora and Ernst Nef
(director of SFT).
October 2004 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.com

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World Grain - October 2004

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