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NAWG seeks fix for Canada wheat import grading system

The National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) is asking NAFTA negotiators to remove Canadian import policies that devalue U.S. wheat.

NAWG president Gordon Stoner says by statute, any grain coming from outside Canada is automatically graded as feed wheat, the lowest possible grade.

“The real risk in that is if there’s any dispute as to quality when you haul the grain in when you’ve agreed on a price prior to delivery.  (in) any dispute resolution, it will automatically be graded feed wheat.  So the U.S. farmer has no recourse.”

Stoner, who farms along the Canadian border in northeast Montana, tells Brownfield he and other U.S. farmers are hesitant to take their wheat north when no third-party is available to give an unbiased review.

He says the issue has been taken to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, as well as the Canadian ambassador and Canada Grain Growers Association.

“And basically everybody agrees it needs to be fixed, but the bureaucracy has been very slow to move.  So we see the NAFTA renegotiation as an avenue of moving it along.”

Stoner says there are no barriers for Canadian wheat coming into the U.S., but Canada’s Parliament has been slow to pass legislation that would evaluate grain on quality parameters regardless of country of origin.

NAWG believes a modernized NAFTA could be a vehicle to help speed that process.