(submitted photo/Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association)

By Alice McFarlane

Wheat growers

Wheat growers elect a new president

Apr 4, 2019 | 3:06 PM

A Manitoba farmer has been elected the next president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.

Gunter Jochum of St. Francis Xavier was named to the position at the group’s March board meeting. He replaced Levi Wood of Regina.

Jochum said trade is his main concern.

“It impacts us most on the farm and we need to get those issues resolved,” Jochum said. “The wheat growers have always been supportive of free and competitive markets. The elimination of export subsidies, reduction of trade distorting domestic subsidies, reducing tariffs and non-trade tariff barriers that’s what’s really first and foremost on our mind.”

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The recent canola dispute with China has Jochum worried.

“Canola is the number one crop in western Canada. It’s an important crop. It’s a cash crop. Farmers depend on it,” Jochum said. “My farm has had up to 40 per cent of the acres in canola and if we lose that market it’s a problem.”

China takes roughly half of the canola Canadian farmers grow.

“It’s a little disheartening that our federal government hasn’t really stepped up faster then they did. Finally there is some movement on the federal government’s part in trying to get this resolved but we would like to see that stepped up some more,” Jochum said. “They need to get that sorted out. We need that market and it’s imperative to our well-being as a farmer in Western Canada.”

There is concern other commodities could be targeted. Jochum said we’ve already seen issues with India and Italy.

“It’s not only the Chinese as pulses are excluded from India, durum can’t be exported to Italy. It’s a problem. Our government, our trade minister, they need to get in there and get that sorted out quickly,” Jochum said. “We don’t have years, we don’t have months, we’re about to put a crop in. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”

If trade is his first concern, the federal carbon tax is a close second. Jochum said it’s another expense when putting in a crop.

“We get saddled with trade irritants, we lose markets and it depresses our prices at the farm gate and then the federal government saddles us with an extra cost on top of that. How does that make any sense?” Jochum said.

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association is a voluntary farmer-run advocacy group that developes public policies to strengthen the profitability and sustainability of farming.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF