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Rail service in Canada has
rapidly deteriorated, becoming a pressing
and urgent concern. Thankfully, a CN rail
strike that would have been devastating
both to farmers and to Canada’s economy
was averted. But in many ways, this close
call heightened farmers’ frustrations with
the serious rail capacity deficit.
Prairie farmers rely on railway trans-
portation to get our crops to port. Carry-
over stocks for several of the grains will
be large. In many cases, this could mean
farmers not being paid for last year’s har-
vest until after planting, causing serious
cash flow issues.
Canada is the fourth-largest agri-food
exporter in the world. It is a very real
concern that rail service issues are hurting
our international reputation as an export-
ing nation, which is what Grain Growers
of Canada (GGC) directors are hearing
while on trade missions. In early Febru-
ary, the Japanese moved an empty ship
out of Vancouver to a port in Seattle to be
filled with American wheat.
Other industries, too, are feeling the
economic impact of the rail crunch.
The availability of livestock feed in the
Fraser Valley, B.C., is affected. Reports
also indicate rail service is affecting the
national food supply as both millers and
maltsters indicate unsatisfactory service
to move grain to mills and malthouses,
as well as to market. Across the board, an
estimated $20 million in demurrage and
vessel penalties have been applied since
the beginning of the crop year.
Action is needed.
Grain Growers’ directors participated
in a ministerial roundtable with railway
officials and grain companies on Jan.
21 to find solutions to the grain backlog
and address the immediate need. At the
meeting and going forward, our farmers
asked the railways if they have a long-term
plan to address rail issues—discussions
are ongoing.
Farmers had a record crop last year with
a significant increase in yields. A buoyant
farm economy, stronger genetics, improved
fungicides, overall better agronomics and
utilization of micronutrients in fertilizer
application were contributing factors. Good
crops are weather-dependent, but thanks to
new technologies and sustainable farming
practices, there is no doubt that farmers’
yields will continue to increase.
We’re encouraging all involved—rail-
ways, grain companies and the federal
government—to have better communica-
tion in order to get the grain moving. The
railways need to add significant capacity
because this is the new reality. Adapting to
larger grain shipments, combined with the
needs of the oil industry and other com-
modities, is a priority for the economy.
We need better data to backup our
claims regarding longstanding rail service
issues. That is why more regular measure-
ments and public reporting, as recently
announced by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada Minister Gerry Ritz, will help
grain shippers examine the issue. Grain
Rail ServiceNeeds
Long-termSolution
By JANET KRAYDEN
Capital
GAINS
Growers supports the leadership of Pulse
Canada, and their project partners, as
they strive for greater measurement and
rail service supply chain efficiency over
the next five years. This work will provide
effective data to help communicate ship-
pers’ long-standing rail issues that hinder
grain farmers’ market access.
Since rail transportation is so vitally
important to our vast economy—and, in
turn, to the railways’ own sustainability as
a transportation provider—we encourage
the railways to reinvest recent profits into
rail cars, engines, new hiring and im-
provements to communications processes
with the elevators.
As GGC President Gary Stanford recent-
ly explained to the
Toronto Star
, “If, during
harvest time, my combine broke, I would
have to find another to get it done. So find
another locomotive and get it going.”
Gearing up to alleviate the grain
backlog needs to translate into long-term
service solutions for the future—not only
so this doesn’t happen again, but also so
that rail service is able to keep pace with
the expanding business that farmers and
Canada’s thriving economy are offering to
the railways.
Spring
2014
46
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