Look who's come to Chair!

[parsley]

So...Arason is kicked off the Board, but serves as chair on this Committee?

Huh?


Cereal Grains Value Chain Roundtable

Members List Name Organization
Greg Arason (Chair) Former President and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board

Bob Bartley Grain Growers of Canada

Tom Hewson Prairie Oat Growers Association

Ed Armstrong Western Barley Growers Association

Jeff Neilsen Western Barley Growers Association

Curtis Hiebert Western Barley Growers Association

Rod Flaman Canadian Wheat Board

Al Lyons Prairie Oat Growers Association

Leo Meyer Alberta Barley Commission

Paul Hetherington Baking Association of Canada

Gordon Harrison Canadian National Millers Association

Carol Ann Patterson Saskatchewan Nutraceutical Network

Phil de Kemp Malting Industry Association of Canada

Jan Westcott Association of Canadian Distillers

Karl Kynoch Manitoba Pork Council

Margo Dewar Brewers Association of Canada

Herb Schultz Animal Nutrition Association of Canada

Don Jarvis Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association


Gord Kurbis The Canadian Wheat Board

Rob Davies Western Grain Elevators Association

Al Kerkhof Ontario Wheat Producers Marketing Board


Barry Senft Canadian International Grains Institute

Rob McCaig Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre

Jim Wilson Canadian Grains Council

Dennis Stephens Canadian Grains Council

Gordon Miles Canadian Grain Commission

Brian Marchylo Canadian Grain Commission

Dale Adolphe Canadian Seed Growers Association

Neil Arbuckle Canadian Seed Trade Association

Denise Dewer Crop Life Canada

Janet Weiss CP Rail


Paul Martin Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

[TOM4CWB]

hey Paisley
this group is defunct now. Arason did chair the overall group that was broken down into many sub committees.
On that did do a fair bit of work was the barley working group, to which Charlie was a participant.
It did commission a report called Market Signals in the Canadian Barley Market.
It can be found on the www.wbga.org web site.
It is an excellent report, executive summary shows it all. Lack of price discovery, transparency, true pricing back to producer. Issues that the maltsters face, feed users face. Gives a good outline of what is needed, yet the key points did not get concensus as the CWB refused to admit that they are a problem.
Have a read, it fits well into what is going on right now with why CashPlus won't work.
Erik

[parsley]

Greg Arason (Chair) Former President and CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board

is the chair


Rod Flaman of the Canadian Wheat Board votes.



Gord Kurbis of the The Canadian Wheat Board votes.


Was there anyone who thought consensus could actually happen?

How did Arason get to be chair?

Parsley

[charliep]

When the cereal value chain roundtable was active (hasn't been for over a year), Greg Arason was retired. The comments I heard is he brought a lot of knowledge and experience to the role from his experience in the grain industry in his role as chairman. The main benefit of the process was the ability to get industry together at the same table and discuss issues - something sadly lacking in the grain indusrty (no Canadian Canola Council or Pulse Canada).

[charliep]

Missed the question on how membership determined? Ran by the federal government and members asked to participate by them. The Value Chain Roundtables were part of the Agricultural Policy Framework. Don't know what will happen under Growing Forward (replacement for APF starting April 1).

[mcfarms]

Charlie
So do you feel a group like this is something the various grains organizations should be pushing for?
With a similiar makeup to this earlier one or something to that effect or even one like the various organizations that are on the western and eastern standards commitee?
If you could get something like this going it would be useful I would think, but if it were federally funded under whichever program of the day there would be those lovely federal political strings attached ( who's the chair, who decides who's on etc).or would each member pays a fee to belong?

I do and have often felt there are too many groups all working at cross purposes often sending the same but different messages while refusing to communicate which replicates work and wasting resources within the industry.
The hardest part with something like this in this industry is maintaining cohesiveness of the group long enough to accomplish goals, and they tend to become whine and geez parties rather than solutions oriented.

[charliep]

I think this process had value during its time but suffered from some of the problems you identified. Was mostly set up as a government advisory group. After one years after it has effectly wrapped up operation, needs to be judged on what it accomplished. Does something like this occur again? Up for discussion.

Will note a major recommendation to come out of the Market Signals paper (and agreed to by all group members including the CWB) was the need for a barley organization similar to the Canadian Canola Council and Pulse Canada. The group recognized there was still need for discussion/a business plan to show value but recognized the need for a forum/organization to deal with industry issues.

Sorry for taking off topic Parsley. To bring back to topic, Greg Arason supported the "Market Signals" project through a significant amount of controversy (both getting the project approved and seeing the results). Again, retired at the time/carried no particular hat.

[parsley]

Plan for the worst.

Hope for the best.

I understand.