Canada farm pic

'The Harper government passed legislation last month to end the Wheat Board’s 76-year monopoly over the sale of all wheat and barley grown in Western Canada. Under the law, the government will continue to backstop the Wheat Board for five years and farmers will have the option of selling their grain through the board or through private companies.' -- Globe and Mail

The Canadian Wheat Board isn’t dead yet, but grain companies in Canada are getting ready for a new era – and some are already calculating how much they will earn from the end of the board’s monopoly over Western Canadian wheat and barley.

Winnipeg-based Richardson International Ltd. is expanding its storage capacity to boost shipping. French commodity trader Louis Dreyfus is also increasing its grain-handling capacity in Western Canada, and Germany’s Alfred C. Toepfer International, which is controlled by Archer-Daniels-Midland, recently acquired two Canadian grain-trading firms.

American agricultural giant Bunge Ltd. is also considering expanding its Canadian operations to take advantage of the new system.

Read more in the Globe and Mail