Canada’s Ready is the focus of a new plan to keep the country’s grain moving.
The Ag Transport Coalition has released a four-point plan outlining steps to ensure that Canada’s grain gets to where it needs to go.
Greg Northey, Vice-President of Corporate Affairs with Pulse Canada, said that this year’s harvest represents the most critical harvest in a generation.
“This year’s crop is particularly important, and so this year’s plan and how to move it is particularly important,” he said. “We feel it’s an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation for this grain year.”
He noted this is due to the world’s food supply being under extreme pressure, which means Canadian grain is needed worldwide more than ever.
Northey said the plan makes sure that everyone can work together.
“The food security challenges that the world is facing, as well as Canada’s role in meeting that demand, we’ve turned our attention to the grain year and our plan is focused on trying to make sure that everyone that has a role to play in moving Canadian grain is going to be ready.”
“Farmers have invested a lot in this year’s crop; our investors are investing a lot in making sure they have the logistics in place to move it, and our major focus is ensuring that our service providers are also focused on moving this year’s crops,” he added.
Show the Plan
Rail: CN and CP must provide detailed, transparent plans on how they plan to move grain based on the template provided by the grain sector.
Containers: Container lines serving Canada should provide a clear indication of the expected capacity of their export program that will be made available each month for agriculture exports.
Protect the Plan
The formation of an Industry/Government Labour Council to track the progress of the collective agreement negotiations. There are 12 CN and CP labour agreements that are expired or will expire in 2022 alone.
Work the Plan
Rail: CN and CP must provide monthly updates on their plans based on the latest forecasts.
Containers: Container lines serving Canada should provide monthly updates on their export program, including the expected capacity that will be made available each month for agriculture exports
Measure and Optimize the Plan
Support the increased utilization of comprehensive performance measurement programs – such as the Ag Transport Coalition for rail – to measure how service providers are meeting their plans and outline improvements for the future.