Canadian Wheat Board: A Monopsony

     From its founding in 1935 to 2012, the government-operated, Canadian Wheat Board or "CWB" acted as the sole buyer and seller of Canadian wheat, oats, and barley both within and without the country. This was called a "single desk" model whereas it was illegal for farmers to sell to anyone but the CWB. This could be interpreted as one of the few monopsonies in history, whereas the CWB acted as a monopsony for all Canadian grains.
     Support for a government-regulated grain market and a distrust towards private traders grew following World War One and the Great Depression. In 1935 the CWB was formally established and continued to strengthen during World War Two and the 40s. The CWB pooled together profits from a certain crops yield that year, and then returned the revenue to farmers based on the average price of the crop. With this system, during profitable years; farmers gained extra profit, while in poorer years; the government received the losses. Additionally, the CWB regulated grain delivery through quotas and contracts and monitored the grain market.
    Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, the breadth of CWB's grain monopsony (no pun intended) began to shrink as they lost their control over oats and other grains till they only had a monopsony over buying and selling wheat and barley. Most agreed that farmers profited under the CWB including the farmers themselves but many began to advocate for a free market whereas farmers would have an opportunity to make more revenue from selling grain. In 2012, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Producers Act passed which made the CWB follow a volunteer marketing model. This allowed Canadian farmers to choose who they sold their grains to, rather than just selling to the CWB. In 2015 the CWB was bought by the Global Grain Group, which consolidated the company into a new firm called G3 Canada Ltd.



Sources;
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-wheat-board
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Wheat_Board

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