Pulling the Plug on Monopoly Power: Reform for the Canadian Wheat Board

Richard Pedde and Al Loyns
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Richard Pedde: Farmer
Al Loyns: University of Manitoba

No 118, e-briefs from C.D. Howe Institute

Abstract: Change is in store for the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), which has the legal authority to purchase all Western Canadian wheat and barley produced for export and for domestic human consumption. The CWB defends the continuation of this legal authority on the premise that by selling together, Western Canadian farmers exert more market power in wheat markets and receive higher returns than they could if competing against each other. However, the declining global market share of Canadian wheat makes it increasingly unlikely that the CWB is able to exert market power: the CWB is a price taker in many markets. In the absence of strong evidence that the CWB is able to achieve its policy goal of higher returns to farmers because of the compulsory purchase of grains, its monopoly over Western Canadian wheat and most barley sales should be reconsidered with an eye to ending it.

Keywords: Governance & Public Institutions; Canadian Wheat Board (CWB); monopoly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F13 Q13 Q17 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 6 pages
Date: 2011-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-reg
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Published on the C.D. Howe Institute website, June 2011

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cdh:ebrief:118

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