Canada’s Viterra Inc has agreed to handle and store grain that farmers sell to the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB), a move that could make the board a more viable option for producers after it loses its grain-marketing monopoly.

The arrangement, which extends to some smaller grain handlers in addition to Viterra, the country’s largest, takes effect on Aug. 1. That’s the same day that the CWB loses a 69-year-old monopoly on marketing Western Canada’s wheat and barley for export and human consumption.

The board plans to compete with Viterra and other grain handlers in an open market to buy farmers’ grain even though it owns no storage space at country elevators or port terminals, putting the new stripped-down company at a major disadvantage.

Cargill Ltd, the third-largest Canadian grain handler, and the farmer-owned South West Terminal, agreed earlier to handle CWB grains.

From Reuters