Final payments for durum and barley were announced by the Canadian Wheat Board for the 2002-03 crop year, but there will be no final payment for wheat as there was a deficit in the wheat pool account.

The deficit was created as more monies were paid out for wheat than were earned by the CWB in wheat sales for that crop year; the deficit, estimated at $85.4 million, is covered by the federal government through the initial payments. Payments received by farmers to date will not be affected.

The government will conduct their own independent review of how the shortfall occurred, plus the CWB has submitted its financial records to the government.

The payments for durum, feed and designated barley is for the period from Aug. 1, 2002 to July 31, 2003, and represents the balance of the money owed to farmers after their grain was sold by the CWB. The final payment cheques were sent out on Monday, and sent by direct deposit on Tuesday.

The final payment for No. 1 durum with 13 per cent protein is $9.71 per tonne, to bring the total payment to $277.76 per tonne, based on the value of grain in store at Vancouver or the St. Lawrence.

The final payment for No. 1 feed barley was $14.11 a tonne, to bring the total payment to $164.11; for Special Select Two-Row designated barley it was $12.59 for a total payment of $241.59; and for Special Select Six-Row barley the final payment was $11.98, for a total payment of $222.98 per tonne.

In explaining why their wheat account fell into a deficit position, the CWB outlined a number of factors which together led to an overpayment of about $9.86 per tonne through initial and adjustment payments.

The factors include the poor harvest conditions of 2002, in which late fall rains caused some farmers to delay harvesting into November or in some cases into the next spring. The poor conditions led to only 37 per cent of the wheat crop grading as No. 1, compared to the average level of 65 per cent. Combined with this, the overall volume of wheat was also down significantly due to the prairie-wide drought, with only 3.2 million tonnes of No. 1 and 2 Red Spring wheat produced, the lowest level on record.

Other factors which affected this picture were the rise of the Canadian dollar, and the rise of minor exporters who took market share when the CWB had to step back from the market with wheat sales. The rise of the dollar alone had an impact of approximately $12.25 per tonne on the final pool return for wheat.

The minor exporters included the former Soviet Union, including the Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan, and these countries were marketing a larger-than-normal crop.