China accepts canola – for now

[Oscar]

China accepts canola – for now

[ http://www.cwbafacts.ca/2016/08/china-a ... a-for-now/ ]

August 31, 2016

Canadian farmers who supply private trade canola exporters with raw product are breathing a bit easier today because Prime Minister Trudeau was able to leverage his and Canada’s long standing relationship with China to delay the imposition of higher cleanliness standards for canola imported into China. Given the problems of diseases in canola, including club root, Chinese concerns are certainly understandable.

China has a culture which is centuries deeper than anything in the west. So it is no surprise personal and institutional relationships carry a great deal of weight.

That relationship between China and Canada was greatly enhanced almost 60 years ago. In 1958 the Canadian Wheat Board defied the American food embargo of Red China and started to sell wheat to the starving, beleaguered, and war torn country. In 1961 a further three year agreement was signed, something the Chinese never forgot.

In the year 2000 the Chinese government food agency COFU presented a heartfelt gift to the CWB commemorating the 40th anniversary of the relationship. The gift apparently disappeared along with the Wheat Board library and archives vandalized by the Harper government.

The Wheat Board always exported wheat and barley based on honesty and the highest cleanliness standards in the world.

Canola has always been exported by the private trade which, to be polite, has a mixed reputation on both counts.