Potential Canadian Rail Strike Could Mean Shipping Challenges This Fall

Smith: Canada's freight rail network could significantly slow this Thursday, August 22. Joe Gilson, director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, says the nation's two largest railroads are looking at a work stoppage.

Gilson: Canada's freight rail network could grind to a halt, with the two largest railroad operators issuing lockout notices to the Teamster Union that represents the nearly 10,000 workers in the country. So, it could cripple a lot of the shipment of grains across the country, in Canada, and also impact the U.S.

Smith: Gilson says the impact would be wide ranging.

Gilson: Canada is the second-largest country in the world by size, and so when we talk about rail, it's a very efficient way to move products, and specifically, ag products. And Canada is a large grain producer, but it also produces about 12 percent of the world supply of fertilizer. Grain from the Upper Midwest, when it makes its way out to the Pacific Northwest to go out to Asia, depending on cars available, it could move into Canada first, before it comes back down and out of the Pacific Northwest. So, it could impact the farmers who are trying to sell their grain in the Upper Midwest.

Smith: He says the American Farm Bureau is staying actively engaged with this issue.

Gilson: We joined with groups across the agriculture supply chain this week to send a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau highlighting the impacts to our ag economy. We're going to continue to monitor and do economic analysis to see what the impact is going to be on our members and across the agriculture supply chains.

Smith: The two sides have until Thursday to come to an agreement in order to avoid a strike or lockout. Chad Smith, Washington.