Western producers are starting the new crop year with a lot more options.

"A farmer friend of mine from Manitoba called to say he was in his grain truck and he'd hauled his very first load of free-market wheat," said Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association.

The end of the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly means that farmers can now legally sell their wheat and barley to any buyer in Canada or the United States.

"I didn't think it would take this long but it was just such a ridiculous thing that of course it had to change," Jolly-Nagel said.
Farmers contribute a lot to the Saskatchewan economy and as the industry is getting stronger, so has the producer's ability to manage risk, Jolly-Nagel said.

"We're not better producers than our parents were -- we have better risk management tools than our parents did."

Young producers want to be able to live on the farm and to make money farming, Jolly-Nagel said, noting that in order to do that they need to be able to manage risk in ways that work for them.

"We're the only ones that know our farm operation, we're the only ones that know the cash flow needs that we each have and the bills that need to be paid."

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