The Canadian Wheat Board will shorten its name, one of the most storied and well known in global grain trading, to simply "CWB," as it starts to compete in an open market.
The board will give up its 69-year-old Western Canada wheat marketing monopoly on Aug. 1 under new Canadian law, but grain handlers are already buying farmers’ 2012 crops for delivery this autumn.
The Wheat Board is expected to join them in buying 2012 crops on forward contracts as early as this week, starting with its staples: spring wheat, durum and barley.
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"It’s going to be (known as) CWB," said Ken Motiuk, one of five government-appointed directors of the board, on the sidelines of the Wild Oats GrainWorld conference here Tuesday.
"You have to differentiate yourself from the past" while maintaining some continuity, he said.
The Wheat Board has long been informally called the CWB.
It’s not unheard of for companies to shed their full names in favour of their accepted abbreviations, such as CHS (Cenex Harvest States), BASF (Badische Anilin- + Soda-Fabrik) and 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co.).
