CN announced that it has published its 2019-2020 Grain Plan and that it has established a CN Agricultural Advisory Council.
The Grain Plan reviews CN’s performance during the previous crop year, which was a CN all-time record, assesses CN’s ability to move anticipated levels of grain during the upcoming crop year, and identifies specific steps that CN is taking to ensure it has the necessary capacity to move grain efficiently. For the second year, CN will again voluntarily update the plan on a monthly basis to ensure transparency and accountability. The Grain Plan is developed through consultations with grain industry stakeholders.
CN has also announced the formation of an Agricultural Advisory Council, which will be one of the main consultative bodies to provide CN with advice on the CN Annual Grain Plan and feedback on the CN Winter Plan. It will also serve as a forum to discuss policy issues that impact the agricultural industry, including the international trade situation, regulatory barriers and other emerging issues.
“CN moved over 27.5 million metric tonnes of grain during the 2018-2019 crop year and broke several records, further demonstrating that by working together with members of the agricultural sector, we can achieve great things,” said Sean Finn, Executive Vice-President, corporate services, and Chief Legal Officer of CN. “After having the opportunity, over the past few years, of meeting with farm leaders and agricultural groups, the creation of an advisory council became an obvious way to keep the discussion going on how to better serve our agriculture partners.
As prairie crop yield potential is steadily trending upwards, CN will continue to increase capacity in order to meet this growing demand. As a result, CN is increasing its maximum sustainable supply chain capacity for CN supplied equipment by adding 150 car spottings per week in both winter and non-winter seasons.