Mid North farmer Linden Price, Narridy, past chairman of the Hart Field Site Group, said he had still not made up his mind which way to go in an upcoming ABB shareholder vote. He was one of eight growers taken on a trip to Canada from June 13 to 22, paid for by Viterra.

This comes as the South Australian Farmers' Federation grains committee, at its forum last Thursday, again called for competition in the supply chain.

Chairman Michael Schaefer said grower-shareholders' vote on the proposal "was the last leverage we have left to get this supply-chain issue resolved".

Deputy chairman Philip Wilsdon said it was "the last opportunity" to bring about change, and he stressed "that a non-vote is a yes vote".

"It really doesn't matter who owns the facilities – it's the monopoly that's the problem," he said.

Mr Price, along with growers Kieren Kelsh, Port Kenny; Steve Glover, Yeelanna; Peter Woolford, Buckleboo; Caroline Brown, Maitland; Nigel Roenfeldt, Wool Bay; Tom Fielke, Loxton and Max Venning, Bute, were guests at the Western Canada Farm Progress Show during their trip to Canada, one of the biggest agricultural field days in North America.

"We went out of our way to talk to growers from different regions about Viterra, and there weren't too many bad words," Mr Price said.

"One thing that was evident was that customer service was paramount - the company is phenomenally customer-focused."

The growers visited the "jewel in Viterra's crown", the Cascadia terminal in Vancouver, in which almost 8 million tonnes passed through each year.

But he said that with competition from many other companies at port, unlike in South Australia, good customer service was vital to Viterra keeping market share.

* Extract from a full report in Stock Journal, July 30 issue.