Deal comes as pressure mounted on the government to intervene.Ottawa—Farm and many other business groups heaved a sigh of relief at the news of the tentative agreement to end a week-long strike by 3,200 CN conductors, train and yard workers but warned a lot of catching up remained.While CN freight service resumed Nov. 27, the groups said it will take time for deliveries to return to normal and that they plan to look at pressing the government to place more importance on ensuring rail service is not disrupted.Both the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and Grains Growers of Canada cancelled planned Parliament Hill news conferences to repeat their demand for government intervention to end the strike.Farmers in Eastern Canada needed propane shipments to dry their soggy harvests while Prairie farmers also needed rail transportation to export ports for their crops, CFA President Mary Robinson said in a statement.“The delays in rail service have resulted in significant costs for farmers in the form of hefty demurrage fees from ships forced to wait at port as well as potential losses of crops due to a lack of propane for grain dryers. However, we can express relief that a resolution was found and these delays and losses are not continuing to mount for the agricultural community.“The CFA, in light of this strike, will be consulting its membership to determine ways in which potential future rail service interruptions do not negatively impact Canadian farmers,” she said.Vice Chair Markus Haerle of Grain Growers of Canada said his group will keep a close eye on how CN's prioritizes the shipment of grain as well as the propane required to dry this year's crop.“The last thing we needed coming off of one of the worst harvests on record was any sort of delay getting our products to market and inputs to our farms,” he said. “With access challenges in key markets around the world and on-farm profitability at its lowest point in six years, farmers cannot afford any further delays, we have to get grain moving again.”He said the government needs “to look ahead and put plans in place to ensure that next time a rail strike is threatened, farmers, and the Canadian economy as a whole, cannot be held hostage. We've seen the impact of a week-long rail strike and it simply cannot happen again.”The Alberta Wheat and Barley Commissions said the strike underlines the need for a new approach to dealing with strikes affecting grain movement. They said it's time “to consider applying essential service provisions to rail service affecting grain movement. Canada's longshoremen are already prevented from engaging in strikes that would impact the loading of grain vessels and the commissions believe those same provisions should be extended to rail.“At last report, 35 grain ships were waiting at the Port of Vancouver to load grain. Some of these will eventually incur demurrage penalties which are ultimately charged back to farmers.”Gary Stanford, Alberta Wheat Commission chairman, said, “We still get questions from international customers about the grain backlogs of 2017-18 so we need to have a national conversation about how we can assure them that we have a reliable supply chain.”Convincing the government to consider alternatives won't be easy. Speaking after the tentative agreement was announced, Labour Minister Filomena Tassi and Transport Minister Marc Garneau defended the collective bargaining process.“Our commitment was to continue to speak with the parties to ensure that they were aware of how important this was across the country,” she said. “It was on the news every day. More and more people expressing, farmers and all types of sectors, how much this was having an impact on them and the parties at the table were very aware of that as was the federal mediator.”Garneau said the agreement was reached faster than passing back to work legislation. “We do have a solution today and better still the two sides sat down and mutually agreed to a solution and that is always a better approach than to use forced legislation.“It's perfectly legitimate for provincial governments and municipalities and stakeholders and individual Canadians to express their concerns when something like this happens and affects their lives,” he said. It certainly makes people aware of the fact that there are strong concerns that exist at different government levels and in the industry and in the private sector and at individual people level, in some cases, you know, employees.“And so that is fair game. It's something that is going to happen and everybody has to absorb that when it does happen.”He was confident CN has the expertise and experience to move its complex mix of traffic in tough winter conditions.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.