Lack of use has prompted CN Rail to shutter nearly a third of its grain-loading sites in Western Canada, the company said Monday.

The move is concerning farmers and officials at the Canadian Wheat Board, who said the closures will hamper the ability of grain companies to compete by having fewer spots to load up grain-hauling cars to take their product to market.

"Producer cars can save farmers money. They can save them time," said CWB chairman Larry Hill.

"I think producer cars are important to the system," Hill said.

The National Farmer's Union said in a statement it also opposes the closures. The NFU said 52 sites are slated to close, 24 in Saskatchewan, 19 in Alberta and nine in Manitoba.

Bill Woods, one of a group of farmers who used the loading site at Eston, Sask., said having a spot for producer cars is a right, not a privilege.

"I know that when West Central Road and Rail started 10 years ago, it was the producer car that got us going," Woods said.

Like Hill, Woods said he's concerned that if sites to load producer cars are taken away, grain companies will suffer in an anti-competitive environment.

But a spokeswoman for CN Rail said many of the loading sites the company is closing haven't been used enough to keep them open.

"Approximately three-quarters of those stations identified for closure had not been used at all over the past few years with the remaining quarter seeing less than five cars," Kelli Svendsen said.

Despite the closures, Svendsen said CN remains committed to producer cars.