Property rights?

[littledoggie]

In the April 8th Grass Routes on the ABP website there is mention of a meeting with the ALMA board and the Cargill CEO, Greg Page, who states "Countries that will be successful exporting food will have good infrastructure to move products to market and reliable PROPERTY RIGHTS that encourage capital investment in agricultural production."
Could anyone who was in attendance at this meeting please comment on the tone of this statement because it almost reads like a "dig".

[farmers_son]

There is a link to the story at:

http://albertabeef.org/news/archived-news/?issue=309;back=%2Fnews%2Farchived-news%2F

In particular:

"Later that day, a larger group of ABP representatives joined 250 people from all sectors of the agriculture industry for a discussion with Greg Page, the Chairman and CEO of Cargill Foods. The discussion was moderated very effectively by ALMA director Kim McConnell and covered a wide range of topics related to global agriculture and food production. Page identified two very significant trends in global agriculture and food markets: the convergence of energy and agriculture in affecting global supplies and prices for many commodities and the greatly increased volatility in prices against relatively small changes in supplies. He talked about big opportunities for marketers as a growing number of people around the world have their incomes rising to levels where they can make significant purchases of goods and services. Countries that will be successful exporting food will have good infrastructure to move products to market and reliable property rights that encourage capital investment in agricultural production. He noted that the reliability of Canada’s political, economic, and agricultural production systems is a valuable asset in global markets."

I was not at the meeting but I note the speaker noted Canada's reliable system.

Countries such as Brazil do not have the same reliable property rights we enjoy. Brazil is challenged with a lack of infrastructure such as roads.

You may be interested in this link regarding property rights in South America.

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Latin-America/Uruguay/property-rights-index

Note that Argentina only scores 20 on the property rights scale, Mexico 50, Brazil 50, Uruguay 75.

Although some of these South American countries can produce cheap meat Canada is very well positioned to be a very successful beef exporting country, as the speaker mentioned.

[littledoggie]

So I wonder where Alberta scores on the property rights scale with the new Land Stewardship Act.

[per]

It wasn't a dig nor was there a negative intonation. When asked what the greatest impediment to feeding the world was he did not hesitate in his answer. Property Rights. For sure he was referring to the comparisons to stable and not so stable countries where you could loose your investment by being taken over by a rouge government etc. Without asking more questions it is unknown whether it was a shot across Alberta's bow or not.

Having said that, it should be a bit of a flag. Without Property Rights and Stable Statutory Consents (permits of all sorts)our value as a place to do business is eroded.

[grassfarmer]

A wee bit rich coming from Cargill - the guys that went ahead and built their soya terminal in the Mato Grosso after being refused permission to do so. The existing quay was in need of upgrading so the Government had intended to put a "user pays" tax on it to fund improvements which Cargill refused to pay. Not just rogue Governments you need to watch out for.

[burnt]

In my opinion, in the Western World government has merely become the regulatory arm of big business.

The stripe of government merely dictates the speed at which those business-favoring regs are developed. It does not dramatically alter the course.

While rogue governments are responsible for the hunger and starvation in their lands and to some degree, the lands around them, our Western governments are largely responsible for the marketplace-induced lack of profitability in food production, thus contributing to occasional supply problems as well.

In Africa, there are 1 billion acres in the Guinea Savannah that could be growing grains and oilseeds. But lack of cohesive, stable government makes it highly unlikely that it will become productive.

Until, that is, the overwhelming need for food will create enough pressure for one powerful interest to move in and summarily take the region over, either by legal business practice or force.

China's exploding population can provide all the necessary impetus - both the need for food and the economic or military might to do so. Property rights mean nothing to them. Anywhere.

So I see it on this drab "spring" day.

[riders2010]

Right on burnt!!!