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[grassfarmer]

Their main purpose is to buy as cheap as they can and sell as dear as they can. Just look at the packers in the cattle industry in recent years - they did just that and in a way they did shoot themselves in the foot because so many people left the business they are now running under capacity and having to pay more for cattle and losing margin as a result. Of course they have fat bank accounts because they got so much aid from the Government that I'm not feeling too sorry for them.

Now I've nothing against buying cheap/selling high it's common business practice which farmers and ranchers employ too. But the difference is we are all competing with many other farmers/ranchers when we try to buy/sell so it keeps the trade honest - and caps the times when there may be outrageous windfall profits. But when there are many sellers and only one or two buyers the trade is not honest or transparent because their is an unfair advantage in favor of those buying.
And don't equate that to the CWB as being the only buyer - it isn't it's a marketing board working on behalf of farmers. Through the board many sellers can find many buyers - take it away and you will have many sellers and few buyers.

[kato]

Actually you can sell eggs. The caveat is that you must sell direct from the farm, and you must tell the customer they're ungraded. You can't sell to stores, or at the farmer's market. At least that's the rule in Manitoba.

[burnt]

kato, it will not likely take too many years to show the veracity of your prophecy. Wait a minute, when an opinion is rooted in experience, does that remove it from "prophecy" (foretelling the future)to "observation"(seeing reality)?

There could well be a few surprises and more than a few rude awakenings.

[grassfarmer]

HT, my reply was to your first post last night not your second - it maybe makes more sense if taken in that context.

I'd like to recount again the experience of the "milk marketing boards" in the UK before and since deregulation as I think it is relevant to the CWB debate.
The boards were introduced in the 30s to ensure a fairer return for producers in tough times. They were monopoly sellers of the countries milk but there never was any form of Government regulated milk price like there is under CDN supply management. In the 80s they brought in production quotas which regulated production but it was still all sold through the boards with no government mandated price.
In the early 90s a campaign started to "deregulate the milk market" and abolish the boards. This was partly spurred by the EU, largely by the milk processing companies and partly by some younger dairy farmers getting greedy.
Milk price at that time was about 19-20 ppl. Dairy companies began to tell young ambitious producers that they would pay them 25 ppl under an "open market" system and in return they should help persuade the Government to do away with the boards. Many took the bait, some good friends of mine included, they borrowed money, ramped up production in anticipation of the good days ahead. Built bigger barns, new parlors, more cows, more land. Eventually the boards were abolished. First thing that happened was the milk companies wouldn't pick up milk from smaller producers or those in outlying areas that had always been aided by the pooled milk price system under the boards. So production was concentrated on the bigger operations, with many leaving the industry. Furthermore they soon learnt what the milk companies were like to deal with in an unregulated environment - within the next decade instead of the price going up to 25 ppl they were promised it drifted down to around 16 ppl much lower than the price a decade before in the regulated market. Lots of these guys now in their 40s are very disillusioned, heavily in debt constantly fighting to try and get another penny a litre to recover their cost of production and many of them realise now that the system established by their grandfathers was a wise system set up for a reason. There have been attempts to re-establish marketing cooperatives but they always take a piece meal which don't work - it needs to be all or nothing.
I think the CWB issue will play out pretty much the same way if the few succeed in getting rid of it in spite of the views of the many wanting to retain it.

[rkaiser]

Is this whole thing not simply about "choice"?

If you "choose" to grow Wheat, are you forced to sell through the Wheat board?

It seems to me that you can sell eggs and chickens and hogs,through a number of non conventional routes. Yes it takes more effort and a few risks, and we also have the right to sell beef to other companies beyond Cargill and Nilsson's.

Even in the milk industry, those who don't want to deal with the quota system can get into the cheese or yogurt business if they "choose". I do feel that the selling of raw milk or non commodity milk is a problem that needs attention.

The wonderful part about living in this country is that we can "choose" and we can also affect "change".

If the wheat board was holding people back from choice, maybe it needs to go. If the farmer is holding himself back from choosing another route, maybe he should rethink his goal.

[kato]

Good point, Randy. However, people seem to think they can have their cake and eat it too. It's all or nothing in this debate, which is not the way a lot of folks thought it would turn out. They seemed to think the CWB would stick around to be used when it suited them. It's not going to work that way.

I don't see how a corporation who has shareholders to cater to, and who has executives banking multi-million dollar bonuses will choose to return one more cent to the producer than it takes to get him to deliver the grain. They sure don't pay one more cent than it takes to get cattle delivered.

ADM, for instance
http://www.companypay.com/executive/compensation/archer-daniels-midland-co.asp?yr=2010

The company did 69 billion dollars in business in 2010, and made a profit of 1 billion, 700 million.

This is the lake a lot of people seem to want to jump in to. I guess if they think they can convince the multinationals to pay more, and that they have any negotiating muscle when dealing with them, then I wish them luck.

But they need to remember that once the Board is gone, it's not coming back. There's no saying "Ooops, we made a mistake."

[ASRG]

I'm sort of a free market kind of guy.
If Cargill or ADM want to screw me, and come up with some kind of super control thing..........no one holds a gun to my head and says...produce or die!
If I own the cows (or wheat) and Cargill or ADM or whoever says we'll give you "X" dollars for your product....then I have a decision to make......not the CWB, not the ABP, not the CCA.......me?
If it isn't enough, I quit....if it works I go for it! I don't need the government holding my hand and wiping my nose and making sure those bad boys treat me right!

[ag-boy]

"choice" ? "choose" ? " change " ?Meaningfull words used, never said get rid off CWB they have a place and if the grainproducers belief in it and support it as they say,be that mutch better for competition !
We all know different views on this subject it don,t take a whole page on Agi-Ville to uderstand the high cost off a little paper [quota] milk 3 to 4 million for 50 [cows] . 130 dollars per bird , witout that! be a better return for the producer and getting started for a young farmer who has no millions ! and it will lower the price to consumer!!!
reading on world news all over Europe
Quota on the way out ! on thing bad spelling dit , brought out many nice reply,s to this Topic , happy readings,sorry for my spelling turning close to 80 years and sill listing and learning

[Tucker]

wow, a bunch of cattle guys support the
wheat board. Big shocker there... Maybe
you should have been paying world prices
for barley the last 7 and a half decades
instead of the prices artificially
depressed by the CWB. How much would
cattle be worth if you had to pay
$6.00/bu for barley like they get in
Monatana? You guys are about to get your
security blankie ripped off you. Get
ready. No more dumping excellent quality
malt barley into a feedlot for next to
nothing because there's no quota or
price for malt from the wheat board.
It's about ****ing time too.

[Happytrails]

I'm with you tucker. And I have no idea why some cattle people who would never agree to single desk buyer for cattle are lamenting the end of the CWB monopoly. Regarding cheaper feed grains because of the CWB I am sure you are right. However there are many including me that think that cheap grain does not benefit the beef industry in the long run. HT