Cattle futures dive

[wd9]

Tom4, I would hope the new Alberta wheat
commission won't be as you suggest. Still
not sure why ABC just didn't add wheat to
their portfolio.

Thanks Gustgd for your good answers, this
is a tough topic.

[bucket]

gustgd

The only reason I said to use the overage is, if I remember right the WGRF has recieved over 70 million dollars in the last decade.

Its technically farmers money anyway. Using apportionments to grain hauled, I am pretty sure wheat's share would be the largest.

I am not getting the overage back, so if some goes to this commission thing, what's wrong with that.

And WGRF, should be more than happy to part with the windfall they have had.

I am not sure how much it costs to run a commission but, as I said earlier, if you had a large fund to draw on as an annuity type of thing, it may solve the funding issue. If you could get, let's say, 5 percent of that money, it should provide you with a good startup fund.

Points B and C - maybe we don't need provincial commissions.

Point D - consolidate the commissions and you put that issue bed quite quickly.

Commissions if you compare them to governments create these administration nightmares. There are less people in western Canada than the state of california but western canada has eight times more trough feeders (politicians) who can't get their head around consolidation. Same with RM politics as well. Enough said.

I am not sure why there can't be a western canadian wheat commission.

[gustgd]

Bucket more than technically. It is farmers money.
It won't go to commision's as I see it Fed
provincial splits and fights.

WGRF is spending/investing on 6 areas to
improve farmer bottom lines. Based on surveys of
all commodity groups priorities. Parting with your
money that way.

Budgeting $4 million/ year at .52c/tonne for wheat
commission in Sask.

Not sure where you'll get 5% return on money
guaranteed and not put principle at unnecessary
risk.

Consolidating commision's, agreed but that's an
argument I lost back in June. See previous
threads....about leadership of smaller crops
thinking they will get swamped by wheat.

Agree again about number of Trough feeders.
CFO you really want to hold California up as a
model government.

Legislation makes commissions provincial.
Councils are federal. Voluntary associations can
be both.

[bucket]

gustgd

Now I see where you are going. Never thought it would take 4 million to run a provincial wheat commission. As I said earlier I had no idea what it costs.

I still fail to understand that as long as there is an overage on rail freight why farmers can't decide where the money goes. The government, railways, the WGRF and others could get together and decide where it goes fairly. I still think of that one year where there was a 70 million dollar windfall for WGRF. Surely they haven't blown through all that yet and are using it as a reserve fund of sorts.

I don't like these long winded posts but something like the overage on rail freight, I am sure the minister would look at a different cost sharing arrangement. Otherwise I see the long road ahead of you.

I referred to the 5 percent coming from the percentage of the overage. So this year the overage resulted in 6-7 million, the commission would recieve 300-350 thousand. Maybe you could see if that percentage based on grain movement could be higher. Don't know. To me it seems easy, to you, with all the legislation you have read, not so much. But you have spent alot more time on this. It can't hurt to ask for a change in overage funding groups though, can it?

BTW, california was just used as population comparison, nothing more.