Step right up!

[vagabonddreamer]

absolultely GF...the only reason i laud them is because they are passionate about SOMETHING...our society is fast becoming apathetic and it is just plain GOOD to see people fired up...we are allowed checks and balances in our political system...as soon as we dont USE them...we will LOSE them...

i agree on it being a vocal minority..but...if they keep politicizing the way they are...they may get more broad based support...whether it is a good or bad thing to disband the CWB doesnt really matter in my eyes..what matters..is that through non violent means...the canadian public should be able to effect change in any direction they chose...there may be consequences...but they should still have that right to make mistakes..or improve things depending on your outlook...

the checkoff thing is very similar...once enough cowboys...get in the saddle and start (figuratively) shooting their six guns...they will take the industry in any direction they want...remember...it seems that it is a vocal minority on the cattle side that are complaining about checkoffs and their subsequent use...dont hear a MAJORITY complaining at THIS point...but who knows...vs

[kato]

What a terrific thread this has turned into.

I guess I'm showing my age here, but we've been in this business long enough to see virtually everything solid that we had behind us when we started dismantled one item by one.

I agree with that now famous report that it pretty much started with the signing of NAFTA. When we started farming we could actually see five different grain elevators by standing at the end our driveway. They were every direction, and all within five miles of us. Now our neighbours all have to hire semi's to haul their grain either fifteen or forty miles away to a choice of two. For a small operator, it's just not feasable to be in the grain business any more just due to the fact that you can't even make up a load of grain. I was on the last board of the local MB Pool Elevator before they disbanded them, and boy, did we get the hype over how the industry needed to streamline, and needed the economy of scale to stay in business. Note that this was the same time the pools were being transformed into publicly traded companies.

What was the result of this? Now you haul your grain many miles, AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE, and your rail freight rates remain unchanged. In fact they've been gouging on those as well. All this did was transfer a good part of the cost of shipping grain directly to the grain producer, and it was done with hardly a whimper.

This is the agenda of big business. Divide and conquer, and it shall all be yours one day. They've done it to the cattle producer too as we all know far too well.

Every number of years agriculture seems to hit a crisis where producers either have to step up and work together, or sit back and live with the consequences. The cattle business is there right now, and the grain business is not far behind. Last year's terrific prices covered up the situation a bit, but they had a short life, and who knows when they'll be back. For now it's back to business with lower returns and high inputs yet again.

This kind of thing is what brought about the Prairie Pools in the first place, as well as the marketing boards. They didn't just happen for the fun of it, and we all need to remember that. History ignored is bound to be repeated.