Statistics Canada Estimates -

[charliep]

You ask a whole bunch of good question here Tom from CWB hedging (or lack thereof), how inventory is valued between crop years in the CWB pooling process, price forecasting for all aspects of business including crop insurance levels, etc, etc. I have been and/or am currently involved in all these processes.

A comment I can make is none of these issues are easy to deal so a person/organization has to develop processes/procedures that can be supported by logic and repeated consistently in future time periods.

The objective here is not to criticize the proffessionals who do the work but rather review the processes of how things are done and come up with positive suggestions for change.

I suggest we break the topics up a bit and deal with them (if you want) in separate threads.

Charlie P.

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie and Brenda,

As you know, I want people to think about what marketing plans they are going to base their farm income projections on, as things are very financially tight we can afford few "mistakes" in our projections this year.

I would be MUCH happier if the CWB would switch to an Ontario Wheat Producer's Marketing Board (OWPMB) style of marketing.

OWPMB uses minimum price contracts as well as straight pooling options.

The CWB on CWRS, CPS, CWES, Durum, Malt Barley don't do these needed options.

Many excuses can be given why not, but we can make marketing an art form, and if we use our imaginations then just about anything is possible.

The CWB should be on the cutting edge, not being drug kicking and screaming to the table!!!

If the CWB were to take the lead on what they are responsible for, "maximizing our returns", as they have said, then I believe that marketing intelegence for AG Canada and Crop Insurance would become significantly better!

And then knee jerk comments saying that the Canola industry did a poor job of providing marketing opportunities and options would hopefully not show up in Stats Canada reports any more, and that would be a good thing, wouldn't it Charlie and Brenda?

[rockpile]

Charlie,
You shorted me on insight, especially on next year's Durum markets. But you did make a valid point of having supply and meeting global demand. I have a question. There are huge amounts of corn being unloaded in this area for local feeders, 50 cars at a time, keeping trucks running 24 hours a day. Rumors are that it could be Starlink, not sellable in the US. My question is, if it is coming from North Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, what are the buyers paying for it, at the farmgate, considering what the cost of rail transport to get it here must be? How can 3.25/bu barley be out of range? Something smells here.
Rockpile

[charliep]

Rockpile

I am going to switch these two topics to separate threads.