Bye Bye cwb

[may-be]

The same time countryguy decided he was not going to grow canola anymore I decided not to grow hrsw anymore. Seems like its always no 2. Bushels per acre not better than twenty years ago with more inputs for me. And just plain gave up with the marketing system we have in place. This crop makes me feel like i'm doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

[frustrated1]

I've got a friend I've known for 30 years. To my knowledge he's only ever had a permit book a couple of times. Sure hasn't set him back. He has good land and grows tremendous crops. Just doesn't grow board grains. Vote with your drill I believe was the catchphrase a couple of years ago.

[Burbert]

Yeah vote with your drill, DON'T grow board grains, canola, oats, canola, oats, canola, oats. Soon you'sll be rich and love farmin agin! Vote wit your drill during election times. Democracy is great, in Albertie, a bale of hay can/wood win, that is, ifn its a Conservatif bale......

[checking]

Purr-bert spends his life, as has no money, mousing around in expensive Alberta dirt squeeking out an existence.

No pappy to talk with to discuss marketing decisions, so happily turns it all over to the surrogate CWB. Blissful utopia - sigh!

[may-be]

Don't grow oats or barley or flax. To much messing around for the little return I get. There is other crops out there.

[AG_guy]

I always wondered about the guy who always screams he hates the cwb but then grows wheat. never did figure that out but there is alot of other crops out there and they are worth checking out. Or move our east. I knew a guy who was contracted to grow **** seed. There may be way to make just as much off your land in other ways. It's a long cold winter, you got time to check things out.

On another note i'm still looking for anyone who does small test plots. if you know of anybody let me know please. I got ICMS, Agquest and Central Peace Conservation Society.

[JDGreen]

Ag_Guy i thought you were an agrologist?? Dont mix your thoughts on economics with what your best at. I dont think your statement is fair to the majority of producers that grow wheat/durum for various reasons. Like the CWB or not, it should not solely factor in to agronomically sound cropping rotations. I dont disagree with others not growing board crops, however it is very difficult to avoid in certain farming areas..

[TOM4CWB]

ag-guy,

Competition is the key to change... and even the threat of change has caused the CWB to improve PPO contracts and basis.

As a select pedigreed seed grower... growing SWSWC, CWRS, CWRW, CWRW Select, and CWHWS... I have the RIGHT to try to improve our system. The 'monopoly' over western Canadian grain growers is simply illogical. I can export these seed stocks, without CWB interference on pricing (NO buybacks) so anyone else on the planet can grow the same quality we grow.

Obviously there is no CWB monopoly on the selling marketing side in international markets... the CWB MUST compete with eastern Canada... and the whole rest of the world.
The northern US and $20/bu HRS in 2008 is proof the CWB can't compete on large amounts of HQ spring wheat in the international market! And every miller in the world... used our western Canadian farms as reserve stocks with free storage given to them... they openly laughed at me in Winnepeg in Feb 08.

Then the CWB makes the arbitrary decision that CWRS is its king... so CWHWS takes the back seat on marketing... but it is pooled... so it doesn't matter?

It is simple... there is over 10m tonnes of CWRS... and only a specialty high quality market for some 5m tonnes. All the rest of our non-CWRS wheat is sold with a discount... to keep CWRS KING in the CWB scheme. And since anyone CAN grow the same CWRS quality the CWB sells... IF... there were actually a premium for this quality... the whole CWB scheme turns into a discount selling strategy.

Wheat grows the best on many western Canadian farms... I don't understand why you miss this point!

It will still be a very long time... till the CWB is forced to extract a TRUE premium for our WHEAT. In spite of their flawed logic... we DO have growers who produce high quality food wheat... that a hungry world buys!

A very good reason to grow wheat... in my estimation!

[wmoebis]

Tom;
Although, I am reluctant to post on this forum, due to the fact that some people seem like to drag my posts onto other blogs on the net, I do have a question.

Using your senerio of $20 wheat in 08. Why did the acredited exporters not tap into this market, if the USA were paying $20 they obviously had a market of higher price. Why wasn't the AE's getting this market? That money would have flowed back to the producer no matter who made the sale.

I an NOT sticking up for the CWB in this question I am only trying to figure out the facts.

If the AE's are capable of getting thse prices and would flow the money back to the producer through direct payments then I say, yep, punt the board. Right now I don't see them getting those prices and flowing returns back even through the board.

[charliep]

All sales, including ones through accredited
exporters, have to be made through the CWB. The
process is effectively the same one used with
producer buy backs. The dance is the grain
company develops a sales opportunity into the US
likely including price. The grain company then goes
to the CWB to find out the price the CWB will sell to
them for. The CWB price to the grain company will
be their estimate of price in that market (in this
case the US). If the price in the US was $20/bu,
then this is the price the CWB would try to obtain
out of the grain company minus what it would think
are reasonable costs of doing the business. The
CWB used to do some direct rail business to the US
but most done by grain companies in the manner
described above. Don't know about today except to
note the grain is effectively involved in all business
given it controls facilities and ability to meet quality
needs.

I will also note that all the above has to be put in
the context of the CWB sales plan. The CWB
monitors things to ensure they can fill existing
sales/sales to important customers like Japan.

Perhaps the real lack of price signals and
opportunity was to farmers themselves. Anyone
with a CWB PPO basis contract or an unpriced daily
price contract hit the mother lode. All others
participated in the pool with at least some sales
made here - the exact amount unknown. In the
case of an open, all farmers would have had a
chance to participate in the rally with an impact it
wouldn't have been as large if at all (the reason it
went to $20/bu is because of short supplies/bullish
US farmers). Would the grain companies have
made extra money? Maybe but I suspect it would
have been competed away with the ultimate threat
western Canadian farmers delivering direct.

If you are going here in the $20/bu period, you
would also have talk about the results of the CWB
risk management program (both PPO and overall
pool risk strategy). Was it also part of the reason
prices went to $20/bu?

[parsley]

Agri-ville actually set up the entire blog Parsley's Notebook for me, wmoebis.

From the beginning, I got permission, to post items from AV on Parsley's Notebook, as well as to link back and forth.

AV also encouraged me to place my posts on both PN and on AV, which I rarely do.

When you post on AV, your name is presented world wide. For example, anyone interested can pursue wmoebis futher and click on
http://www.411.ca/wp.html and type in
w and then type in moebis

I respect that you have taken ownership of your comments.

Agriculture and farming blogs regularly link to each other. And I have always felt that a Western farmers' blog was so important, that I dedicated my time to Agriville, who has spent years making it successful and fully participatory.

At one time, it was mainly Tom4CWB and I talking back and forth to each other on AV, lol, and nagging a few other farmers to join in.

And it seems you did. And always with interesting questions. Parsley

[wmoebis]

Thank you charliep; Your reply definatly brings up more questions as you have indicated.

I was not refering to the $20 market as much as the market that fallowed that. Lets say the $24 market that this grain was sold into. I don't think that the way our system works today, that the AE's should make profit on my grain through grain pricing and the cost of doing buisness. That money (well deserved) is made on elevation tariffs, cleaning charges etc.

If they make sales they will increase their handling share and cover the cost of marketing. If this doesn't cover they could increase tariffs. Until a point they price themselves out of buisness and we choose a competator.

Do you think that they didn't make these big sales because the CWB was asking TOO much for our grain? Or the CWB couldn't make these sales directly because they were asking TOO much for our grain?