E Bay for grain

[malleefarmer]

Guess ive told you guys this before
www.cleargrain.com.au

It a online grain grain exchange put you tonnes on view to the buyers with a nominated price when target is hit trade is executed, money is held in a trust once cleared growers get money and grain is released.

buyer and seller are anyonomous payment is 7 days

basically ebay for grain

i have some barley online above the market by about $15 but if its triggered it happens without any input from me,so its set and forget

you can use a broker if you desire or do it yourself.

i can see all the grain on offer and prices and all the bids from buyer and all the trades executed

[ianben]

That looks like what I want here in UK, well worldwide really.

I cant see inside as unable to register.

Is it trading much volume?

[charliep]

I will post the Canadian version that is being considered. Note the
clearinghouse portion which is the posting of margin to ensure both buyer
and seller perform. Will have to get clarity but I suspect your versions
(current Aussie and proposed UK) are mainly for the spot market whereas
this one can be used to cover forward business for trades out into the
future.

[URL="http://www.agclearing.ca/home.htm"]agclearing canada[/URL]

[charliep]

I should note the AgClearing as proposed here would only be for
registering trades but it would be easy to build a computer trading
element to it (active trading system with bids/offers posted).

As indicated before, a couple of business that are beginning to offer
this service for customers. Not as developed yet as the Aussie example
malleefarmer.

[charliep]

Malleefarmer

To help me understand, can you use cleargrain for farm stored crop (or
maybe even growing crop) or does it have to be in the grain handling
system (I assume backed by a warehouse receipt which includes a
grade)? Is there a dispute resolution mechanism?

[Fransisco]

A bit off topic but it is amazing how the Internet is changing everything. There is a great story here about the evolution of TV in Canada and the debate between the cable companies and the local providers, when they're both about to become obsolete.

http://the-legion-of-decency.blogspot.com/2009/11/tale-of-two-business-models.html

Looks like we're seeing similar changes when it comes to the buying and selling of Agricultural Commodities.

[malleefarmer]

On farm grain is being considered but want to bed down current system this year which is year 2

dispute resolution cant really be any dispute you post your price of grain stored in centalized storage system, a buyer either buys or waits or ammends price , or a seller either sells or waits or ammends price, once trade is executed funds go to a clearing house once cleared growers are paid and title of transfer of the grain proceeds.
Its done on a ticket by ticket basis

Forgot to add your target price is good for i think 30 days then you have to re offer it again.

buyers see the grain and were it is and sellers see what buyer are bidding and what other farmers are selling at.

you get a complete list of trades as well

[parsley]

I would very much support organics selling on Ag Clearing. Pars

[dmlfarmer]

Malleefarmer:
I can see how this works with the centralized storage you have in Australia, but back to Charlie's question, could this work with on farm stored grain where quality may not have been varied by a third party.

And even if samples have been taken, we all know some quality factors like protien can vary by every load in a bin.

So what is your thoughts on quality and how would a dispute be resolved. For example, the sample shows the barley moisture, protien and weight to 13.0% 11.5% and 53 lbs but on delivery to a malt buyer it is 13.6% moisture, 12.5% protien and 50 lbs.

[malleefarmer]

They are working on it for on farm grain , presume the onus is more on the farmer to make sure specs are right ie protien,tonnes in store, residues etc

And buyers would be mostly domestic ie dairy farms and feedlots.

It will happen.

Larry Weber may have a opinion of clear im sure he understands the concept in full

[malleefarmer]

So you guys cant deliver grain to your local elevator unpriced and warehouse it there until prices rise as we can here in australia?

Are you elevators privately owned or owned by grain companies?

[charliep]

malleefarmer

For the most part, there is no farmer storage in elevator system. The key
to the Canadian system (or perhaps anchor) is most grain is stored on
farm. The only time grain hits the commercial system is when it is
delivered against an actual sale (i.e. the grain company takes delivery).
Farmers can purchase space at grain terminals via condo storage but that
is a different approach.

Will have to come to Australia at some point but my understanding is this
is quite different than what you are used to. Much has to do with
distance to port.

To be clear, most farmers have enough on farm storage to hold a whole
years harvest. If they don't, they have to make plans to sell crop right off
the combine via contracts (delivery and price). The interior
silos/elevators here are called high through put with objective only
having crops sit in the facility 2 months or less. Put another way, an
high through put elevator with capacity of 40,000 tonnes (common size)
would like to handle at least 250,000 tonnes of grain in a year. It means
they don't want to tie up storage space with something that isn't moving
- they make more money on elevation (handling fees) than storage.

That is only half the story. You still have to move grain a minimum of
800 miles/1,400 kilometers to get to port to a maximum of close to
1,600 miles/2,800 kilometers to Vancouver and an even longer distance
if going east through the St. Lawrence. Storage capacity at west coast
position is even more limiting so for sure no grain moves into terminal
position unless there is an export sale/it will move quickly. Thunder
Bay/St. Lawrence have more storage capacity but higher cost/no one
wants to carry grain/risk.

Have made the explanation too simple but means that Canadian farmers
behave very differently/have fewer alternatives simply due to distance to
market. It would be nice to deliver directly to a giant terminal elevator
close to the ocean/markets and have the option of storing it until the
farmer choses to sell like you and ianben.

[charliep]

A long ways from ebay but here are some numbers on
our commercial storage capacity.

<a href="http://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/statistics-
statistiques/geic-sgc/2009-10-30.pdf">cgc estimate
capacity 2009</a>

[charliep]

Link didn't work try this and click grain elevators in Canada. Table 1. Hopefully works this time.

<a href="http://www.grainscanada.gc.ca/statistics-statistiques/geic-sgc/geicm-msgc-eng.htm">capacity</a>

Primary elevator (local elevators on prairies) have a capacity of about 5.4 mln tonnes versus normal production of
close to 50 mln tonnes about half of which is exported.

Capacity at the west coast is about 1.2 mln tonnes with the target of turning this amount every month.

[ianben]

Hi Charlie
Looks like I am not the only one working on the bow and arrow after all.

Some work gone into that agclearing site. Have you been involved?

Not had time to read it all yet but still see no feedback as ebay option.

I think this could solve the farmer not delivering as described and also the buyer not recieveing goods sent issues which create much buyer/seller conflict.

For farmer to list a lot he would have to send sample to Egrain which they would have tested and post next to his lot.
If grain delivered did not meet or exceed sample he would get bad feedback.
ie reason posted against his name.

Buyer would also have to send sample if he wanted to claim for off spec, but again this would be posted and the buyers who make large $ claims for small off spec amounts would be identifided.

This would also allow buyers to buy high/low bushel grain if they wanted. Farmers to be payed a premium or discount for low/high moisture if that is what they would be delivering.

We like you are mostly on farm storage and our exports are mostly just in time delivery. I know one small port where the lorry backs up a ramp and tips directly into the ship.

With a system which identified individual lots and locations by exact grade buyers could blend or avoid any traits they wished and manage their logistics so much better.

malleefarmer
How much volume is trading on this site?
How are farmers using it?
Is there alot of grain way over the market or do you just try for a little above?