Would you opt out of the CWB if it became a co-op?

[checking]

The CWB figures everything out to the thousandth decimal point, then takes percentages off the top.

[Burbert]

The CWB give me a window/access to world markets. Their cheques don't bounce. The CWB is an enabler, it allow us to grow and sell product, that feeds the world. They treat us fairly and are helpful and co-operative. brokers for our grain. The CWB carries enough clout, that it assists in our transport of product otherwise the RR's would be screwing us worse than they already are. The CWB doesn't cheat us, it gives a fair and honourable way of doing business. The CWB is a whipping horse, that we kin swear at, when everything goes to heck in a hand basket. The CWB isn't driven totally by greed and corruption!

[chaffmeister]

Burbert:
Thanks for answering.
I appreciate the insights into what you see as the value of the CWB.

[Fransisco]

Wow, I don't agree at all with what you're saying Burbert, but I didn't think that you'd ever say it that way.

[cchurch]

I rest my case.

[chaffmeister]

cchurch:

Your "case" is that Burbert is more intelligent than most of us.

Simply because Burbert has actually stated his position does not make your case for you.

He stated his opinion but he's still misled:


The access to world markets he likes is available without the CWB.

He's right, their cheques don't bounce. But you don't need a single desk for that.

You don't need the CWB as an "enabler" - you can grow and sell product that feeds the world without the CWB.

Many would disagree about the fair treatment.

The CWB may be yout friend when it comes to dealing with the RR's, but again, you don't need a single desk for that.

Many would disagree about "cheating" - especially when the discussion goes to the Contingency Fund or Export Permits.

I find it fascinating that Burbert didn't mention a thing about getting better returns.


Now that Burbert had the nads to say what he really thinks, how bout you cchurch?

What do you like about the CWB and why?

[cchurch]

You can't handle the truth.

[Fransisco]

Ha, ha, very funny. Try us.

[chaffmeister]

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods."

-- Albert Einstein

[Burbert]

I think, what it really boils down to, is trust. Do we trust the CWB. Answer is yeesssss, I guess. Well, at least I trust them, more than the open, unregulated. lean, mean, world of the clipboard grain merchant! Sell grain, get a cheque, go to the bank and squirrel it away, till Angribusiness calls with some new scheme or technology to steal it all away again. Then spend the rest of the season farming and enjoying the challenges of solving problems with little or no money, while whinning and snivelling about the government not respectin us....

[chaffmeister]

I trust the CWB too, like when they said this about the wheat pool in 2007-08:

"Contribution from other revenue sources was negative $169 million, of which approximately $226 million was a result of discretionary commodity trading activity."

And this about the wheat pool in 06-07:

"In 2006-07, contributions from other revenue sources resulted in a net reduction of $48.7 million. This negative amount includes the results from commodity trading activity that occurred within the wheat pool pricing model."

Some call that speculating.


And this, about the PPOs in 07-08:

"...the programs generated a loss of $89.5 million. The factors that caused the losses in the wheat programs relate to commodity hedging and pricing."

Everyone knows that hedging doesn't create net losses - unless you do it wrong.


By the way cchurch: these quotes are "fact", taken directly from the CWB Annual Report. You decide whether they fit your definition of "truth".

[Burbert]

I guess the real question that you want answered CHAFF,is. Do I trust commodity brokers/agents that are poised to jump into the fray, should support for the CWB fail. Then all us dumb farm bunnys will be forced to deal with the sleazy, slimey, companies that want to take further advantage of us, in other words Angribusiness men/women that know it all and for a price will share their vast knowledge with us floundering around to sell, anywhere, everywhere at the lowest possible price, cause that will be the norm, as it always is when the private sector takes over (service goes down, and prices go up way way up). Deregulation after all has gotten us to the point we are at now. Look around, things are real, real, real rosey right now. The Yanks are simply printin more money trying to buy their way to the surface, guess what, that is gonna fail sooner er later.......

[Hopperbin]

Burbert your CWB website is doom and gloom just like you. Basically we offer to the world one wheat class when we should be offering all classes for all uses. Maybe you should go organic then you don't have to deal with big corporations anymore. You can even stay with the CWB. No offense parsley. And as far as marketing co-op is concerned I don't think we need one I am out.

[parsley]

You've heard the expression "fit to be tied"?

The thought of Burbert working with the CWB's organic gonger Donna Youngdahl can edge me pretty close to that state of mind.

The Wheat Board has 'a seat with a mouth' at the MGExchange, big corporate entitity that the CWB pretends to be, and they took a licking last year that is very similar to the one the neighbor's black tom hung on Grey Paw yesterday.

The Board is so ineffective it is embarassing, and the only thing they have going for them is that they can raid both the farmers' pools and farmers' contingency fund to cover their losses, ... as well as their employees asses with finery.

Pars