FOS denied a display booth at Crop Production show in Saskatoon

[fosman]

PS because we weren't accepted into the Crop production show, we decided to have an open forum on solutions for agriculture at the Travelodge in Saskatoon on Wed Jan 9 at 2:00, for farmers to come out and hear more about FOS's and others' solutions to the ag problem. We are also hosting a presentation by Al Weishar from Lexington, Il. on how Brazil's production expansion vs. US subsidies will adversely affect grain and livestock prices for the long term unless we do something about it. Al has toured Brazil extensively over the last 25 years. This presentation will be given at the Travelodge in Saskatoon on Wed Jan 9 @ 7:00, Thurs Jan 10 at the Capri in Red Deer @ 1:30, and Monday Jan 14 at the Community Hall in Oak Bluff (Winnipeg) at 1:00.

[Steve]

The FOS’s idea is based on farmers working together to increase the price of grain but the biggest reason it will not work, because they are asking farmers to pay money up front. They also want to pool the money to buy grain on the commodity market worth billions and there may be a fox handling the account.

Here is a much better way to increase the price of grain to a profitable level, if we can get the farmers to unite and there is no money to be paid up front or any other time.

All the farmers should use these marketing practices;

Grain Pricing Orders.

Only Sell on the Futures market if the price is right.

Hedge only if the price is right.

Do not buy bases contracts because you still have un-priced grain on the market.

Store some grain if the price is not profitable.

If you have too much grain in storage you cut back on productions on your own.

All farmers have to cooperate for this system to work and it is not any different than the FOS’s idea about unity.

The big difference in my theory is we don’t need the fox watching our money buying large blocks of grain to resell at a later date.

I would rather store grain in my bin, than take my land out of production and trust the other guy to give me some when I have none to sell.

[fosman]

Steve
Thanks for your input. It is only because of input like yours that we have been able to make improvements to this program getting it to where it is today.

But let me make it clear that FOS is not run by any one person but is a non-profit organization run by duly elected farmer directors in each country that it is operating in.

As far as collecting money up front - if farmers are waiting for someone else to pay to turn around their industry and make their farms more viable (ie. governments, input companies, grain companies, magic genie) they are sadly mistaken. FOS has a one time membership of $250 to do two things: pay for the costs of researching and promotion of the idea, and to measure the commitment of farmers.

As far as the second step goes, it is hard for anyone to argue the idea that we must reduce production to see an increase in prices (especially with Brazil's expansion of 1-2 million acres of new land each year and US subsidies encouraging American overproduction.

But, for farmers to cut even 1/3 of their production - they cannot afford to do so unless they get paid upfront. We know that if we are well organized we should be able to move the markets the year in advance of the cut if they know it is coming. This would make the previous years harvest tremendously valuable. The $15/ acre that would need to be collected up front would be used for two purposes: like you said to buy futures contracts and physical grain to make farmers extra return to make up for the cut but more importantly as a compliance mechanism. If farmers commit to cutting production the following year and prices double the fall before, you must have some way of guaranteeing that they keep their word. So farmers that cheat would lose that money that they put up.

A voluntary program cannot work because no one would have the confidence in it to get involved. But a program where there is reward for complying and a penalty for cheating will work. See our website at focusonsabbatical.com for more info.

Thanks