Bruce Burnett, CWB Gives His 2011 Wheat and Durum Outlook

[checking]

Perhaps it's the media's advanced reporting fault, but it appears to me that serious weather events and their effects on world crops always grab CWB attention a month after everyone else understands the ramifications. How do these buyers comprehend what our hired guns fail to grasp? Just once it would be nice to see them ahead of the curve.

[vvalk]

when it comes down to it why do they need any departments. Take weather. Even if they see russia drought coming and too much rain in western Canada. They see how dry it is in the US, so on and so on. What do they do? Sell essentially 1/12th every month like its mandated. They need 50 people at the call centre to take all the pissed off farmers phone calls. Having PRO's come out ONCE A MONTH in a market like this and 2008. The government is talking now about innovation, the CWB couldn't be more opposite.

[parsley]

Does the CWB Weather Surveillance itself compile the statistics of farmers recording the amount of rainfall in their crop insurance areas, or does the CWB now forward it to provincial crop insurance to compile the reports? Anyone know?

Payments (incl approximations, verifications, etc) depends upon weather..hail, rain.

It's a downloaded cost.

Also, does anyone know if CWB weather information is sold? To whom? On which line on the annual report?

Is it given away to anyone, including governments? Pars

[btjadenlepp]

that's the point i wonder about vvalk -
does a change in the forecast (weather or
prices) ever alter the 2%/week sales
policy? if not then how is the intel
leveraged to improve marketing
performance? if anybody knows for sure one
way or the other, please enlighten us.

[Kodiak]

I used to think if all that drives the sales desk at the CWB is a program of 1/12th per month, all they needed was a monkey, not four or five hundred people. I've changed my mind. A $400 unmanned laptop, live and online with the stocks numbers and a programmed sell pace of 1/12 per month is all we need. A monkey needs to be fed and watered. Too expensive. A laptop is cheaper. A change like this they call "right sizing".

Now how do we get the cost of the BoD in line? Do we really need a board of 15 to surpervise a computer? The per diems, nice hotels, and travel will be a hard habit to break.

A thought.... What would the net present value of the next 10 years of salaries and perks for the Board of Directors be?

[mustardman]

Bucket we could have sold the 50% durum carryover last year and drove the $4 price even lower. OR sell it this year for $7

I prefer doing the latter.I have never lost money holding grain over.

[btjadenlepp]

"I have never lost money holding grain
over". You belong in a record book
mustardman. That is assuming that you know
how to calculate carrying charges and can
make that claim accurately.

[bucket]

That's right mustard, store your durum for 2 years and when you are hauling it in, know that at the exact time a producer near bottineau north dakota is getting close to 9 bucks and he can haul all he wants, when he wants.

And the americans are going head to head against the cwb for those algerian sales. How can they put 9 bucks a bushel in a farmers pocket and the cwb is putting 3 bucks and if you are lucky 7 bucks sometime by dec 2011. Thats if some other lame ass excuse doesn't come along to put the pro back to six bucks.

You certainly have a wierd way of looking at things mustard.

[bucket]

One other question mustard, the off board price of durum was 4.50 all last year which was better than the cwb price.

How could the cwb not pay a premium for high quality durum over the off board price?

Your right the cwb would have drove the price down, no doubt about it. Those evil grain companies were paying more than the cwb.

[parsley]

mussy, I could care less if you hold your grain in your basement for ten years. Or homeschool your kids. Or feed your barley chop to your homing pigeons.

Being able to make your choices for you is one of the good things about life. About quality of life.

Just don't drag me along in your stupid dreamy legislative scheme that merely ends up fattening up Wheat Board larvae.

It's not only humiliating to be dragged behind the CWB's shitty financial stoneboat, but it's plain wrong to have some pimply grunt making arbitrary decisions about a farmers' grain that will have an affect on the entire farm family, yet none on the grunt. Pars