Advertise US Wheat Prices on Radio/TV?

[hobbyfrmr]

I have not heard the CWB adds on the radio yet. I do watch "Farmnews" on local TV and try to catch Mondays special crop prices for oats, canaryseed, mustard, peas etc. I think there can be a place for the US wheat price. This is simply price discovery. I know that AVers can find out US prices on internet, but so many farmers do not even know how to turn on a computer, and they dont want to. They do listen to the radio. Why not disclose the US wheat price on the same radio station as the CWB commercials? The farmers then have to remove cost of truck freight and clearing customs fees to decide if its worthwhile selling into the US. Here is an example from the Larry Weber Newsletter Daily Spot Price Comparisons
Spr Wht
Jan
Billings
$10.35
Ontario
$9.94
CWB SK
$7.68
I wonder if a US elevator would be willing to post a weekly price for more Western Canada wheat farmers to be aware of. Maybe they would change their tune..refuse to make price offers because their elevator is full all the time....maybe not. It would be interesting to know if they would really make offers, or are they just jerking around the few guys that are trying hard to sell into the US because they (US buyers) know we cant deliver without bureaucracy, high costs of buy back, and possible jail time.

[blackpowder]

An excellent non-partisan idea.
Year round no matter the price and not tied any message.
Any ideas on how to implement?

[parsley]

hobby, a fabulous idea! A farmer organization could submit them every day to the radio station all ready to read, back to back with the CWB ads.
You are a devuious devil. LOL Pars

[$short]

Good idea. New Century Ag in Fortuna, ND has $10.50 durum and $10.15 wheat.
What a slap in the face.

[TOM4CWB]

Hobbyfarmer,

In Sweetgrass Montana... a hundred yards from Couts AB... there is a Columbia Grain elevator that buys Canadian wheat.

I think it is CRAZY... to haul my wheat to Sweetgrass... when it is close to 30/t CHEAPER to use Canadian grain facilities to get to west coast position. Canola proves this is truly reality... WHEAT should be no different.

The BIG costs are getting THROUGH CWB buyback costs and red tape.

ORGANIC growers are given low cost low red tape buy back export licenses... but this is not the case at all for commercial wheat growers.

IT is simply obscene to consider paying $15-20/t... ADMINISTRATION... before the actual buy-back itself... IF you can even find a CWB agent to do the buyback... when organic growers just phone the CWB and presto for about $4/t they out with no requirement for a CWB Agent to rip us commercial wheat growers off the last $15-$25/t.

So on top of the border hassle with customs... the buy-back... there is the environmental factor.

For my wheat to travel 300 MILES by truck... to Sweetgrass MT... 298 miles further and $30/t more cost to ship this wheat after to a west Coast Port... this whole exercise is pure obscene craziness.

Add it up.

$15/t for Admin;
$5/t to get through the customs and border;
$30/t for extra rail freight;
$35/t for the 500 miles truck freight;
plus the buyback which is most often recently $10-25/t.

So the CWB keeps all this crazy Eskimo intangible benefit... extraction from 'designated area' growers pockets... just high enough... and morally reprehensible issues in our faces...

ie... not using local CDN industry and exporting these service payments;
burning truck loads of CLEAR diesel fuel to ship our wheat to MT...

The cost to clean this wheat...

When for all this hassle... loading a producer car locally with clean wheat can net close to $15/t.

So... $100/t is missing... EVEN if the CWB buyback is only $10/t.

The intangible benefits of the CWB.

Why add insult to injury... and talk about US Montana prices... when it is such a frustrating stupid abusive system to actually put our wheat into that mode for export???

[TOM4CWB]

PLUS HOBBY...

I SHOULD be growing higher yeilding US DNS Varieties... on top... and it is even more crazy to go there....

[hobbyfrmr]

I dont mean to be devious or make trouble. I have been following AV for about a year and find that, farmers on AV often find and compare wheat prices in the US. If they want to relay this information to other farmers in the designated area, this is one way. The farmers are adults, they can do the math, and interpret it they way they choose. One method to implement this to contact the specialty crop guys who post prices on TV. Johnsons, I think. They give the price on peas, oats, canaryseed and mustard. After what TOM has described, the US wheat market sounds like a specialty crop and the farmer will really have to be sharp to deliver into it. Its just sharing information with more farmers, like anticipating the release of the latest CWB PRO. No big deal.

[hobbyfrmr]

Tom4 has done the math, and what I can interpret is, at this time, he can gain $15/tonne loading rail cars. This is one option for board grains that is seriously under utilized in Sask. CWB issues aside, Sask farmers just cannot be bothered to gain the $15/tonne loading rail cars. $1275 per car and some savings on truck freight. We are trying to save the abandoned rail by my farm and only one conventional farmer loads rail cars. He goes to meetings and describes the $1200 per rail car, and that he loads 25 rail cars of barley. He keeps and extra $30,000. He uses that money to pay a man to operate his elevator at harvest and when the rail cars arrive. The other community farmers nonsense rebuttal is, yeah but, he is a big farmer with an elevator. They really cannot be bothered and its obvious they dont need the money. On the other side of the situation, I have helped organic farmers load rail cars 100 feet from an elevator owned by a big farmer who does not load rail cars. The organic guys (that I know of) need to make sales and get cash when they get the chance, they are funny that way.

[boarderbloke]

I liked the idea of advertising US prices just to get more people talking. A lot of farmers poohoo futures prices, but if you give them prices in the "pit", they can make a direct comparison with what they're getting, and they will start talking to their neighbours and maybe start asking questions why prices are so much lower here.

[hobbyfrmr]

Border, thank you for the reinforcement. That is what I was originally trying to say. I got a little sidetracked with the rail car tangent!

[parsley]

Sing the numbers
Same jingle
Every day
Just different numbers
When jingle is in everyone's head
Invite farmers to sing to compete
Can email in mp3 format sound.

10 cases Hardrock beer for farmer singer with most votes.
Pars

LOL

[blackpowder]

Which grower orgs. should we contact?

[bucket]

Its funny, ask the average farmer about hockey or sports in general and they can give you a play by play.

Ask them about the real price of wheat and what it is in the states and for the most part you get a blank stare.

Its their god damn business and they don't give a shit.

[hobbyfrmr]

Bucket, wow its uncanny you say that. I literally stopped going to the local coffee shop because of exactly what you just described. I could spend an hour and a half listening to every inch of every shot that the womens curling team made, plus the color of their ponytail ties, berrets, and gum they were chewing. Same as golfing, welding, kids hockey statistics for 2 leagues and 2 age groups. Mention that new crop canola price is over $12.00/bushel November 2011 delivery and then its blink blink....blink blink...I have not yet sold old crop canola, it has been too cold. Then discuss wheat prices and they dont care, they would rather go back to local minor hockey statistics. blink blink....blink blink....Its just the way it is. I really stay away from that stuff, its really frustrating, and I find it kind of sad.

[parsley]

Daily Wheat prices: WCWGA
Daily Barley Prices:WBGA
Jingle composition: Lots of singers I know would do a dandy job if you want to go the sjingle route. Pars