Malt Barley Contracts!

[SASKFARMER3]

OK Canada malt has nothing out as of yet on Cash plus for malt barley.
Cargill has a 6 cash plus but guess what theirs no act god clause so if you don't grow malt barley you owe them money. Hm they check it.
Richardson has a seed and CWB price etc.
Viterra I haven't seen.
What are every ones impression of the 2011 contracts.
Seem out to lunch and maybe barley is not in cards for 2011.

[jrlee21]

I had a cash plus in 2010 crop year when my barley was not pick up I was on the hook. I had to find some one to fill it. I can`t exsept all the risk. I will never sign a cash plus with out having the barley in the bin.

[blackpowder]

Local Canada Malt had 5.50 contracts, no act of god. Needs to be higher for me.

[charliep]

I would do some more door knocking. Have seen $5.75/bu offered WITH an act of god clause. Top up payment cashplus should be at least 25 cents/bu.

[Wheatking]

Excuse me for my ignorance but what is the plus in cash plus, or top up payment. I have only done this once and never received, when i signed it they said that would be my final price no- matter what. So are most other contracts different. I know when I phoned the CWB and asked them to explain the contract to me they made feel like a retard for thinking their might be a final payment on cash-plus, by far the worst dealing I have had on the phone with a wheat board representative. So can some one please explain.

[Wheatking]

On our farm for the last 15 years we have been pretty much 50/50 malt and canola with the odd field of oats and peas. This year we are switching to wheat as we are getting sick of dealing with the maltsters and CWB everyone blaming everyone else for poor delivery, prices, etc.... I have no hair left from dealing with all the BS. Plus the wheat did much better in the wet, and if I don't grow what I have priced at least there is some what of a transparent pricing mechanism to get out unlike malt.

[Wheatking]

I would also fear that this year with the high cash plus would be like 2008 when just about everyone around signed cash plus for $6 and come fall with the great crop and quality it all got rejected. Yet some how got accepted later on at the much lower pool price. I know of allot of bridges burned by prairie malt in our area.

[Burbert]

Sounds like lawsuits are in order.
Contracts are two way docs. If'n one
party like a big multi grain company
won't honour their end of the deal, SEE
A LAWYER. I've had to do this in the
past and guess what? They accepted my
position without a fight. BUTT this
won't happen if'n yous don't follow
through. The bigzz won't like you any
more, BUTT TO HELL WITH THEM. They need
us wes don't need them remember. Ifn
you have to, move your sales to another
one of these lovely companies that need
us, to stay in business. HARDBALL is
the game that we/you/I must play
nowadays!!!

[Wheatking]

Bubert
But what is the point of the CWB if they won't make the malsters honour the cash plus contracts. They should be their to at least facilitate the trade and make sure everything runs smoothly, but in malt barley it is all between the farmer and malster, the board only wants their fingers involved to get their piece of the pie. If the cwb wants their fingers do something to earn the money. Now they do nothing.

They should ensure that if you meet the standard agreed upon specifications the malster's honour the contract. Have a daily pricing mechanism on malt so if the worst should happen and you can't honour your commitment you can at least buy out the contract on a transparent price, not what the malster tells you. Their are a few things the CWB could do to earn the money they receive on malt, right now they do absolutely nothing.

[fjlip]

The biggest problem with malt barley is that there is always TOO much, maltsters get to pick and chose. Best of the best, plus they want it both ways, too reject yours if they see better stuff. Just like the casinos, stacked against us. Good luck.

[charliep]

I am going to put a plug in for western barley growers annual meeting. Members of the malting and brewing industry will be there for your questions. Ian White is presenting as well. A good place to raise these issues.

[URL="http://wbga.org/"]WBGA[/URL]

[charliep]

Dates for the above are this Thursday and Friday (February 17 and 18) in calgary. go to the link for details/agenda.

[BTOfarmall]

jrlee21 You sir seen what Seperates da Men from da Boys. Lesson Learned I Hope??? Wanna run wit us, Better have da Pockets to put yer Money where yer Mout is.............

[farmaholic]

I would never sign a contract without an Act of God. There are way too many things that could work against me. On my farm Mother Nature calls the shots, I can textbook farm and in the end if i get dealt a dirty hand by Her there is nothing I can do. The risks of not getting malt are to high to go without an Act of God.


Regarding Cash "Plus", I had it explained to me that the plus was anything else you could negotiate with the accepting company, like trucking, possibly different quality specs, extra money for better quality specs, what ever. Good luck!!

Maybe there needs to be a third party grading/over looking the quality specs. So if companies "over select" they can't come up with any excuse to reject it. There are too many specs to meet and it gives them an excuse if they need one to reject it. If it was accepted once it should be good to go, if it takes too long for the other guys to take delivery and it some how miraculously looses it's quality, it shouldn't be my problem if it was a fair representative sample. Pay me to either aerate it, turn it, or get it the hell out of here!! It is too easy for the accepting party to get out of the contracts.

Malt barley is a joke!!

[Hopperbin]

Perhaps we need a corp like Bunge to get into the malt business. Clean this dam mess up. Anyone ever have a problem with Bunge? You know Bunge is the only grain company I know of if you had unpriced grain delivered, they do not offer more to someone that has not delivered yet. Not counting the couple dollars basis one can work on.