proposed Alberta Wheat council Left meets Right

[parsley]

"Not about feeding the world as parsley will chew
me out for but rather making money in a new
world."

My. New expensive varieties to feed to whom?

There are two main world markets:
1. selling in bulk to china et.al (thx wd for
reminder).
2 a few rich markets like organic and ex-rich
Japan (those piggy-rich capitalists ave made so
much money they buy organic. Maybe less
market but the price is higher. Same with a rolex
or a Bugatti veyron 16.4 )

So you have super expensive seed grown under
super expensive production methods(according
to Hopper's figures) to sell into a cheap market
withe no credit and bankruptcy promise.
And we want to commit funds for more of the
same.

Do I have this logic down pat?

A ten pound organic thanksgiving turkey in
Guelph in october cost $70. Ask yourself if a
turkey bred to eat only flaxseed to fatten them
faster would bring a premium price to the farmer.

The rest of the world has no money. Think about
it. PARS

Which one will you target?

[gustgd]

WD9 I guess that's my point HRSW was king
because someone decided that's the market we
could compete in. Much to the detriment of
other classes. It's my understanding that's
why other commissions were created to
differentiate. And work in a space that
others did not see value. Soft white/winter
cereals/barley/oats..... Might be to many but
who decides focus.
In my lifetime we went from HRS/summer
fallow rotation. To any dry land crop no
fallow.

Next point. Governance.

Who gets a seat at the table? Generally
those who pay the piper call the tune. Will
it be a board of anyone who wants to call
themselves farmers or actually those who
produce? Will it be minimum thresholds. Or
votes per tonne. How do you decide which
industry to include? How do they decide
representation? Do they pay for seats at the
table to decide how to invest/spend farmers
money? Where do they get their money,
producers/consumers? Probably depends on the
year.
Lots more questions, probably depends on the
answers
I see value in the cereals commission, lots
of question though.

[Burbert]

MORE CHECK OFFS, Ho hum, what else is new.
Lets git rid of the cwb eh! Lets elect
more PROGRESSIVE C's, even the phrase
makes no sense. Me myself, I'm thinkin
about starting the Albertie Wild Oat
Council. Hope it won't be considered a
terror organization! Wild oat porridge
good fer ya, puts lead in you pencil eh!!!

[charliep]

Always curious when people ignore posts. Any comments on
malleefarmer post/potential to serve as a model. GRDC in Australia
works similar to our commissions.

The are additional costs in terms of having access to seed varieties in
terms of end use levies (End Point Royalty System). Europe (my
understanding) has a similar approach. Farmers pay for varieties for
both pedigreed seed and brown bag/own use seed - determined when
declare your variety on delivery. Parsley - are you okay with a system
like this based on private sector plant breeding and farmers paying for
development costs via a levies based on sales?

You also have never answered the question on basic research around
disease challenges - particularly ones like fusarium (and the molds that
result from it) that have human health issues (both perceived and real)?

[parsley]

Elected Farmers sit at the CWB table and cal the
tune. They all sing "out of tune" meantime the
rest of the farmers are legislatively forced to pay
for the tunes every time they are played and
replayed and spliced. What will change with new
elected singers and same old format and
legislated participation?

Answer; the checkoff will become mandatory and go higher. ( ie sleazy pulse board In Sask) Pars

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

The folks in Africa can destabilise us as well as our own socialists... perhaps they have even more moral authority to do so.

How hungry folks are fed... or if they are fed... is a direct measurment and judgement on the health of our civilisation.

Every person is guilty of all the good they could have done!

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. Martin Luther King Jr.

[parsley]

If your kids keep asking if they should apply to
attend Harvard or Yale and keep comparing the
cost of both, and the parents always reply, "We
don't have any money", tell me charliep, which
part is it that the want-whinie kids dont understand? Pars

[parsley]

Let me be very clear:

Farmers cannot afford to fund disease research
AND stacking projects AND maturity projects
AND cereal fractionation projects AND perennial
buckwheat projects AND flax-canoe projects
AND cross-pollination projects AND scholarships
AND............
See the picture ?

Farmers are up to their ass in debt.

Farmers would be fools to committ to yet more
debt.
In case you have not noticed, this is not a
comfortable economic climate for full steam
ahead research funding for farmers to commit to

The sky will not fall if funding for 25,747 research
projects submitted for approval are not approved.

A concise way to refuse signing research
mortgages is to say, " Get lost" Pars

[parsley]

I should live a long time then, Tom, because I
take the time time to post, because farming
matters a lot, and farmers a whole lot more.

There are two roads: 'in the interest of the seller-
farmer' road; and ' in the interest of others' road.

I dont work for John Deere or the govt Debt-
free. No per diems So I have no vested interest.
just call it as I see it. Pars

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

The return on R&D for Ag is one of the best investments our farm ever made. With others and our resourses combined... as the Ausies have proven... we do make agriculture more productive and provide a 'peace dividend' to those who need an alternative to violence and war to put food on the dinner table.

[parsley]

Gusty .... Will you work towards making Sask
Pulse become voluntary checkoffs ? Pars

[gustgd]

Parsley. One fight at a time. I have more
members and people telling me what they want
to see in new varieties, than saying take on
this fight as well.

Although I disagree with your thoughts on
many farmers going broke and telling kids
they can't pay for school. The crowd I aspire
to run with see's have more acquired wealth
than 95% of Canadians. They've worked hard
for it, taken chances most would not.
I may be wrong but... I don't see that wealth
creation being squandered on research.

You keep dodging Charlies question if you
prefer private co's do the work like the
European model?

[parsley]

It was an analogy gusty:

Kids wanting $ for unaffordable school
.....want parents to pay

Is similar to

Companies/farmers wanting $ for unaffordable
research
..... want farmers to pay.

[FarmRanger]

Unaffordable research for one farmer, but if it's
worthwhile research, why can't many farmers do
it. The key is "worthwhile" to farmers. I'd rather
have farmers deciding what is worthwhile than
someone who's financial interests may not be in
line, or even contrary to mine. What is wrong
with that Pars?

Not every one on a farmer run commission is
there for the per diems.

[parsley]

I advise:

1. cutting back on funding some current
projects.: ie grad student scholarships.

2 Not beginning funding new projects that are
outside the realm of crucial

3. Target criucial areas. ie fusarium if it's deemed
crucial.

If the seed growers want to fund a new variety of
wheat that is bright red, contains peppermint
flavor, and draws all sulphur out of The soil, who
am I to argue private money should not fund and
own the product?

If a government donates money to the u of t, am
I to argue?
Private and public funding both have their place.
Both are inevitably governed by money in the
purse
"What is affordable?" is the reality. In the
meantime, there are some farmers who just
WANT. Parsley