pork production

[hedgehog]

now that you guys are going to get the right price for your wheat and barley, are the pig men going to suffer?

[LEP]

In general I would say feed prices won't go down but may go up.

I have a friend who is in the feed grain industry and it was believed that there were years
that export markets were offering higher prices than domestic that the wheat board was
ignoring, thereby depressing canadian prices. The market was either too small (.5 million
tonnes) or they were trying to support the local feed industry.

I do think if we get additional processing and value added industries there will be additional
by-product available.

All feeding industries have adapted quite well to ddgs, screenings and other by-product.

[wilagro]

Have you ever tasted meat or milk from animals that have been fed a diet mainly comprised of screenings?

If all one wants is profit and not a quality product then using the cheap crappy feed ration is the way to go.

[TOM4CWB]

hedgehog,

The CWB reduced volitility... and feed buyers did not need to risk manage feed grains because the CWB prevented arbitage with the international markets.

Prices will go up and down just as before... better managed operations will adjust and the cost be managed with the use of more risk share tools... raising the price somewhat... but still being a profitable business in the long term. Otherwise production of hogs will stop and folks eat something else!

[hedgehog]

it seems to me that the cwb has created an unreal situation for grain growers and hog feeders, the exact opposite of the EU in the eighties, when grain prices were kept high, and pig production suffered as a result.
Pork producers in AUSTRALIA/NZ are suffering from cheap canadian pork imports now, perhaps with the cwb gone that will change.

[charliep]

I suspect the impact on the livestock industry will be two factors.

More price volatility. Export feed grain programs will come together more quickly in an open market and this will send prices higher quickly as companies compete to put together volumes to meet this export sale.

Similarly, supply security. The risk of being short the market (owning livestock on feed and not having physical supplies of feed grains booked) will go up.

Forward contracts that meet both feed barley and wheat producers profit objectives and feed grain users need to manage feed cost/supply risk will become more available (hopefully).

[FarmRanger]

People weren't selling #1 durum into the feed market because of the premium feed market, they were helping to depress feed prices because of the restrictions of the single desk.

Hopefully the new CWB won't have that kind of clout.

[Hopperbin]

Top that off with the feed market does not like to buy durum. They actually mix it off with higher grade feed wheat.

[grassfarmer]

So here is a question for you hedgehog seeing you seem so sure the "free market" will be the cure all for Canada and farmers will straight away get "the right price" for their grain.
How has the free market worked for Scottish dairy farmers since the deregulation of the Milk Marketing Board - would most of them tell you they are "getting the right price" for their milk?

[charliep]

grassfarmer

How has a regulated market and single desk helped protect western Canadian farmers from lower world wheat prices as a
result of a bigger crop in former Soviet Union countries. I note the decline in the PRO and international wheat prices below.

[URL="http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/farmers/producer/historical/pdf/2011-12/2011-12fpcbpccharts.pdf"]chart 5[/URL]

To the original thread topic, what the CWB has done with feed grains is to take volatility price out and mask price signals. The
livestock industry has benefited from the lack of arbitrage with outside markets.

[Hopperbin]

to grass smoker as farmers that earn our living by exporting would we not want to keep our export markets and or increase them?

[grassfarmer]

What's wrong Charlie am I not allowed to ask the man a question without you having to spout your AB Government ideology?