Hudye Family to sell US Land

[TOM4CWB]

"The Ben Hudye family of Norquay, Sask., through its Hudye Farms USA corporation, is selling its land holdings in four counties of Colorado and western Kansas, totalling 17,741 acres. The agent is Mason Morse Ranch & Farm Co of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. All land is leased to successful growers and would suit an investor or investment group seeking to become established in the land market." From Agriweek

[mcfarms]

Old news look down Tom, on the land front how come Jackson farms hasn't bought that half section with the house for one of the boys up there?

[Kodiak]

This may be old news too, not sure. How is this one going? What is the contingency fee?


Certification hearing set for farmer suit against CN, CP

Proposed class action alleges $675M "wrongfully charged"

A proposed class action suit against Canada's two major railways over grain freight rates is due Feb. 1 in a Calgary courtroom, where it will be decided whether the suit can proceed on all Prairie farmers' behalf.

In a letter Monday to potential "class" members, Regina lawyer Tony Merchant said the certification hearing in Alberta Court of Queen's Bench is expected to run over eight days, through to Feb. 10.

Merchant said $675 million, plus interest and further amounts accumulating each year, are "what we believe we can establish are ongoing wrongful charges," which he said makes the case a "billion-dollar farm issue."

The claim is filed in the name of Edmonton-area farmer Tom Jackson, a former commissioner with the Alberta Pulse Growers Commission and one-time director candidate for the Canadian Wheat Board, as the suit's representative plaintiff.

In his brief filed Dec. 30 ahead of the certification hearing, Merchant's suit alleges that between Aug. 1, 1995 and July 31, 2007, Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways (CN, CP) "did charge unfair and unreasonable shipping rates" based on "unreasonable" hopper car maintenance costs.

The claim stems from a February 2008 ruling by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) that has since substantially lowered the maximum annual revenue CN and CP are allowed to keep for moving Prairie grain.

The CTA ruling, upheld in November 2008 by the Federal Court of Appeal, found that the railways' costs for maintenance of grain hopper cars, previously "embedded" in both railways' federally-capped grain freight revenue at $4,379 per car, were in fact $1,371 per car.

Merchant's claim alleges the railways set tariffs and shipping rates under the maximum rate scales and maximum revenue entitlement allowed to them for handling Prairie grain under the Canada Transportation Act "without regard" to their actual hopper car maintenance costs.

Merchant's brief estimated the amount allegedly overcharged from 1994 to 2007 at about $1.66 per tonne, for a total of $577 million.

"Cheated"

CN and CP, he wrote, "abused a legislative scheme by doing things that were contrary to the policy behind it," in which Parliament trusted the companies to "act reasonably within the maximum rate and revenue scheme" and convert any reduction in operating costs into "reduced shipping rates for the benefit of the class."

Rather, he wrote, the railways "unfairly exploited the legislation to maximize rates and revenues in a way that cheated farmers of the protection that Parliament trusted the defendants to implement for their benefit."

The CTA's downward adjustment of the railways' revenue caps for Prairie grain handling did not apply backward to the crop years laid out in Merchant's claim, he noted, but only to the 2007-08 crop year onward.

Along with Merchant's suit on Jackson's behalf, the CTA's revenue cap adjustment in 2008 triggered two other proposed class actions in Saskatchewan: one against the railways and federal government by representative plaintiff Gordon Wallace, a farmer from Unity, Sask., in December 2008, and another against the railways alone, filed by Merchant on behalf of Alberta farmers Boyd and Colleen Bianchi and others in November 2009.

The Wallace and Bianchi claims, Merchant notes, have been "delayed by appellate proceedings" and are "far behind" this case. A certification hearing in the Wallace case was adjourned in September last year until sometime next month, Merchant wrote.

[gregpet]

Maybe Hudye's could use some extra cash for their lawsuit against
the CWB.

[TOM4CWB]

Kodiak

Tony knows what is going on... I did my work back in July when the Railroads lawyers grilled me in Calgary July 14th. Won't soon forget that day!

MCfarms... not sure about the land you speak of...

[mcfarms]

Tom


http://www.linview.ca/listing_detail.php?id=234

[SASKFARMER3]

Tom your a day late on this one.
Way to go Ben nice investment. See this
impresses me a farmer buying land and
making money. Not some smuck doing it with
share offering on TSE.

[monte]

I saw this story earlier.

I had a couple of thoughts when I first
saw it.

Good for the Hudye Family for likely
making a good investment, buy land,
likely make money on crops the past few
years and sell the land for a profit.

An large operation like this needs a
special buyer, only a few out there that
could buy and manage it.

Are we going to have real issues when we
all want to retire and our operations
require buyers?

I am not sure my only son wants to take
over our business.

[freewheat]

There is the rub, Monte. When we all have 6 or 12 thousand acres to sell, will we sell to a few of the now non-existent small farmers? Will a 5000 acre farm afford to buy out a 10 000 acre one? I often wonder about this.

[bluefargo]

Monte
I used to spend time wondering who is going to farm the land. I no longer think this is an issue. We had some land here that sat on the market for a few years. Then bingo - farmer with brother who made it big in the oil patch comes and buys 7000 acres.

I also think we have under estimated the role the Hutterites are going to play in the future of agriculture in this part of the world. It's going to be major.