We Won!!!!!!

[Braveheart]

Parsley, your last post was brilliant. Amen.

[parsley]

Braveheart, Sorry the first one wasn't as good for
you as it was for me.

[parsley]

Has your COP taken interest rate hikes into
consideration. Ask yourself, "Can I survive 10%
interest rates? " Pars

[rockpile]

Parsley, I don't appreciate your diatribe as a
vindication that Board supporters sought only to
relegate everyone to the lowest common
denominator. As one who consistently (due mostly
to soil and climate) grew only high grade, high
protein wheat and durum, I now confess, in all
honesty, that I saw you as the 'free rider'. That is
why I worked to lobby the CWB to bring in protein
segregation and value compensation in the early
eighties and it was sweet to see the WCWGA catch
on some time later and lend their support.
Finally, Cott nails it - what competition? The market
is the market is the market. Choice of grain
companies doesn't enhance that anymore than
locking in electricity contracts in Alberta. At the end
of the day, 80% of product will move at the bottom
50% of price. That's just how it works, honest, no
pooling (oops, I meant no fooling).

[Hopperbin]

Rockpile so do you think the CWB did a poor job on farmer relations? Why couldn't voluntary work for them? Are we just a bunch of sheep?

[parsley]

Whether you like it or not, the organic market is a
market unto itself. It targets a specfic buyer. It
invented its' own identification and audit system.

In comparison to other markets, the organic
market commands a premium. Pooling the
proceeds from a premium product was a
disadvantage to me, not you.

You would probably like to ignore the fact that the
harsh buyback penalties imposed upon organic
growers were pooled in conventional growers'
pools for decades. The single deskers were
always struck blind when their pool accounts
bulged a little more. Perhaps its a genetic trait.

[parsley]

Organic growers needed to test for not only
protein, but for falling numbers, because we
mostly sell directly to mills and bakeries. And so
the combination.......protein and falling number.....
testing were routine, in the world of value adding
we aimed for, a service not required by
conventional growers or provided by the Wheat
Board.

Organics didnt ever want to be part of your world,
nor asked to. In fact we fought against the slimy
single deskers who latched onto organics, pushed
their way, like an incessant disease, begging for
government intervention, like claiming the three
pillars of the Wheat Board was their Trinity. Oh
yes, I recall it all too well. If you think you're pissy,
you oughta try me. Pars.

[rockpile]

Hopperbin, yes the Board did a sorrowful job at farmer
relations, I had confrontations myself. Yes, the CWB
should be able to sustain a solid function with the
changes now at hand, I see no reason why not.
Farmers will achieve according to their capabilities and
their sound judgement. Parsley: at the end of the day -
your organic enterprise is just another Nigerian scam -
selling fairy dust.

[oneoff]

Let it never be etched in the history stone that "organics" and "seed growers" lived under the same rules as "conventional farmers" during the reign of the CWB monopoly.
That being agreed; we would be best to forget the sorry past and concentrate on the future; which will include a new CWB direction; if the CWB provides enough tangible benefits to deserve support.

[parsley]

Rocky,
It may soothe the organic irritant that has
burrowed in your craw, if you try to view organics
as a nutritional placebo. Pretend it works!

Those ever increasing numbers of eaters who
FEEL they have constant pain from colitis and
celiac , because doctors BELIEVE wheat is
causing the epidemic, can find, at the very least,
intermittent relief in organic placebos aka organic
food.

Eat it and a celiac might FEEL better! Then, hey,
you view organic food in terms of lowering health
care costs because placebo-food mentally cures.

Also, try to think of organics as picking up your
market share that your ordinary wheat is not able
to fill; your organic neighbors will not be
competing with you, just servicing your newly
developed celiacs.

Rocky, you can rid yourself of your O-aversion, an
exciting thought indeed: just think of organics as
mind over wheat belly, so to speak, nothing
scientific, just a psychological phenomena. If the
mind is so very powerful, that a passing-thought
can cause Wd to fantasizie over Giselle, you
might also conclude that celiacs are sick because
they think they are sick. So lets call organics a
scientific tool, that cures disease caused by
thoughts, shall we, so we can cure your o-
skepticism.

I do take to heart, though, your comments about
a Nigerian scam, as I always wondered why an
institutionalized government-mandated icon such
as the Canadian Wheat Board was so legislatively
and forcefully intent upon expropriating a handful
of pissy faced organic farmers whose mandate
has been described as feeding the dying and the
pasty. With Mafia-style precision, the CWB
'wanted in' on the so-called scam, so there is
probably more to present day organics than
meets my blepharitic eyes.

In the meantime, grow your high protein wheat
that yields so much your neighbor and StatsCan
roll their eyes, and above all, enjoy your dreams,
which I don't share. Separately, we can live and
let live.....as long as you do not persist being
a yearning single desker. Pars

[jdepape]

rockpile: you’ve said a few things that prompts a reply.

Parsley is right about the lowest common denominator idea. First, trying to make every one equal like the CWB has over the years, means some winners and some losers. But with the added costs, lack of efficiencies, poor cash flow and poor marketing performance of the CWB, everyone is taken even lower – equally.

You mention protein segregations. How do you explain that the CWB pool protein spreads are about 50 cents a bu (final pool returns) when in the US they are well over 1.50 a bu. Is that a good thing? You are absolutely right – if you produce high pro wheat, under the CWB system, you are sharing your protein premiums with those that don’t grow hi pro. Segregate it all you like – you ain’t getting full value for your protein under the current system.

CWB supporters believe in a finite pie – if someone makes more, farmers will make less. I heard it from Bill Woods recently at a meeting in Winnipeg. Talking about how “those companies” that are building processing plants because of the loss of the single desk, he said “to their shareholders they are saying they will make money because they will be able to buy from farmers cheaper”. He fails to explain the other side of that – that farmers will actually get paid more too. If you don’t know how that works then perhaps you are a member of the “Brotherhood of the Shrinking Pie”.

Farmers will get paid more by local processors and yet the processors will pay less because (1) efficiencies in price discovery and risk management and (2) no CWB costs in between.

On competition – really? You and cotton don’t see competition. You’ve been paying set tariffs on wheat in the neighbourhood of $20 at the terminal and close to that at the primary elevator. No serious means of competition and no control over logistics (in and out of the elevator) means grain companies do not use price to attract business and so effectively extract a premium from the CWB (you). Without the single desk, they will compete on price – low price when they don’t want you to deliver and high price when they do. What’s the canola basis doing right now? Last I looked it was $10 OVER in Yorkton and close to that in central Alberta. If there’s no competition in that market, why would they decide to pay up like that?

Think about this. The grain business is a fixed cost business – as much as 90-95% of their costs are fixed. The actual “cost” to handle the next load of grain is very small. If they need to, they will shave their margins to bring in more grain. Why do you think they discount their CWB tariffs by as much as much as $30/tonne or more when tendering for CWB tenders?

And there is over capacity in the system and without the single desk, the effective capacity will increase – some say by as much as 20%.

So let’s see – fixed cost structure and over-capacity. Plus, new buyers are emerging. And you don’t think there will be competition? I guess you will be pleasantly surprised.

[stonepicker]

jdepape, well written, well said, well done, appreciate
it!