CWB wants to import CHEAP EU Feed Grain?

[TOM4CWB]

Charlie,

The CWB had a conference call this morning, wanting to bring in screening pellets from Thunder Bay and Vancouver, at net prices more than what they are offering for CPS and Malt Barley...

Doesn't that top it all???

But there is more...

The CWB Director in charge told the call the CWB was looking at importing European feed grains, cause they could bring those in cheaper than they could get the screening pellets...


SO the question is...

What is the job of the CWB???

Is the Livestock influence so strong on the CWB Board of Directors... that looking after livestock is more important than selling our grain at a decent price... so we can afford put a crop in next spring???

What is the Job of the CCA ACC..., does the C in CWB mean Cattle???

Where do these directors get off at... What do they do at their meetings, other than beat up on Jim Chatenay...,

Why do we have a grain marketing monopoly, if there true colours show their real purpose is actually, in there base purpose and actions, to lower our returns for Wheat and Barley???

Do Farmers actually deserve to go to jail, for opposing CWB actions when the CWB works "on our behalf" to destabilise our grain prices and drive them lower?



Did I miss something???

What is fair Charlie, Lee, Chaffmeister, and yes Thalpenny???

[TOM4CWB]

Thalpenny,

Mr. Ritter, your fearless chairman said;

"The CWB is a marketing agency that works to maximize farmer returns from the marketplace but we take a stand on issues when they prevent the marketplace from working the way it should. When you have people competing against you who are getting as much in public dollars for their grain as you are from the marketplace, there can be no doubt that there’s something fundamentally wrong.

It’s all the more ironic, then, that the same people who are skewing the market with their huge subsidies are also the folks who turn around and take aim squarely at our grain industry in Western Canada. It’s clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black when the same American lawmakers who work to launch trade cases accusing the CWB of unfair trading practices vote for billions of dollars of added spending through the US Farm Bill. Among the many other challenges that farmers faced in the past crop year, none was more irritating than the on-going trade harassment by certain American politicians and grain industry officials. In the ruling that the US Trade Representative brought down in February, the Americans were again unable to find grounds to slap tariffs and import quotas on Canadian grain. But they continue to annoy and investigate and threaten us because we’re good at what we do. Because the fact of the matter is, we’re not dumping grain, we’re selling it at a premium."

Thalpenny, take one look at the Portland Cash prices... Today at

http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/9/9/29906499.html

THE PRO numbers are not even close to any of the cash barley on wheat Portland values...

Isn't the CWB forcefully selling our 2002-03 crop at subsidised "Monopoly" "Single Desk" prices, cause we "designated area" grain producers don't have a choice in who markets our grain...

WHO keeps the CWB accountable, when it is obvious you are more concerned about the livestock producer and domestic millers than you are about your "designated area" slave producers???

A CWRS 13.5 buyback price @ $245/t and the PRO at $228/t, how can this be anything but the CWB extracting a premium ONLY out of "designated area" wheat producers...

And when you skew the wheat sales values lower, then our Crop Insurance values are recked as well...

And this is Maximising my returns???

[ianben]

The cheapest grain appears to be in the Ukraine at the moment so I believe.
Dragging UK prices down again. If I was running a feedlot in Alberta I think I would be checking out the logistics.
I sure wish someone would buy it as our grain trade uses it to price our grain with no desire to buy.
Ukraine want hard currency and will sell at any price for $$$$$$.
I cant see it is a job for the CWB though, but it must be in the grain farmers long term interest your cattle industry survives in the best possible way.
Will no cattle and good 03 harvest will see me blameing Canada for cheap grain prices???

[charliep]

I'm not going near this one.

My only comment is that we need to deal with the issues here as a farm community. Grain and cattle guys need to get together to examine all the alternatives. The local market for feed grains is paying more money that than any of the export markets for high quality grain.

Based on having access to all the grain produced in western Canada we have more than adequate grain/energy supplies. Protein supplies (i.e. soybean meal) are likely to be in surplus by this winter (lots of soybeans/crush driven by vegoil).

Roughage/bedding is the problem. Does anyone still have one of those old chaff wagons to pull behind a combine.

[cowman]

I thought the CWB was supposed to be an agent to sell grain for farmers in the designated areas. Not a social agency! It is not their role to play the lone ranger and come riding to the rescue! What will they save next...Medi-care? It must be totally frustrating to have your marketing arm do everything possible to ruin your markets. Just goes to show you who the CWB really represents and answers to. Not the grain farmer but the federal government! Lets have no more of this drivel about how it is a farmer driven agency.

[cowman]

Tom4cwb, I was on that conference call you refer to. It's amazing how these things get twisted!!

The Director who was involved in the call did NOT propose that the CWB would be taking possession of screenings to sell back to farmers. He was responding to a request to explore if the CWB could assist in coordinating the movement of screenings on a backhaul into the country, which came out of a CFA meeting. The conference call you refer to was to present the idea to farm orgs and offer some coordination assistance.

The issue of importing cheap feed grains from other countries was not that the CWB would be importing grains for sale into Canada, but rather identifying that on a landed Sask. basis, grain could be procured from the Black Sea area competitive with or perhaps slightly cheaper than current feed values.

Tom

[cowman]

Oh yeah, to respond to the PRO question - Tomrcwb knows that the PRO is an estimate of final returns over a 12 to 15 month period, and that there is lots of volatility right now. PROs are estimates of final returns to farmers, and do not reflect cash trading values on a spot basis.

This crop is not in the bin yet, and volumes and quality are still up in the air.

Tom

[cowman]

The conference call was with members of farm orgs who participate in the Crop Loss Coalition, and there were about 8-10 orgs represented that day. The questions were put to the farm orgs for their consideration.

Tom

[parsley]

thalpenny,

Who were the farm organizations that comprise the Crop Loss Coalition and which ones participated in the conference call?

Parsley

[charliep]

Tom

As we both know from being right in the middle of the drought area, this years crop 2/3 of average (if we are optimists). CWB projections from yesterday are accurate. Alberta is 2 to 3 mln tonnes lower on feed grains which will either be imported as US corn or taken from the milling wheat/malt markets.

Just a comment on screening/mill run. We need to have extreme caution on anything we bring in both in terms of fusarium/weeds. Likely we won't bring in crop from off shore but similar concerns need to be expressed there.

In this environment, it is critical the CWB get accurrate pricing signals to farmers so they can make good decisions. The need is there to get mid month PRO forecasts out if the situation has changed significantly.

The question. Given what we know today are the current PRO an accurate reflection of what likely total payments this year? Given what I know about the process, the sales plan the CWB is likely to have and current prices, I have trouble reconciling current PRO forecasts.

[TOM4CWB]

Thalpenny,

I understand Screening pellets from Thunder Bay – Vancouver was a major topic, and how the CWB could get a better freight rate with it’s “Power”.

You comment;

“The issue of importing cheap feed grains from other countries was not that the CWB would be importing grains for sale into Canada, but rather identifying that on a landed Sask. basis, grain could be procured from the Black Sea area competitive with or perhaps slightly cheaper than current feed values. “


Now, what is the effect of CWB actions?

Cost, the CWB says it can do this identifying and communicating free?

I know, as every grain farmer know, every activity I engage in has a cost, and I know the CWB is no different.

There is a large cost to me, that you folks at the CWB are engaged in multiple activities in the political arena, actively promoting political policies that are not supported by the CWB Act, or your purpose for existing. Yet I must pay for you doing these activities, and I object.

Just in case you forgot, I will remind you:

Powers

6. (1) The Corporation possesses the following powers:

(a) to buy, take delivery of, store, transfer, sell, ship or otherwise dispose
of grain;


Sale and disposal of grain

7. (1) Subject to the regulations, the Corporation shall sell and dispose of grain acquired by it pursuant to its operations under this Act for such prices as it considers reasonable with the object of promoting the sale of grain produced in Canada in world markets.


These are your purpose and reason for existence.

Are you telling me the Multinational grain companies and large co-op organizations like Agricore United/SWP are not aware of the international situation, and need CWB advice?

Would you have me believe, if political and economic logistics were in order, that these organizations could not efficiently and effectively handle feed procurement logistics?

I know SWP/Agpro has been dealing with these logistics for months, and have been supplying multiple car delivery options for feed, so why is the CWB now the expert advisor on bringing feed into western Canada?

What in the CWB Act compels you to involve yourself in this activity?

Why aren’t you working on marketing logistics that help grain producers, who by the way have less marketing and input cost control options than livestock producers.

Where is the cash purchase option we farmers so desperately need?

You correctly stated:

Oh yeah, to respond to the PRO question – Tom4cwb knows that the PRO is an estimate of final returns over a 12 to 15 month period, and that there is lots of volatility right now. PROs are estimates of final returns to farmers, and do not reflect cash trading values on a spot basis.

This crop is not in the bin yet, and volumes and quality are still up in the air.”

So I don’t know how much what I have to sell yet, and couldn’t commit it to you before August 1, 2002.

And prices are high, yet I cannot cash price when I do know volume and quality…

So I am stuck with the CWB Pool, if I end up with milling wheat.

Now what have you done with the Pool for 2002-03???

When the Commissioners were running the CWB, the policy was to only cash sell throughout the year, to insure grain farmers did in fact get the “Pool” average price the CWB got throughout the year.

Now I am told the CWB doesn’t do this any more, otherwise the PRO would in fact be higher than it is now…

So if the CWB hedges, and doesn’t risk manage those hedges, the pooling accounts pay the price, and I also get less from my crop insurance coverage.

Malt growers get less for their barley…

So, Thalpenny, fess up…, has the CWB sold grain without risk management, when no-one committed wheat to the 2002-03 crop year yet?

How is the CWB going to get malt barley and wheat to supply pre-sold low value contracts, other than to drive down domestic prices for grain, in whatever method possible, to work yourselves out of this mess you yourselves created?

Isn’t this what is really the incentive behind your CWB actions…???


NOW, HOW DO THESE cwb ACTIONS MAXIMISE MY RETURNS, as a wheat grower ? ? ?

[TOM4CWB]

Conspire away, tom4cwb. This worrying about the CWB mandate and should the CWB directors talk about possible solutions to evident problems is like looking gift horse i the mouth. The cheap international feed grain cominginto Canada is much ado about nothing anyway, I suspect.

Regarding your comments on what has been sold without risk management, I think you're speculating wildly. Are you suggesting that the PRO, reflecting sales over a long period of time, should just reflect the spot price of today?

I suspect the PRO will improve on the next announcement, but I don't know by how much. Anything more is speculation on my part.

Tom

[TOM4CWB]

Thalpenny,

I believe an answer on CWB sales policies is only reasonable.

You obviously didn't answer my question about CWB pricing and risk management within the pooling accounts.

Farmers have no choice but to speculate on why, how, and when you sell our grain within a pooling year.

I for one need to know this information, particularily when you refuse to offer a viable cash pricing marketing tool.

And since it is my grain you are selling, not the CWB's, why can't you offer information about the timing and volumes of sales you are making on my behalf.

On Barley, why is the CWB even bothering with it when it is painfully obvious all that happens is market distortion and farmers loss, whenever the CWB pooling system trys to deal with it?

Why exactly don't you offer a fair cash price on malt and feed barley throughout the year, with pooling that reflects fair prices???

There is obviously much work that the CWB needs to concentrate their efforts on, without entering the political arena...

How long do you think grain farmers will put up with your lack of concrete marketing improvements and marketing performance enhancments?

Why doesn't the CWB offer minimum price contracts like the OWPMB does?

Why doesn't the CWB offer cash prices like the OWPMB does?

Don't "designated area" grain producers have a right to be suspicious and tired of the retoric the CWB churns out in massive expensive amounts (which we must pay for), especially when your performance is dreadful compared with our other marketers in our other products???

[flatbroke]

I certainly don't think it ludicrous for the CWB to be involved in this. Their ability to co-ordinate backhauls of screenings would be unique and benificial, and certainly no less harmful than fusarium infected U.S. corn that is flooding across the border as we speak. It seems to me very short sighted to gouge cattle operators this year, only to drive them out of business and eliminate a major market for feed grains for many years to come. Is it necessarily the CWB's role? Probably not directly, but they should have an interest in grain producers long term survival, and I do think such things would qualify given the circumstances.We do not live in a vacuum! Really, the farmers of Ontario and the maritimes should not be expected to help us either, but thank God they are, whilst the federal Liberals sit back and watch with their thumbs up their (noses). Also, why not complain about CN and CPR donating rail cars? Because without exeption, every CWB basher I've ever spoken with seems to have the greatest concern for ensuring huge profits for the railways. After all, the CWB was established solely to keep us poor. It's the railways and Multi-national grain merchants that really have our best interests at heart , right? In times such as these, we'd better wake up to the fact the Ont. farmers have already figured out; if we don't get out of this "you against me" attitude and into "us against them", there won't be any us.

[parsley]

flatbroke,

In the July, August Grainews published by the Canadian Wheat Board, the Board explains how the PRO is designed to give farmers better price signals. It is supposed to be a tool to equip farmers to be better decision makers , thus farmers should be able to depend upon the information because as the Board says, "all CWB PRO's are based on confirmed sales and projected sales prices." But a farm publication accuses the Grainews article of being "basically untrue" !
This week's Manitoba Co-operator sums up it's editorial about the CWB's Pool Return Outlook, commonly called the PRO, by stating:

"The PRO for barley, it seems, is actually a manipulated figure designed to suck barley into a sales program that is not returning the highest price and best returns for farmers. The PRO, in short , is a con."

Farmers read how the CWB, as the editorial says, "dumped 56,000 tonnes of barley at $135 per tonne, a loss of $45 per tonne, or $2.5 million in total, over what could have been realized from domestic sales." You need to understand this, flatbroke. Cowboys directly paid grain farmers more than the Wheat Board did and in actuality, their returns on feed barley was $135 per tonne.

The commentary tells us "the CWB virtually took $2.5 million out of the pockets of barley farmers-----money they would have had if the CWB had published an honest PRO and let the barley move into the domestic market"

Discussing the PRO, the Manitoba Co-operator editorial even goes on to say: "It is easiest of all to be critical of a description of a program, like the one in Grain Matters, which is so far from reality that the word "lie" pops to mind."

You seem to think, flatbroke that the railways are out to get everyone, and perhaps they are, but first of all, don't you think it is a good idea if farmers address the most obvious liar of all, the one farmers have blindly put their trust in--------the Canadian Wheat Board?

And you want them to negotiate on your behalf? Good grief.

Parsley