HERE ARE THREE INTERESTING ARTICLES IN THIS WEEKS WESTERN PRODUCER. READ THEM AND WEEP.
SOME DAY, SOME DAY SOON!
OF COURSE THE SUPPORTERS OF THE CWB SINGLE DESK DON'T SEE ANY LINKAGE BETWEEN ONTARIO AND THE WEST. I GUESS THEY THINK WERE A BUNCH OF 2ND CLASS CITIZENS OUT HERE. FREEDOM TO MARKET FOR ONTARIO IS GOOD, FREEDOM TO MARKET FOR WESTERNERS IS BAD. WHAT HYPOCRITES.
Ontario wheat market may open up
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p1
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
Ontario's single desk marketing system for wheat may be on death's door.
Directors of the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board are circulating a proposal that would place the entire Ontario wheat crop for sale on the open market effective next summer.
At present, only 20 percent of sales can be outside the wheat board's pool or contracting system.
Under the proposal, the board would become another buyer, bidding for grain with grain companies. For almost three decades it has had first call on most or all of the province's million tonne wheat harvest.
The board would market grain and run a pool for farmers wanting to use it as their marketing agent, but it would have no right to any share of the market.
Industry insiders say the Guelph-based wheat board likely will become a vehicle for Ontario's smaller producers. However, without a guaranteed supply, it could have difficulty maintaining sales volumes to finance its marketing operations.
A checkoff could continue to fund the board's research and lobbying activities.
The proposal, which must be approved by the board's delegates and the Ontario government, will be announced publicly Aug. 27 at the board's annual meeting in Stratford, Ont.
"The board in principle agrees the market can be opened up," Ontario wheat board general manager Jaye Atkins said.
"They are waiting for industry feedback before announcing it publicly."
Board directors contacted last week refused public comment until the new "corporate plan" is unveiled. However, one director said he doubts there will be enough producer opposition to thwart the proposal.
"I think the majority are ready for an open system, an ability to avoid the bureaucratic delays that happen with the board now."
Whatever happens will be closely watched by partisans of the prairie debate over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk monopoly.
Opponents of the monopoly point to the Ontario dual market experiment as proof that a monopoly is unnecessary and that the CWB could continue to offer services for those who want it. Monopoly defenders take the opposite message, arguing that ending the monopoly and guaranteed supply would render the board weak and unable to extract market premiums.
"I'll steer clear of the debate over whether this is dual marketing or the end of dual marketing or whatever," Atkins said.
"I'll just say that the proposal is to provide more marketing opportunities."
The Ontario board's move to total open market with an optional pool would be the last stage in an evolution that has occurred as it responded to increasing pressure from southwestern
Ontario farmers to be able to bypass the central marketer.
Beginning three years ago, the board began to allow farmers to directly sell a small portion of their crop. It then developed a series of contracting options to try to compete with the open market.
The result has been less and less grain going into the pool each year. In 2002, estimates are that the pool will get less than 30 percent of the million tonne crop.
Twenty percent can be sold off-board this year and up to 50 percent is expected to flow through the board's "cash price upon delivery" option that allows farmers to take advantage of rising wheat prices without going through the pool process of initial payments, average returns and later interim payments.
"The price incentive is there this year to get the going price and ignore the pool," said Harry Buurma, who farms near Alvinston, Ont.
Farmers look forward to open market
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p12
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
ILDERTON, Ont. — Southwestern Ontario wheat farmer Don Foster had a choice about how to market the expected 750 tonnes of wheat he was harvesting last week from his farm north of London, Ont.
He could have sold it to the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board for an initial price of 75 percent of market price, expecting an interim payment in the fall and a final payment in a year, or he could sell it into a current cash market of high and rising prices.
Foster, 59, already had gained an exemption from the wheat board program and the decision was easy.
"Of course I sold all my wheat off-board," he said July 31.
"It is a higher price and I get my money right away, up front."
He said it is time for the Ontario wheat board to lose its legislated control over a large part of the province's wheat production.
"That was set up in 1973 and it may have been a good thing then, but things have changed," said Foster. "Farms are bigger now, farmers know more about marketing and we want to take advantage of the market opportunities there."
An hour's drive southwest, Wallaceburg wheat producer Alan Kerkhof understands exactly. Like many other producers, he said farmers can earn more money these days making their own marketing decisions than by going through the equalizing pool account.
He is a director and vice-president of the Ontario wheat board but still chooses to sell his wheat directly to grain companies.
Kerkhof's southwestern Ontario region is the most agriculturally productive in the province and its farmers have been most adamant in the political push for a more open wheat marketing system free of the wheat board's single desk.
They have wanted the higher prices sometimes offered at nearby American mills and resented the pro-single desk pressure that has come from less-productive areas of northern and eastern Ontario, farther away from American buyers.
A proposal to go before delegates at the board's annual meeting in late August would open the entire harvest to direct market sales and reduce the political power of the less productive areas within the board.
"There has been pressure for a long time," Kerkhof said.
"I think farmers who want to act on their own should be able to, but the board should be there for people who want to use it."
Typical of farmers in southwestern Ontario, he seeds just a part of his 700-acre farm to wheat — one quarter to wheat, one quarter to corn and the remainder to the more lucrative soybeans.
Meanwhile, Ontario millers have complained that the move away from the single desk wheat board model is a bad move creating a dysfunctional market. They say a dual system creates chaos. A return to a single desk seller would be a better option.
Foster just smiles.
"The millers had a good deal under the old system, guaranteed volume at a locked in price and they paid only when they ground the wheat," he said.
"A market system will force them to bid and sometimes pay more and buy when we want to sell. It is, after all, the wheat producers' marketing board and not the millers' marketing board."
Ont. gov't cautious on ending single desk
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p12
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
WINDSOR, Ont. — The prospect of an end to the single desk option for selling Ontario wheat has politicians cautioning against going too far too fast.
Ontario agriculture minister Helen Johns says she is prepared to follow the wishes of Ontario wheat producers if they decide to revert to an open market model.
But she also wants to be sure the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board and its pool and marketing capacity remain for those too small to do their own marketing.
"If it is the will of the producers, I'm open to the issue," Johns said.
"But I worry that for small producers this might be a challenge. I have to find a balance there between the big producer and the small producer. I have to find a way to help the small producer. They seem to be most concerned about it."
Proponents of the open market proposal say the board and its contract options and pools would continue to be available to those uninterested in playing the market themselves and who are willing to let the board worry about marketing in return for slower payments and deduction of administrative costs.
"I have had a number of groups in my office saying they can make more money selling themselves," she said after delivering a speech to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture summer semi-annual meeting.
"But I can't say that is the majority. There is nervousness among the smaller producers."
Since the wheat board operates under provincial legislation, Johns will have the final say over whether the single desk disappears.
Meanwhile, CFA leaders were quick to insist that an Ontario move away from single desk marketing should not be taken as an example for the Canadian Wheat Board.
"We will support producers whatever they decide," said Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson.
"But the circumstance is far different here than on the Prairies. Half or more of our production is sold domestically and much of the rest is a short drive from the American mills. The CWB is much different with foreign markets and a wide area."
CFA president Bob Friesen said that whatever the Ontario decision, the national farm lobby would continue to support a single desk CWB.
Studies have shown that on the world market, the CWB can extract a premium price, he said in an Aug. 1 interview.
"There is a tremendous advantage that comes from being able to sell the grain as a block," he said. "It helps us compete against transnational corporations that farmers would otherwise have to compete against on a one-to-one basis...."
SOME DAY, SOME DAY SOON!
OF COURSE THE SUPPORTERS OF THE CWB SINGLE DESK DON'T SEE ANY LINKAGE BETWEEN ONTARIO AND THE WEST. I GUESS THEY THINK WERE A BUNCH OF 2ND CLASS CITIZENS OUT HERE. FREEDOM TO MARKET FOR ONTARIO IS GOOD, FREEDOM TO MARKET FOR WESTERNERS IS BAD. WHAT HYPOCRITES.
Ontario wheat market may open up
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p1
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
Ontario's single desk marketing system for wheat may be on death's door.
Directors of the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board are circulating a proposal that would place the entire Ontario wheat crop for sale on the open market effective next summer.
At present, only 20 percent of sales can be outside the wheat board's pool or contracting system.
Under the proposal, the board would become another buyer, bidding for grain with grain companies. For almost three decades it has had first call on most or all of the province's million tonne wheat harvest.
The board would market grain and run a pool for farmers wanting to use it as their marketing agent, but it would have no right to any share of the market.
Industry insiders say the Guelph-based wheat board likely will become a vehicle for Ontario's smaller producers. However, without a guaranteed supply, it could have difficulty maintaining sales volumes to finance its marketing operations.
A checkoff could continue to fund the board's research and lobbying activities.
The proposal, which must be approved by the board's delegates and the Ontario government, will be announced publicly Aug. 27 at the board's annual meeting in Stratford, Ont.
"The board in principle agrees the market can be opened up," Ontario wheat board general manager Jaye Atkins said.
"They are waiting for industry feedback before announcing it publicly."
Board directors contacted last week refused public comment until the new "corporate plan" is unveiled. However, one director said he doubts there will be enough producer opposition to thwart the proposal.
"I think the majority are ready for an open system, an ability to avoid the bureaucratic delays that happen with the board now."
Whatever happens will be closely watched by partisans of the prairie debate over the future of the Canadian Wheat Board's single desk monopoly.
Opponents of the monopoly point to the Ontario dual market experiment as proof that a monopoly is unnecessary and that the CWB could continue to offer services for those who want it. Monopoly defenders take the opposite message, arguing that ending the monopoly and guaranteed supply would render the board weak and unable to extract market premiums.
"I'll steer clear of the debate over whether this is dual marketing or the end of dual marketing or whatever," Atkins said.
"I'll just say that the proposal is to provide more marketing opportunities."
The Ontario board's move to total open market with an optional pool would be the last stage in an evolution that has occurred as it responded to increasing pressure from southwestern
Ontario farmers to be able to bypass the central marketer.
Beginning three years ago, the board began to allow farmers to directly sell a small portion of their crop. It then developed a series of contracting options to try to compete with the open market.
The result has been less and less grain going into the pool each year. In 2002, estimates are that the pool will get less than 30 percent of the million tonne crop.
Twenty percent can be sold off-board this year and up to 50 percent is expected to flow through the board's "cash price upon delivery" option that allows farmers to take advantage of rising wheat prices without going through the pool process of initial payments, average returns and later interim payments.
"The price incentive is there this year to get the going price and ignore the pool," said Harry Buurma, who farms near Alvinston, Ont.
Farmers look forward to open market
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p12
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
ILDERTON, Ont. — Southwestern Ontario wheat farmer Don Foster had a choice about how to market the expected 750 tonnes of wheat he was harvesting last week from his farm north of London, Ont.
He could have sold it to the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board for an initial price of 75 percent of market price, expecting an interim payment in the fall and a final payment in a year, or he could sell it into a current cash market of high and rising prices.
Foster, 59, already had gained an exemption from the wheat board program and the decision was easy.
"Of course I sold all my wheat off-board," he said July 31.
"It is a higher price and I get my money right away, up front."
He said it is time for the Ontario wheat board to lose its legislated control over a large part of the province's wheat production.
"That was set up in 1973 and it may have been a good thing then, but things have changed," said Foster. "Farms are bigger now, farmers know more about marketing and we want to take advantage of the market opportunities there."
An hour's drive southwest, Wallaceburg wheat producer Alan Kerkhof understands exactly. Like many other producers, he said farmers can earn more money these days making their own marketing decisions than by going through the equalizing pool account.
He is a director and vice-president of the Ontario wheat board but still chooses to sell his wheat directly to grain companies.
Kerkhof's southwestern Ontario region is the most agriculturally productive in the province and its farmers have been most adamant in the political push for a more open wheat marketing system free of the wheat board's single desk.
They have wanted the higher prices sometimes offered at nearby American mills and resented the pro-single desk pressure that has come from less-productive areas of northern and eastern Ontario, farther away from American buyers.
A proposal to go before delegates at the board's annual meeting in late August would open the entire harvest to direct market sales and reduce the political power of the less productive areas within the board.
"There has been pressure for a long time," Kerkhof said.
"I think farmers who want to act on their own should be able to, but the board should be there for people who want to use it."
Typical of farmers in southwestern Ontario, he seeds just a part of his 700-acre farm to wheat — one quarter to wheat, one quarter to corn and the remainder to the more lucrative soybeans.
Meanwhile, Ontario millers have complained that the move away from the single desk wheat board model is a bad move creating a dysfunctional market. They say a dual system creates chaos. A return to a single desk seller would be a better option.
Foster just smiles.
"The millers had a good deal under the old system, guaranteed volume at a locked in price and they paid only when they ground the wheat," he said.
"A market system will force them to bid and sometimes pay more and buy when we want to sell. It is, after all, the wheat producers' marketing board and not the millers' marketing board."
Ont. gov't cautious on ending single desk
this document web posted: Thursday August 8, 2002 20020808p12
By Barry Wilson
Ottawa bureau
WINDSOR, Ont. — The prospect of an end to the single desk option for selling Ontario wheat has politicians cautioning against going too far too fast.
Ontario agriculture minister Helen Johns says she is prepared to follow the wishes of Ontario wheat producers if they decide to revert to an open market model.
But she also wants to be sure the Ontario Wheat Producers' Marketing Board and its pool and marketing capacity remain for those too small to do their own marketing.
"If it is the will of the producers, I'm open to the issue," Johns said.
"But I worry that for small producers this might be a challenge. I have to find a balance there between the big producer and the small producer. I have to find a way to help the small producer. They seem to be most concerned about it."
Proponents of the open market proposal say the board and its contract options and pools would continue to be available to those uninterested in playing the market themselves and who are willing to let the board worry about marketing in return for slower payments and deduction of administrative costs.
"I have had a number of groups in my office saying they can make more money selling themselves," she said after delivering a speech to the Canadian Federation of Agriculture summer semi-annual meeting.
"But I can't say that is the majority. There is nervousness among the smaller producers."
Since the wheat board operates under provincial legislation, Johns will have the final say over whether the single desk disappears.
Meanwhile, CFA leaders were quick to insist that an Ontario move away from single desk marketing should not be taken as an example for the Canadian Wheat Board.
"We will support producers whatever they decide," said Ontario Federation of Agriculture president Jack Wilkinson.
"But the circumstance is far different here than on the Prairies. Half or more of our production is sold domestically and much of the rest is a short drive from the American mills. The CWB is much different with foreign markets and a wide area."
CFA president Bob Friesen said that whatever the Ontario decision, the national farm lobby would continue to support a single desk CWB.
Studies have shown that on the world market, the CWB can extract a premium price, he said in an Aug. 1 interview.
"There is a tremendous advantage that comes from being able to sell the grain as a block," he said. "It helps us compete against transnational corporations that farmers would otherwise have to compete against on a one-to-one basis...."
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