maybe its been broken for ever but was itbnot desinged for farmers

[fjlip]

You nailed it Bucket, agree 100%. It all stinks, ya "peasant farmers".

[ado089]

The trouble is, as some comments on this thread demonstrate, the gulag has enough support to divide the peasants. No need for the nkvd.

[wmoebis]

It seems that producer orientated/funded, markets and org's soon become political or industry driven.

[BFW]

If you want to use the futures markets more effectively you need to have the right quality of grain in the bin. Taking basis contracts on crop in the field that you may not harvest only adds risk and actually plays into the hands of the buyer. Number one job for farmer is get grain to bin in good condition. Then you have options and at least started to gain some negotiating advantage. Also need to remember,"your competitor is your friend, your customer is the enemy." think about it.

[Hopperbin]

Also need to remember,"your competitor is your friend, your customer is the enemy."
Dont agree with that. Agree get the grain in the bin in good condition grow it efficiently. I think our futures are not working cause they are not priced at the farmers bin. Farmers product is not part of final trade. Grain buyers should have their position of middle man if they want that position between final buyer or another middle buyer. Where is webber when you need him? I can sell grain get to terminal and loaded on a rail car within a week if the system is working. Or bagged loaded can not sure but it should. Why shouldnt our bins be on the final trade????

[jdwerker]

Good comments on here, except for Mel Gibson acting like everyone who disagrees with the status quo is a commie. It's not 1927 and it's not 1963, these are real problems and the "family" monopolies are unfairly protected by a largely closed system. (False capitalism at its worst.)

If I remember my movies, Braveheart was about fighting oppression, not laying in the dirt and taking it.

[bucket]

The "families" marketing reps sent emails to farmers to beg the government for movement and then still took a buck for basis.
I am not defending the railways but their rates are still only a buck a bushel moose jaw to Vancouver.

So where does the rest of the money go?

There is no risk when you are buying at 5 bucks a bushel, have set freight rate, and selling for over 10 off the coast.

[Braveheart]

Hahaha. My moniker was selected because of family names, not the movie.

From early farming days farmers were suspicious of the commodity exchange. Called it a den of thieves. There were meetings in church basements denouncing the robber barons that were "controlling" it. The comments then, be it 1920, 27, 35, pick a year, were EXACTLY the same as the comments here. Comments that were ill informed, from people that didn't take the time to understand how exchanges worked or, who hadn't taken marketing opportunities when presented and then looked for someone else to blame.

The market is too big for "families" or anyone else to control. If you don't like the "families" deal with someone else. By the way, who are these "families" you're talking about?

[Braveheart]

Jdwerker, what is this largely closed system? The only thing closed must be your mind because since the CWB monopoly is gone I see no barriers outside of imagination.

[bucket]

The "familes" are Parrish, heimbecker, paterson, Richardson. All canadian. Then you can add in cargill, dreyfus etc,

The canadian families won't use the canadian futures market - why should I?

The more I hear of how the open market is to work by people that say they know how it works, the more uncomfortable I feel.

The organization that sings like a meadow lark sbout the open market and has the ear of Ritz is doing no favours for western Canadian farmers.

What pisses me off is that the families got farmers to do the heavy lifting against the railways and they continue to reward themselves.

There is a short crop coming, let's see how that works out for them.

Although the guys that buy into prepricing a crop that isn't in the bin may end up finally rewarding those that do. And maybe that's the way the market works.

I still think the canadian market is ****ed when no one will price durum off a Canadian market.

But a crop has to move and have transparency to it, to make the market work properly.

We don't have the reporting to make it work here and the ag minister has no competence to implement it here like the USDA does it in the states.

Big problems. Ignore them and all you have is a ponzi scheme run by the "families". They just keep pulling in the little fish like peasants.

[Hopalong]

Sometimes think about the farmers who went before us, farmed the same land and were so dissatisfied with the "system" in 1927.
Have seen a big change in my own lifetime in farmer attitude.
Only a few now speak out in favour of revolutionary change.
With increase in size and business orientation of farms, do not think a return to prairie pools and union type activity will happen.
More likely, we will continue to work together in commissions and associations but even that may not last.

[bucket]

The problems with commissions and associations is they wander. You can already see the rift between the wcwga and the SWDC because of age old battles.

And some are too ****ing stupid to set their opinions aside for the greater good of farmers in general. The story has been written already.

Some feel because they were born into wealth it gives them the knowledge of a grand poohbah. But they haven't had enough sense to look down the road 25 years to see what happens. I have watched a consolidation of an area in the 70s. Its happening again and not for the better.

Others have baggage and an attitude that they can't modify that allows for no compromises - that doesn't help either.

Apas was supposed to work - it hasn't. They just muddle along. No public comments.

A giant mindset change would be needed to reintroduce the pools. But there would be success for s modified idea of that.

The pools were a good example of wealthy inbred kids being influenced by snake oil salesmen. Think about it.