Editorial: Wheat prices – a great big mess

[farmaholic]

To the RR portion of this thread, hard to argue with this sort of "success".

<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/q605/yip2/charting.png" border="0" alt="CPR Share Price photo charting.png"/></a>



Just trying to be an antagonist, er hem I mean point out CP's success.

[bucket]

If the graph has to do with railways where did the grain get pulled from and where did prices reflect that movement?

[farmaholic]

bucket, I farm SE of Regina, We got movement in the much later part of last crop year and my plans to load 18 producers cars evaporated when I was told the RRs were 6 to 8 weeks behind in spotting. I don't have that much extra bin space. So orders were cancelled even after the tentative letter and then the confirmation letters were received. There would have never been enough time or bodies around here to harvest and load producer cars at the same time. The inefficiencies of producer cars would have got in the way of the RR's catch up plans.

[bucket]

Put the bins at the loading facility and away you go.

Producer spots could help if the railways and graincos were not colluding to force grain where they wanted it.

Government is applauding the inefficiencies.

And refuse to do a ****ing thing about it. At least liberals through some cash at us to shut us up.

[foragefarmer]

Tom4cwb
You stated

The blending cost to get rid of our CWRS can't be cheap!!! What percent CWRS to DNS quality does Japan use each year? 20 percent CWRS quality to 80 percent DNS in Japanese bakeries be close?

2012 calender year
MAFF purchases different types of wheat, mainly from the United States, Canada and Australaia, to best
meet the needs of Japanese users.
Table 10: Major Types of Imported Wheat and Their Uses (Unit: MT)
Class Use JFY2012 Import Volume

U.S. Dark Northern Spring (DNS) Bread and Chinese noodles 1,220,000
Canada Western Red Spring #1 (1CW) Bread 989,000

Tom where did you dream up your numbers from. For the 2012 calender year the percentage of CWRS is 45% and DNS is 55% purchased by Japan. This was published in March 2014. Get your facts straight Tom!!

[TOM4CWB]

Thanks Forage!

You got the point that Japan buys the majority of their wheat from the US.

The US is the most reliable wheat shipper in the world. Japan pays a premium for premium wheat. Obviously we need to do better here in Western Canada. The CWB gamble on weak gluten didn't win global acceptance. Just like the flop on hard white.

As usual... The customers must drive quality traits.

[Hopalong]

John's editorial is short of detail on what he means by a regulated framework.
Does mention revenue cap and information reporting, wonder what else he has in mind.

[bucket]

Interesting that Tom says the US is the most reliable wheat shipper in the world. Anyone wondering why?

DNS has the same distance to travel to the PNW as our comparable cwrs.
How do they do it?

There is alot of canadian wheat that moves through the US system. Do you think it's called cwrs when it is sold out of the PNW or by then is it called DNS for the Japanese market?

Maybe don't forget that railways in the states get called before the STB and are not allowed to tell governors senators and other interested parties for freight service to **** off. The railways are expected to come with a plan.

Tom can admire the US movement of grain but when he really looks at it maybe he should point out some of the facts that make it the most reliable shipper of wheat in the world to his buddy Ritz.

Farmers in the states wouldn't put up with this shit for very long.

They certainly never had a backlog of cars like canada did . Numbers wise or proportionally when you consider their volumes.


So Tom what do you think is wrong with the Canadian system and what is your plan for it to become a reliable shipper.?

Or do you prefer to send accolades on the US system while the canadian system remains in a cluster****?

[bucket]

A hint is that US graincos have to report their sales daily if large enough and at weeks end.

Railways have to have a plan.

Everything is correlated with other industries so the infrastructure is built for what they see coming.

Think trend line yields. They are used for more that marketing, they are used to help develop an infrastructure plan.

Now put it in Canadian terms. Larger crops, oil moving by rail, and in saskatchewan 2 new potash plants plus the increased production from the existing ones. Anyone see an infrastructure plan from this or any government people that get paid outrageous salaries to plan for this?

Pretty ****ing simple to lay the plan for what's coming. While they are at ribbon cuttings and rah rah sessions like kinderserley someone could have been thinking about the future needs of this country.

It's called vision.

And it's about staying ahead of our competitors - we're not.

The youngest country on this planet has destroyed more infrastructure that other countries would be envious of. All in ty he name of "efficiency". And all we as farmers ended up with lineups of super Bs instead of 3 tons. I wouldn't call that progress. Ruining the public highway system every 5 years as opposed to a little maintenance on ribbons of steel every 50 years.

Vision from political, business and other leaders in this country would go a long way to getting us back on track. Pun intended.

[farmaholic]

Bucket, I live along a CN branchline and have to cross it to get to our farm. CN hasn't even cut the grass on the shoulders of the railbed, what do you think will happen at the municipal road crossings when the first blizzard or any amount of drifting snow occurs? Unreal lack of maintenance and management. I put the call in, non-confrontational of course--honey versus vinegar.

There were efficiency gains in the rail and elevator consolidation but not accrued to the public(taxpayer highways) or Producers so much.... Couldn't be better for the RRs and Grain Cos.

[bucket]

No grass cutting. Interesting. I will bet it will be snow filled and unusable for the winter months.

Simple shit like that isn't done to save the cost of mowing. It's done for the railways to push the grain where they want it.

Just pisses me off that a call has to be made to something that should be a routine maintenance work order in CNs office.

And the CTA rubber stamps freight rate increases that have included that mowing as a cost to operating.

[farmaholic]

Let alone the willows that are growing further down the shoulder that are getting to a height that will hold snow across the rails as they fill up. Anyone who "physically" had to clean pushed bush piles or old rail workers who cleared by hand knows you don't let these things get re-established, unless you're a tree hugger of course.

I'm old enough to see how things have gone backwards. I sound like the an old grumpy man I am. LOL