Alberta Wheat Commission launches project aimed at improving market transparency and efficiency

[bucket]

Depape

Then look at the US. In the northern tier states they quote mpls futures and minus a basis.

It doesn't have to be recalculated.

So take mpls futures convert to cdn and minus the posted basis.

Simple Enough?

Graincos and farmco don't want to do that because the truth is the basis is still minus 2 bucks cdn per bushel. Off mpls futures.

We don't want to judge off export prices which is what our freight rates are prepaid to get our grain to the west coast. And then calculate the basis because then it's minus 4 bucks cdn per bushel.

You should be heading to Mexico - with that senator patronage dividend?

[bucket]

Depape

There should be only one way to calculate basis. And the components of basis should be spelled out clearly.


If you are not striving for that you really are not looking for transparency.


Your comments indicate you are striving for more confusion.

Why?

[btjadenlepp]

With all due respect to the parties involved, I'm livid that farmer checkoffs and taxpayer money are being spent on this initiative.

We have spent the last 11 years at FarmLink building systems and relationships, re-investing hard-earned revenues from the farmers who believed in our vision, to make sure we always know where the best bids are.

We have overcome the issues related to lack of price transparency thanks to private investment made by ourselves and our clients. Nobody in my organization struggles to know what crops are worth, because we work as a team on collaborative, positive and good-faith communications with buyers.

And of course it's not just us. There are a growing number of private companies working very hard on innovative solutions to overcome the lack of price transparency. It's backwards to think that a public web site can replicate the innovative work of FarmLink and our competitors.

To the farmers who approved this, my question is this. What do you want the government to do for you next, set up a monopoly maybe? Sure it takes time to call around and work a deal when you sell your grain, so does every other aspect of farming. Take some ownership of your marketing and accept that you are accountable for how the decisions pan out.

www.farmlinksolutions.ca

[bucket]

Great. Then maybe you can explain basis calculations?

[btjadenlepp]

we do it all day long bucket.

[bucket]

So you won't do it here?

It's not something that should need to be explained regularly.

Basis equals what?

A plus B equals the basis.

Or

A plus B minus C divided by D and then take the square root of F to equal a basis?

[bucket]

BTW I missed E in the equation that's an unknown. Could be E equals the temperature of the day divided by 3.

[farming101]

L Weber, that's nothing. The best Dreyfus at Tisdale can offer out to the end of Mar for #1 13.5 is something with a 4 in front of it. Convert that to USD.
A 41,000 tonne plant on heavy steel with a unit train spot. Really??

[tweety]

bucket, you can pay for it and have the basis explained. Or apparently just wait a while now and get for free.

i feel bad for you btj. I really do.

[Oliver88]

http://www.grainews.ca/daily/new-website-to-shed-light-on-grain-prices?utm_source=FBC Publications&utm_campaign=62dc93bc34-Grainews daily enews Jan 29%2C 2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2da8244677-62dc93bc34-88069253

Edmonton — Don’t know if your local elevator is offering a good price or not? There’s an app for that.
Or at least there will be once www.pdqinfo.ca is fully up and running.
The new website, created by the Alberta Wheat Commission with $742,725 in federal funding, aims to give farmers timely and accurate pricing data for grains and oilseeds.
“We feel strongly that this project has the potential to change the way farmers market their crops through access to better and more timely information,” said AWC chairman Kent Erickson.
“Our ultimate goal is a more transparent market, one that enables producers to be able to capture the marketing opportunities available to them.”
Currently it’s hard for grain farmers to get a firm handle on prices being offered for their crops, said federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, who flew to Edmonton to announce the project Wednesday at FarmTech.
“There are a number of websites that are up there now, including some of the grain companies’, that claim to be price-transparent,” said Ritz. “The problem is a lot of them are two or three weeks out of date. So this will be very timely (and) updated daily or on our half-day basis.”
“There is a varying degree of where farmers are looking for price,” added Erickson, who farms near Irma, Alta. “It is currently very fragmented. The new website gives a good benchmark and more accountability is going to make the website better.”
The website — pdq stands for “price and data quotes” — is currently in pilot mode and offers just a single price for four crops: Canada Western Red Spring, Canada Western Amber Durum, Canada Prairie Spring Red and canola.
The website covers eight zones (three in Alberta, four in Saskatchewan an one in Manitoba) and offers a price for each zone. Additional crops and more detailed pricing will be added in the coming weeks and months, said Erickson.
“The more companies that get involved and contribute to the background of the website, it will make the website that much more robust,” he said.
And there will be a mobile version, too, Ritz said.
“It will be an app on your iPhone or Android or whatever you have, and if you’re looking for a certain price, it will ping you when the market hits that price — that’s the ultimate goal,” said Ritz.
“In the game”
Producers need to have a clear idea of what the current “benchmark” price is before they start calling their elevators, said Erickson. And any substantial change in that price will alert them that something is moving the market.
The pricing data will be supplied voluntarily by a cross-section of buyers and sellers, said Ritz, and both he and Erickson said getting their participation will be critical to the success of the initiative.
“The discussions have been ongoing with a lot of them,” said Ritz. “Of course, the smaller and mid-range players like this idea because it lets them show they’re in the game. The bigger ones will tell you, ‘We have our own websites,’ and they do — but it comes down to the accuracy and timeliness of those websites.”
Having up-to-date information available to marketers in a “neutral, public place” will benefit all stakeholders in the ag commodity trade, the commission said.
“Having all this information in one place will help farmers make better judgments on when and where to price their grain,” Levi Wood, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers, said in a separate release Wednesday.
“It will also help the trade in developing their grain marketing plans and executing their sales programs.”

– Alexis Kienlen is a reporter for Alberta Farmer Express in Edmonton. Jill Burkhardt is a farmer and farm journalist based at Gwynne, Alta.

[jdepape]

I don't think anyone here will argue against price transparency. It's the foundation of a functioning market. Those whose comments here are, shall we say "unsupportive", either don't think this initiative is going to do enough - or its going to do too much. Odd.

I think ultimately it comes down to whether you see price information as a "public good" or a "private good". If you truly believe in an "open market", price signals need to be as public, accessible and comparable as possible.

So far, I haven't seen anyone doing that.

[Crazyharrows]

Bucket you have to pay for that info. If a open market worked like it should then we would not have to pay someone to tell us how basis is calulated!!