What a way to run a railroad. Agriweek Mar 2

[grassfarmer]

LOL, start writing letters to your Con MP. As usual Tom is so far behind he thinks he is ahead. Lapped again.

[wmoebis]

Help me understand.
Why don't farmers sign contracts with fert companies for agreed price for delivery on an agreed month then the fert company store it until you are ready to pick it up?

Just like the grain system does.
Why do we have to supply bins for the fert Co's and the grain Co's and be their bankers too?

[bucket]

Grassfarmer


My MP David Anderson is already having letter to the editor pissing matches with other party candidates and the left constituents.

Good hey? Ignore the problems they are pointing out, to serve out a public service announcement from the conservatives through a letter to the editor.

I call the Ottawa office to get their opinion on the discrepancies about the transportation reports. They say they will get back to you but never do.

Constituency office pretends they know nothing and defers to Ottawa.

Must be good to ignore constituents?

For those that will vote conservative this time, at least ask what the **** they are doing about this dysfunctional system in marketing they implemented and their intent on getting both the railways and graincos from blaming each other while both profit at the expense of farmers.

[MBgrower]

Tom, nothing from stopping you from owning a railway company. Become a shareholder, organise fellow like minded farmers and individuals, create an investment company with a sole purpose to gain controlling interest in cn and cp. Railways have been a great investment in my portfoli.

[bucket]

Mbgrower

At what point do the railways realize they are losing money by not investing in themselves to handle more freight?

And at what point do governments realize they can't afford to rebuild public highways that don't need the heavy traffic on them in the first place?

[bucket]

Because farmers like having bins. It's like a gold star in elementary school.

Most were conditioned way back when and haven't shed that mindset yet.

4 farmers put up bins equalling the equivalent of a 10000 tonne elevator.

Beautiful but no closer to a transportation system. And they bought semis to compare as well.

I am not jealous, but I can't believe guys this smart wouldn't invest collectively to avoid the current system. They would be wealthier in the long run.

[dmlfarmer]

The only time prices have arbitraged since the loss of the CWB monopoly was when the severe drought in the US shorted supply there. We had excessive rail capacity for movement of the 2012 crop in both US and Canada. The return of normal crops in 2013 and 14 resulted in a exactly the same lack of arbitrage that existed under the CWB. So was the CWB actually the reason for the lack of arbitrage as Tom continues to claim or simply a symptom of a long known problem - transportation?

Without a doubt the loss of the monopoly was a boom to farmers living close to the border. But if you live more than a few hours away, without arbitrage it has not helped. Furthermore, what are the externalized costs of increased traffic and road repair as we try to truck grain much greater distances now to get higher prices?
WE are also facing buyer resistance for the loss of coordination of shipping, loss of Canadian branding, and even a loss of markets since the end of the CWB because multinational companies could care less if they sell Canadian wheat or wheat from another country as long as they sell. And don't forget we know enjoy a wider basis than we ever had under the CWB because of a lack of competition and price discovery. All these were unintended costs of the end of the CWB.
The biggest joke of all is as farmers we are continually being asked to take action which will no doubt benefit a few but when you take the time to actually learn about the problem and proposed solution you find most will be left worse off. No longer are farmers, farm groups, or government looking out for what is good for Canadian agricultural as a whole, they are only interested in what is in it for me.

[bucket]

Dmlfarmer

Well said. Do you think you could get your MP to understand what you just wrote. ?

I highly doubt it or they would be looking for a solution.

The exact same thing happened under the cwb and the conservatives said it was wrong? Their silence today speaks volumes on their misunderstanding and incompetence.

Our transportation system should be ready for the crops we grow now and into the future. It's not.

There is no vision.

And soon it won't matter how big a farmer you are this mess will hamstring your operation.

[TOM4CWB]

Please cc your MP.

Please cc your MLA and Write them a letter. Agriculture is shared jurisdiction (Fed/Prov) under the Canadian Constitution.

Cc and write your Provincial Minister responsible for Agriculture.

I am in the process of doing all these things... and very likely would not have... if a 'Writ of Execution' had not been issued against me... in January of 2015 by the CN and CP railways.

Yet... a 'Writ of Execution' with a close to comparative damages charge against our farm's grain... has been issued against each one here on Agriville. Every grain farmer in western Canada. Studies are being done by the SK commissions with experts saying grain transport is costing billions extra... in lost value.

Obviously these very threads... run on this very message board... not very far down the list below.

This is NOT easy writing. This is not fun. Obviously this is NOT about me... as I said this is about US working together to counterbalance and overtake the myriad of railway lobbyists who daily walk the isles of power... in the Capitals of our Country.

The power of the great hunter... with his coordination and knowledge of both CN and CP is overwhelming.

What do we do? If we offend the great Hunter... with way over a hundred lobbyists hired to do his bidding now he has a voluntary imformal joint venture between the railways;

the Hunted... who offend the railing executives... of the great RR JV... can easily cut off cars to your delivery point. 'Writs of Execution' written and delivered against your farm... every time the your cars are late or not delivered at all.

The CWB used to do this... now the RR can with impunity... and we can't prove it... other than to judge the result by a wide basis... and short bank accounts for our farms.

I am an environmentalist. We should absolutely be using rail cars... loaded locally... to haul our grains to export position.

We/our farm spent days... before Christmas... hauling flax with superbees... hundreds of miles... with tank after tank of fuel burnt.. to fill containers... hauled to Calgary... back and forth by trucks... because dependable rail service cannot be found a few miles just over the hills... on Battle River Rail. But the oil cars sure were spotted and picked up!

Now the Hunted are running out of time and money... as spring breakup is upon us... and our bank accounts run into lines of credit... instead of planned cash flow that was tendered months ago...

A 'Writ of Execution' has been issued against every grain farm in western Canada!!!

You might need a catchy line like this... and write the great Hunter... ask him to release your farm... and get some power working and haul your hopper cars to the US and our ports!!!

[samhill]

That was the idea behind your local co-op outlet, but then Federated took over, with highly paid executives, and it all trickled down to highly paid managers.