What a way to run a railroad. Agriweek Mar 2

[TOM4CWB]

Bucket,

The CWB does not need to buy hopper cars.

"Feds back financing for CWB rail car upgrades"

The Canadian Wheat Board will use government-backed financing to extend the life of its fleet of hopper-bottom grain cars to 2030.

The CWB said Friday that the planned upgrades to 3,411 cars will extend the fleet’s service time by 16 years.

“Leasing hopper cars to the railways generates revenue for farmers,” CWB CEO Ian White said in a release Friday. “The upgrades we’re announcing today will pay for themselves over the extended life of all 3,411 cars, as well as generating additional revenue.”

Upgrades to the cars’ brakes and other equipment are “vital” to ensure the fleet can meet new standards the Association of American Railroads (AAR) plans to bring into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

The upgrades will also increase load capacity for wheat by about seven per cent, the CWB said."

BP, Why shouldn't the CWB and others own hoppercars... now that we have upgraded them and extended their life to 2030?

Why pay the railways a big profit on railcars that are actually making the CWB and AB SK MB and Gov. of Canada money... while keeping the cost of our freight down by at least $5/t?

What is your logic?

Since deregulation allows longer trains... with the advent of GPS control and remote control engines...

I do not buy the great Hunter's scheme that seeks to dump these perfectly good grain hopper transporters... at the expense of grain growers... to pad the pockets of Hunters great money train!

We use primarily trucks and trailers that are 20 years old. They are serviceable and work well.

Giving the rail cars to CN and CP would bring railway abusive basis costs of grain growers to a whole new much higher cost. WITH NO CHANGE IN CAPACITY or efficiency. We were loading the Hoppercars with 83mt... of our FLAX. There is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Cheers!

[MBgrower]

I hope the greed of agrium et al backfires in their face. Once the majority of farmers have enough on farm storage perhaps we can arrange for delievry from offshore sources and fill up any time of year. Good opportunity for FNA here.

[MBgrower]

Tom, whats the difference between railway cos and seed cos. Let them charge as much as the market can bare. Maybe cp and cn can patent grain movement, and get exclusive rights. They could even charge trucking companies and farmers fees on truck movement as they could claim exclusive transportation rights.

[TOM4CWB]

Sawfly,

What gives you the only corner on fighting injustice and unfair monopolies!

The CWB fed massive amounts of grain straight into the railways arms to pad their pockets!

The CWB prevented arbitrage of grain prices... into the US... by forcing buybacks that prevented movement south of grower grain. And pushed that grain into the railway monopoly.

Sawfly... YOU ARE WRONG. We want transparency and our grain markets to arbitrage with US and International markets... further we know somehow we must work together... to provide our grain buying customers with efficient and dependable transport of grain to a hungry world that requires timely and high quality grain straight from our farm gate if possible.

Your politics of smear and gouge is unfair.

Cheers

[TOM4CWB]

MBgrower,

You... personally... can own a variety. I own many varieties... in co-operation with the other farmers who co-operate with marketing through SECAN.

There is NO seed monopoly.

You can join Secan today and be an owner too... if you so choose... and find out just how big the profits are in the seed business. Secan plows the revenue back into R and D. For future better seeds for all of us to grow... basically at cost.

THERE IS NO MONOPOLY ON SEED. Pulses are the perfect example. CDC Saskatoon varieties have 1) NO ROYALTY
2) NO LEVY
3) Are funded by growers in western Canada Jointly;
4) there are many other individuals and small companies who grow, sell, market, and bid for the new and best genetics being released.

Who do you buy your cereal seed varieties from? Pulse seed? Flax seed? You can buy great new Canola seed from Secan growers and retailers who are primarily small operations with less than 10 people employed.

Please explain how the seed industry... even vaguely resembles rail transportation in Canada.

Your comparison is way off. Become a seed grower.... easily done with a little record keeping and hard work... and find out for your self!!!

[rockpile]

In QP Wednesday, Ralph Goodale asked Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, based on the latest Ag Transport Coalition Report, whether she felt the railways were providing "suitable and adequate accommodation for grain shippers?"
Raitt replied that the Fair Rail for Grain Farmers Act is "working for grain farmers here in Canada, that indeed the grain is moving to the port and that indeed it is happening in the framework that we expected it would."
So what could possibly be wrong? Tom, you surely didn't expect to win your case, did you? Perhaps you could try crowd sourcing to pay your costs.

[SASKFARMER3]

700 ton storage for fert adding more every year.

[TOM4CWB]

Rockpile,

Very good suggestions...

We need to educate our MP's that there is in FACT a problem in western Canada with export rail services. Please send your MP a letter explaining your real problems with grain movement in your area specifically.

If each one of us do not... with factual examples... we choose to be a part of the problem... instead of a part of the solution.

All the best.

[blackpowder]

Ok Tom. Do me the service of rereading my post. Now tell me if the GOVERNMENT should own railcars. Or if TAXPAYERS should be on the hook for anything.

[wmoebis]

Tom are you saying that the MP's especially Ritz and Raitt don't know there is a problem?

[farmaholic]

Get off the dam cross already.

Wanting a directors seat at the defunct CWB, then on a crusade to destroy it. Wildrose candidate. UPOV91 advocate. And eye to eye, nose to nose, toe to toe, treasury to treasury against the RRs.

A little ambition is good, too much is dangerous. You have become a threat to yourself and the Industry(Producers) you claim to be an advocate for.

Crucified Martyrs are only Saints in their Believer's/follower's eyes.....

Good luck, I sincerely hope you find the outcome satisfactory

[farmaholic]

****in fools were hell bent on fullfilling a stupid election promise without a set of checks and balances in place. HASTY HASTY HASTY..... and now its damage control. Reactive instead of proactive. What a bunch of incompetant morons. Take the dam blinders off a look at the whole panaramic view, not just what you want to see, peripheral blindness. Boy are we paying the price, but nothing more unfettered competitive Capitalism won't fix, right?

[LEP]

We have 825 mt of a mix of liquid and dry fert storage.

Looked into a 5,000 mt liquid condo facility once. Chickened out.

I could have paid for it twice if I had built when I was going to.

[sawfly]

thanks for a response tom . i thought
you would just avoid the issue.
you won , rightly or wrongly ,the board is gone, that is not the issue any more. get on with things.

the issue is at some point a govt. is going to have to address the mess that lays before us.

and nothing is happening,you as much as stated that the railways are telling the govt. to f off.

you have as yet to admit that the grain co.s are taking advantage of the situation. but you can certainly see it.

we farmers are not smart enough to act together. and even if we did we are up against some pretty powerful adversaries .

do not let the dogma of your politics
blind you to what is happening.
(well that's socialist)
no it is not. it is a recognition of the flaws and abuses of capitalism.

and even the Americans have tons of laws about monopolies, combines and antitrust.

take your blinders off.

there has to be a balance between the corporation and the peoples rights and right now there is none .

and how far are you willing to let it go.

[TOM4CWB]

Farmaholic,

I remember the CWB... at the head of the train... preventing arbitrage of our grain prices:

1) the CWB, 'Pro Bono' (at grain growers cost)... held in plenty of feed barley and wheat... to make sure domestic livestock producers would never run short of feed grains. Holding back supply... causing minimal need to bid for grain growers produce.

2) CWB prevented shipments south to USA, of both Durum and HRS. Buyback was almost always more than the benefit of seeking the market price south. If the benefit of Arbitrage was $50/t... the CWB buyback was $55. If the benefit was $230/t... he buy-back was $240/t. Grain did not go south... railway got the shipping... exactly like the winter program to east coast ports from western Canada. AND who paid? Western grain growers... padding RR pockets.
3) Please tell me... how fixing the pre2007 hopper car maintanance overpayment above true actual costs... therefore lowering our transport cost to port by $2.20/t from 2007-08 till now... was "hasty, Hasty, Hasty"??? And how keeping the hopper rail cars... to retain the lowest cost base possible... thereby raising the price paid on all local western Canadian domestic sales of grain... was "Hasty Hasty, Hasty"???

Grain Farmers paid with their own Blood, Sweat, and tears... for all those grain Hoppercars... plus excess charges 3x actual cost... $72M/yr for close to 2 decades... Truly; Goodale was going to give the cars to the RailCarCoalition... retain the higher cost base... lowering the domestic western Canadian grain prices further... all the while the rail co's had first legal right to those cars... and would have fought all the way to the supreme Court of Canada to retain the Railcars and 'embedded' overcharges to maintain them... AND VERY LIKELY would have ended up with the railcars FREE.

Admit it;... since 2006... trying to better make our grain freight rates reasonable... has been a priority.

We have a long way to go.... no doubt. Our job now... is for grain farmers to NOT remain/or become further divided like the great CEO Hunter is doing his best to encourage...

But truly work together to better service our end use customers... with dependable delivery from the farm gate to the ship in the port.

My only reason... for exposing my family and me to the great railing freight train of run away profits... that pads the skilled Hunters compensation packages...

Was to bring to grain growers attention... in the first person... I am he...who is feeling the pain right down to the Writ of Execution placed upon every farm title that I have...

THIS IS REAL. If we do not work together to resolve our problems... the Great Hunter will have succeeded... and our next generation of grain growers will be slaves to the Hunters who rail against us... just as our generation was enslaved by both the CWB and rail Hunters!

This is Not about me being on a cross... but I sure would appreciate some applications from you folks...to the CTA ... explaining just how disruptive cherry picking Hunter has prevented arbitrage of our grain prices... by failing to provide a reasonable level of service to our grain transportation grain
marketers.

If we work together... our many chains of interest and concern woven together... we can pull the great hunter right out of his powerful locomotive... easy chair!!!

Now... go and just do the right thing! Send a letter to your MP. Make a submission to the CTA... and tell them in no uncertain terms... you are sick and tired of a run away freight train... recking your opportunity for a fair return for your families blood sweat and tears!!!