Who agrees and who disagrees! Open for discussion.

[furrowtickler]

Wmoebis - well - that's the fairy tail version . What is realy happening is zero premiums need to be paid to get that grain in the door for most - those bills must be paid or the said farmer is SOL on next years inputs. They have no where else to get credit - that is who they want.
One local that is tied up with this lollipop and rainbows "partnership" got the call to deliver all his barley at once . He was all happy to get it all in until he asked about the price . $2.96 ...meanwhile the elevator 1 mile away was $4. He was telling me this story all animated and carrying on. I just thought to my self - you made the bed ....
Oh , I did mention to him that it worked out to a $75 / ac loss from the elevator down the road - he looked stuned to realize it that way.
I am sure some farms will do ok with this - but those who are forced to because of expansion and lack of bank backing are getting rear ended very hard with out lube .

[SASKFARMER3]

Richard you don't know farmers very well they could be five seconds from broke and they still wont say how bad it is. Yes some farmers won the grain lottery the last few years and are sitting real nice. Others have eaten into savings and some even refinancing now. Yes its happening believe it or not. Those who haven't experienced problems think programs in place help. HA HA HA HAHA.
That's a joke. They keep you going or slow and painful end.
So maybe its a tale of two sides the ones who lucked out with good prices and rain where they never knew what rain was. Others who got flooded and lost every single year but survived.
Time will tell but I Wonder how many who have had a great last 8 years could survive with 8 year of drought. Just tell me how well they would do.
But hey that's farming when some do good other have to do bad.
Looking like a nice dry winter I'm getting real excited about the coming summer. Real excited.
But time will tell. One fricking wet foot of snow first of may and were back in shit.
Ah Farming!

[freewheat]

Hopalong, you hit on my whole point: Everyone almost thinks large scale. I and others are talking about it from a different angle, and size is not a factor.

See, in western Canada, we have this bigger is better mentality, to the point where even if someone mentions the words "smaller scale", it is completely missed.

My laying hens gross me thousands an acre, for example, and net me half my gross.

Consumers pay 6 dollars a lb for fresh butchered lamb.

A neighbor is selling pasture raised pigs for 400 dollars a market hog. 30-40 sows, is a pretty nice gross for 80 acres.

Personally, I am talking beyond your basic cow calf/grain operation. I am talking a different language.

[freewheat]

Hopalong, you hit on my whole point: Everyone almost thinks large scale. I and others are talking about it from a different angle, and size is not a factor.

See, in western Canada, we have this bigger is better mentality, to the point where even if someone mentions the words "smaller scale", it is completely missed.

My laying hens gross me thousands an acre, for example, and net me half my gross.

Consumers pay 6 dollars a lb for fresh butchered lamb.

A neighbor is selling pasture raised pigs for 400 dollars a market hog. 30-40 sows, is a pretty nice gross for 80 acres.

Personally, I am talking beyond your basic cow calf/grain operation. I am talking a different language.

[Hopalong]

Have loved getting to large scale grain operation, maybe liking helped us get there.
Not so much liking for cattle operation but saw it as necessary or prudent from risk management perspective.
Nothing but respect for those who are doing work they might not like as well but see it as helpful to farm profitability and sustainability.

[grassfarmer]

I think you are spot on freewheat. We have being doing the beef pork direct retailing thing for the last 12 years and the opportunity to grow the market seems unlimited. Changing track a little now to concentrate on breeding the genetics on the cattle side to suit these new marketing methods as I see huge opportunity in that.

[bucket]

Grassfarmer

Do you worry about having enough abatoir capacity?

[food4u]

To me it makes no difference whether it is CPP or" Land Bank" that owns the land. It is off the market and not available to potential buyers. Around here some of the land that got "sold" to the land bank is still being farmed by the seller.The land bank was used as taxpayer money source to keep their operations going.

[wmoebis]

Don't see much dif between land bank and FCC in the 80's when they foreclosed on farms then rented it back to same farmers eventually lending them money to buy it back for half price.

I know lots of farmers that were only able to farm because of the land bank.

Right or wrong I don't know.

[grassfarmer]

It's the #1 problem bucket, not only creating enough capacity to meet increased demand going forward but holding on to the capacity we have. In AB even the best run plants, the ones that really know the job inside out can't compete with the oil patch. The ones we use were running under capacity this fall due to the labor shortage. An oil patch slow down won't help as none of these guys will be looking for a $15/hr job that involves blood and they don't have the skills to be meat cutters.

The high cost of meeting regulations and health standards makes it difficult for the plants to be viable - but of course the rules and regulations were set by Governments being lobbied by the corporate packers who wanted to stack the deck and make sure the small plants couldn't compete with them.
It's the biggest challenge facing the direct marketed meat business.

[tweety]

Hopalong, unless you farm at least 50,000 ha, i wouldn't call yourself large scale.

[SASKFARMER3]

Lest see Under Allen's vision. Both my self and my father would have had to liquidate land down to 1000 acres each.
Ah like that was a great plan. USSR.
But the Canada pension plan is Our money buying farmland. It is the same as the land bank.
Sad sad sad.

[bucket]

Land bank or not alot of the issues were caused by one big bitch - MOTHER NATURE.

[jd3007]

Companies have been bundling for a long time. The want to have all your business.For some producers this is happening already with IP Canola Waburton Wheat, and Malt Barley. We have been seeing more of these programs and they will increase in the future if we keep buying them. If you don't buy they wont grow. Pretty simple.

[ag-boy]

marketing organic farming operation better be stepped up ! from what we see around us . where is the inspection ????
some of that produce does not look clean and healthy .
had some organic raised beef ! did not marble and taste like our regular grain fed alberta beef. crossrib roast lookt small and not fed to finish ,our neighbor said grass and hay fed only !
he has to get dubble the reward for his hard work , but it does not pay him any more, and heard that mutch outdated
beef en vegetable are thrown out, ad the end of the day.