Monthly railcar loadings

[farming101]

This should create a little heat on this cold day! Sorry if you are on a phone. might be too big.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc421/farming101/Monthly%20railcar%20loadings_zpsvse5mbpv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Monthly railcar loadings_zpsvse5mbpv.jpg"/></a>

[bucket]

Can you overlay production for that time frame with the same commodities.?

Just to add perspective.

I suspect production is much higher than railcar movement.

[farming101]

Annual production for prairie provinces. Sorry not overlayed.
<a href="http://photobucket.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc421/farming101/Prairie%20Crop%20Production_zpsprpmnx0g.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Prairie Crop Production_zpsprpmnx0g.jpg"/></a>

[farming101]

Rats, first year should be 1999. Last year should be 2014.

[bucket]

Did you include all commodities like in the first graph or just crop production?

I think there may be some inconsistencies if you are trying to defend the railways performance?

Not arguing just want it apples to apples.

[bucket]

Just for a 50 mmt crop to move railways would have average 42000 cars a month not including secondary processing.

[farming101]

Yes, all types of crops included in the annual crop production chart.
All raw material for mill and crusher output would mostly have come from prairie farms. There is maybe some canola imported and crushed in Western Canada I guess.
I think what the first chart-rail car loadings shows is the great variability within the crop year. If the system that exists is going to be used to its greatest capacity that has to be smoothed out.
For example, if the railways would have stepped up and hauled something like what was done in the May-August period this year instead of November and December numbers falling off a cliff, there would hardly be a backlog.
If I recall November was great weather, December maybe not so much.

[farming101]

One can also easily see how slow things were in 2013. And this happened with the largest crop on record to market at good prices. A disaster for sure.
45,000 plus cars in Oct/13 down to a little over 29,000 in Feb/14.

[bucket]

Your railcar loadings in the top graph includes secondary processing.

If the is tracked with crop production it should be easy to conclude someone isn't keeping up.

1. Railways
2. Graincos

Farmers always grow thanks to mother nature a surplus. The problem is no one grows to accommodate the surplus.

That's the whole point of trend line yields in the states. Infrastructure is built to accommodate changes.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out going from 50/50 to continous cropping what would happen other than the railways and graincos sat idly by aided by governments to do nothing.

[bucket]

A perfect example is this.

While they were digging in the pipeline for the riverhurst irrigation project the railways were allowed to tear out the branchlines to service an area that was going to increase production and diversify the crop mix.

These people in government are buffoons.