Intellectual Property Laws

[farmaholic]

If they're in control, they have alot of prosecuting to do. The underground canola seed market is alive and well. There are many growers following the example I posted in a previous thread. Poor Monsanto and the advent of generic glyphosate, image if they had a patent on it into perpetuity. They could extract even more from you, seed and chemical to spray it with. Wouldn't farming practices look different today!!!!

Oneoff, no comments?

[tweety]

Well stealing is certainly one way to get around contracts and costs.

[farmaholic]

Only difference tweety is they have laws that make their stealing legal.

[GOODRUM]

Farmaholic
I agree

[farmaholic]

Someone please answer my first question in my first post in this thread.

For arguments sake, lets say Canadian canola acreage is 17.5 million acres per year with seed costs averaging $50/acre. That's 875 million per year, over 5 years its 4 BILLION 375 MILLION.

Soooo, is 50-60 dollars per acre per year a "FAIR" price to pay?

[tweety]

Apparently it is. Farmers want the hand holding, the seed reps, the endless company trucks driving around holding your dick while they tell you when to swath, what is new, endless crop tours, trips around the world and variety trials with "free beer".

Ever see an oats sales person? Or barley? Or wheat? Or peas? Or...

Its an animal we all have created. They could probably can 90% of the people out there but we all love the 'marketing' of canola seed and that's at least 20 bucks an acre.

Not all canola is 12$ a pound either. Some good varieties are much less. Also don't forget to remove the tech fee in RR canola and the jumpstart and the seed treatment and all of a sudden its way cheaper then certified faba - easy 50$ and peas - 35 to 50 depending on variety and getting really close to certified wheat and barley seed when you compare SEED cost and process.

You have to compare apples to apples. Vibrance and helix and Lumiderm and tech fee and the sales staff are a big chunk of the price. Liberty, well if you wanna pay that much, you certainly have the choice.

And remember, this is hybrid seed. There is an awful lot of work in making hybrid seed. Its an expensive process!!!! If you start looking at what you are paying for, hybrid canola is actually quite competitively priced.

Stop thinking for a second like a farmer and more like an accountant when you look at canola seed. Consider all that you get in that bag besides just the seed. If they sold it the way Tom4 sells his seed - nothing but bare seed with no tech, no treatment, no free beer, not being a hybrid, a bag of canola seed would be way cheaper.

Compare apples to apples

[GOODRUM]

With all the helix , lubriderm, hybrid , yield benefits in a bag of seed I must be doing something wrong , there costs are all justified and there is no price gouging at all.

So what is the cost of producing a bag of seed?

I would like walmart or Kirkland to have a canola seed department.

[farmaholic]

Yea, and well the accountant in me says every "add on" to that bare canola seed yields a margin for them as well!!!!


Read further up about me saying they need to trim the fat and personnel that contribute nothing but costs...

[tweety]

Goodrum, i have no idea what it costs to produce a pound of hybrid seed. If you include variety development and getting approval in every country and planting male female, crossing, cutting out, harvesting only hybrid, its is very labour intensive.

Its a lot more then just planting OP and cleaning it.

If i were to guess, its gotta be 3 or 4 bucks at least for treatment (which goes to the treatment maker - not the seed company), 3 for TUA (which goes to licensing from and to Mons), 2 bucks for handling and shipping and bagging, treating and the rest is seed cost? Not that much for the actual seed to be laboriously hybrid produced.

Anyone actually know?

[tweety]

given all the canola grown and pretty much all of it with the latest greatest most expensive new hybrids, i'd say the nailed it with what the market will bear.

So, i guess there is no problem after all.