Cranston grain, Trevor Schulz, screws farmers

[TOM4CWB]

Farmaholic,

The cost of producer security is ALREADY in the basis
now today... for Licensed and Bonded
dealers/elevators under the Canada Grain Act. My
understanding is the new insurance producer security
program is an alternative to the CGC system... for
growers to use with security approved (by the six
insurance co's) who approve grain buyers... that are
not Licensed under the CG Act.

Will be great to see the program roll out in the next
few weeks I am told.

[Rareearth]

It better not be a financial advantage for large
companies over the smaller ones. If that was to
happen there would be even less price discovery,
and few delivery options in the future. Don't give
the big guys the opportunity to buy the market, or
they will, seems to be major consolidation
already, future options will be limited. Won't
matter what competition bureau thinks.

[hobbyfrmr]

I am more than happy to do my own diligence for
my own farm/business. I will pay the cost. It's a
minuscule amount compared to pissing tens of
thousands of dollars into the wind.
A working man/ woman gets up in the morning,
and goes to work every weekday for six months to
earn $30,000.
Farmers won't even pick up a phone, or click a
mouse 4 times to look after their own sales, and
then complain on a public forum that the
responsibility, and cost for their due dilligence
belongs to somebody else.
Are you guys for real?
I think I am in an episode of Seinfeld.

[hobbyfrmr]

Tom4,
The insurance program works excellent. Accounts
recievable insurance has been available in the
business world for decades. I started with it in
2006. One bad credit check ( no sale) and no
defaults. I have done over 2 million dollars in
value of sales.. This is why I have been
encouraging it on AV since October. The insurers
participating in the program you describe also
cover export sales for line companies and the
cwb. Ironically, farmers have difficulty seeing
value in it!

[malleefarmer]

You guys should check out cleargrain.com.au
Basically eBay for grain with payment security

Tom4cwb know how it works and is skilled up on
it

[wd9]

Hobbyfarmer, for sure there are avenues
to protect yourself. We are not as dumb
and lazy as you suggest, however my
point is where do you start drawing the
line?

At 10k? 30K? All loads? For me its
simple going forward, i'm gonna get
paid. Its gonna cost a little bit and
that's ok.

But calling me a loser and lazy isn't
very nice. The lesson for me has been
nobody knows the financial state of
anyone anymore. No one can be trusted.
Regardless of contract size, and who it
is, be protected.

Here's an interesting question. How many
of you actually have signed contracts
every time by both parties? Often its a
phone call and confirmation. Will
insurance cover unsigned contracts?
Nope. Can you confidently go to court
without one, nope. More tough lessons.

[LWeber]

"Cranston Grain was told by the CGC that he did not need to be bonded."

This is illogical if the company was buying farm grain. Is this fact or coffee shop talk?

[HappyFarmer]

My thoughts exactly Larry. That
statement make absolutely no sense.
Maybe that is coffee shop talk or maybe
that's a statement Cranston Grain is
using as a excuse. Either way, it's not
true. My best guess would be that
Cranston decided not to get bonded by
the CGC because of the cost associated
with getting the bond level that the
needed. The CGC has never, nor will they
ever tell a buyer who is buying grain
from a Canadian farmer that they don't
need to be bonded.

[Burbert]

Motto of new grain insurance company.
"When a claim is received, deny, deny,
deny, framers are sooo stupid they'll just
walk away, mumbling bout it." Nother way
ta screw framers, angribusiness at its
best!

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Unfortunately,I got to meet Trevor when
this first surfaced. I'm sure there are
more sides to the story, but this was
his side:
He purchased/contracted, then resold a
bunch of grain from farmers before the
run up in prices. Fall came, the price
went up, and many of the farmers refused
to deliver at the lower prices, so he
had to buy grain at higher market values
to fill his obligations. Combined with
being late in getting paid by some of
his clients, everything snowballed from
there. I also understand that he was on
the wrong side of the Newco default as
well. Not justifying what happened,
just filling in what I know, and as I
say, only one side of the story.
However, there were many lies about what
was going on. I will say it looks like
a lot of assets in a fancy home and
vehicles, but there could be no equity
in either. After asking around, almost
none of the brokers around here are
bonded, my new policy is selling one
load at a time if the broker isn't
bonded, I can't afford a hit like wd9
had.