Is the US farmer sold out of grain or not?

[chaffmeister]

Rising prices make crops tempting target for thieves
Thefts have farmers scrambling for deterrents
Kevin Libin, National Post Published: Thursday, March 27, 2008



It was a fluke situation. Lawrence Penner normally never leaves his grain in the back of his truck. He and his brothers, who farm together in Cola, Man., have never all been out of town at the same time. But one week in February, Mr. Penner ran short of storage space and loaded his canary seed, due to be delivered to a buyer the following week, into his truck ahead of time.

He and his partners left it there a few days, unattended. When they returned, they discovered the truck and its cargo had been stolen. Whoever did it had brought back the truck. The grain was gone.

"It's somebody that knew what they were doing," Mr. Penner says, adding that he suspects the $10,000 load of seed, the price of which has tripled in 12 months, "probably isn't too far from here."

He is just one of a growing number of farmers victimized by grain rustlers: As the price of commodities has soared, so has the incidence of agricultural thefts.

It's a problem on both sides of the border. Marquis, Sask., farmer Doug Froehlich had 1,200 bushels of canola snatched from his grain bins last month - a booty worth roughly $16,000.

In January, Kansas police began investigating nearly a dozen reports of thieves driving their trucks up to farm bins and siphoning out tens of thousands of dollars worth of wheat. A bushel of spring wheat, which has historically traded between $3 and $7, has spiked as high as $24 in recent weeks.

"The value of it now is such that it would be very worthwhile for a thief," says Maureen Fitzhenry, a spokeswoman at the Canadian Wheat Board.


<b>Whoa - just a minute!</b>

Is that the CWB suggesting that there is still grain on American farms? Is this the same CWB that has been saying for some time now that there's very little grain left on farms in the US because US farmers sold too early?

My head is spinning!! I'm not sure what to believe now!

[agstar77]

Doesn't mean the grain wasn't sold and due to be delivered. Ever heard of on farm storage and forward selling?

[parsley]

The Leader-Post (Regina)
27 March, 2008
by Ken Ritter


Farmers do better with CWB



Art Mainil perpetuates two common, incorrect perceptions about the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in his March 13 letter ("Time to free western farmers").

First of all, Quebec farmers do indeed have a single-desk marketing board for their wheat, and Ontario producers had one until 2003, when a producer-led vote resulted in the adoption of a different system.

In Quebec, producers created a single desk three years ago because they wanted to make more money on the sale of their grain, and the Fédération des producteurs de cultures commerciales du Québec (FPCCQ) was born.

Secondly, western Canadian farmers are indeed earning more money than their U.S. counterparts. Mainil compares a daily spot price to an annual pool price, which is like comparing an apple to a tractor.

Officials and farm leaders in Montana and North Dakota have stated repeatedly that current high spot prices are illusory. It would be remarkable to find anyone who has actually received this mythical $30 per bushel for durum or $20 for wheat, because the vast majority of U.S. farmers sold months ago at much lower prices.

U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics clearly show that western Canadian farmers are getting better returns than their cross-border counterparts. Comparing No. 1 CWRS 13.5 to DNS 14, the weighted average of the price received by North Dakota farmers in this crop year is $6.79 US per bushel, and the average received by Montana producers is $6.84 US. I'd rather receive the February PRO of $9 US per bushel, backed off to the farmgate in Saskatchewan.

It's the same story for durum.

The average price received by North Dakota farmers is $10.81 US per bushel for HAD, while the average received by Montana farmers is $8.42 US. The PRO for No. 1 CWAD 12.5 is $12.68 US per bushel, backed off to the farmgate in Saskatchewan.

Ken Ritter
Ritter is chair of the Canadian Wheat Board's board of directors.
Kindersley

[parsley]

From Agriweek................

If you ask me . . .
B A C K G R O U N D E R by Morris W. Dorosh

What disputes?


The Wheat Board is not pleased to
be confronted

Bill C-46, the bill before parliament
which would enable the Canadian
Wheat Board’s monopoly control
of barley to be removed by cabinet
order, has not made much headway
since it was tabled March 3.

Parliament is in recess until March
31.

The bill next goes to the Commons
agriculture committee, where
it could spend literally months because
the committee has an opposition
majority.

Meanwhile the Board has stepped up lobbying against the bill, the Harper government and the Conservative party.

Its late-winter round of producer meetings with directors has turned into an all-out political campaign.

The meetings are not well attended even after having been particularly heavily advertised, but farmers present tend to be Board and monopoly supporters.

It is also said that Board lawyers are already working on a lawsuit against the government should C-46 pass.

Two Board legal actions against the government are still before the courts, one challenging former
agriminister Strahl’s order that
the Board stop spending money on
anti-government propaganda and the
other over the salary of the current
CEO Greg Arason.

Arason will be replaced on March 31 by Ian White, formerly of Queensland Sugar Ltd. of Australia.

What seems to rankle the promonopoly
directors as much as the possible loss of absolute power over barley is the section that would introduce
binding arbitration for settlement
of commercial disputes with the Board.

The explanations it gives for that opposition show just how badly the directors are out of touch.

Various statements from the Board
have claimed that arbitration would
cost farmers “millions” as grain
companies apply for it frequently and because of possible adverse rulings, legal costs and staff time.

At present there is no recourse to
Board decisions except the courts.

Over many years there has not been
a single legal case in which a grain
company, necessarily an agent of the
Board, has taken the Wheat Board to
court.

Grain company managements understandably fear reprisals which
could be more costly than any gain
from a successful suit.

What the Board is really saying is that its absolute authority should be retained because it increases producer returns by enabling it to mistreat parties it does business with.

The arbitration facility would also
be available to farmers, and wheat
and barley growers are actually the
most likely to use it.
The Board does not acknowledge that farmers are entitled to any anti-bullying protection, though Board regulations are filled with one-sided agreements which expose farmers to penalties for non-performance without obliging the Board to keep its end of
these shotgun bargains.


Because Mr. Dorrosh is always informative, he is very much appreciated.

Parsley

[parsley]

From Agriweek again:


After the St. Patrick’s Day byelections
not one single solitary rural
constituency in western Canada is represented by a federal opposition party MP.

A Saskatchewan riding which includes
the northern fringe of the province’s
grain belt (and where Liberal leader Dion parachuted a recently defeated
provincial-NDP cabinet minister as the sure-winner Liberal, pushing out the gadabout David Orchard) was handily taken by a Conservative.

The opposition now has exactly the
same moral authority to frustrate government grain marketing reforms as
the Bloc Quebecois.

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77,

You said:

"Doesn't mean the grain wasn't sold and due to be delivered. Ever heard of on farm storage and forward selling?"

How do you know... how much inventory a particular US farmer held back... to get $20/bu... or CDN grower... who attempted to do the same thing?

Why should any CDN 'designated area' wheat grower enter into a CWB FPC... that charges 100% OF THE COST if a hedge looses $$$ on the position taken... and if a profit on the hedge occurs... the CWB KEEPS the gain...

AND...

The basis is inversely purportional to the PRO and futures... and takes over $60/t off the FPC hedged 'designated area' wheat grower that delivers to the North American West Coast?

How do we trust this system...?

How about a CWB system... that integrates in extra dispatch... into shipping charges... so as to make the CWB LOOK like they earn more dispatch than they would in a normal commercial situation?

And what about the lack of performance our transportation system provides... beause there is no realistic incentive for the railways to break a sweat and haul our grain... when they can insted haul other freight at a much higher rate of profit... how exactly does the CWB extract a premium... when we can not get our product to port on time or on spec... and miss the sale?