Farmer Owned and Controlled

[grassfarmer]

charliep,
You asked if the livestock industry would support single desk selling - I said yes. Implying that every little rule and regulation would have to be exactly the same as the current cwb setup is nonsense and certainly not what I was suggesting. If the objective is merely to fuel your vendetta against the cwb I'm sorry I ever responded to your question. I thought maybe there was a genuine interest in how single desk selling might work for other commodities.

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77,

Ringy, Ringy...

CWB... we are an international buyer...looking for some 'fair trade' wheat and barley from western Canada... can you help us?!

CWB answers: Well you see you can only buy that grain from us for export... and we will assure you that any 'special' premium you would prefer to pay any specific grower... is past along to all growers in the 'designated area'.

But that shouldn't be a big problem... cause as long as you take our grain from the CWB pool... we can assure you long term supply contracts... at the lowest prices avaliable anywhere on the globe... and we will make sure all 'designated area' growers share in this service... and that no one grower will be ripped off in this special pooling process more than any other grower...!

Equally shared...

No one grower knows the difference... cause no one can know what you paid!

Now this is true CWB fair trade grain Agstar77.

Then the CWB invites international buyers to come down; have a vist to 423 Main.... and grin about the Billion $$$'s lost by 'designated area' wheat and barley growers... in 2008 inventory losses... provided GRATIS by the SINGLE DESK to them.

Basis at rock bottom prices... cause fools/pools will got priced out @ $40-$160/t below fair market value!

Thats it Agstar77... no price transparency... no basis transparency... and why would this be?

The Black Book;

IS


The Black Hole.

[charliep]

No vendetta against the CWB. Just a simple question as to how a single desk livestock marketing organization (could be cattle or hogs) would price product to people who participate. Control domestically only or control over exports. Compulsory or non compulsory. Governace/voting structure. Where would single desk apply? Cow calf/light feeders? Backgrounders? Finished cattle?

[Fransisco]

Us hog guys lived with mandatory single desk selling for generations, we don't want it back.

You want to know how to make a bad situation worse? Its called the single desk.

No thanks, been there, done that, got the t-shirt, don't ever want to go back.

[parsley]

grassfarmer,

The DA is a single-desk. The rest of Canada isn't.

Why don't you start your own single desk with a bunch of like minded farmers. Sell together. Pool together.

I think it can be effective.

Just as the CWB doesn't need Ontario, GRassfarmers' Single Desk won't need the rest of farmers.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77 & Vader;

I find it unacceptable that I am supposed to pay $500/t to share with with the pool... on the income side... yet when it comes to pay the bills to grow that same grain... where are am I given the right to share my expenses with you folks?

Especially now that Rod Flaman and Steward Wells don't even have to have their wheat be part of the pool at all... if that is what they choose!

Any 'reasonable' small business owner in the western world... would say I was a total fool... NOT to notice this rip off... and fight it!

[checking]

How many strong CWB supporters actually market their grain production through the single desk they seemingly so strongly support? I don't mean seling screenings or using the board as a last resort; or using the common grain farmer when it looks obvious that it is the best alternative in a depressed situation.
How many of these same supporting individuals have the personal confidence of officials and directors in the CWB? Remember almost everyone has their price. Some can be bought off with a cup of coffee or a compliment. Others may require more, and a few are really hard to please.....

[checking]

I should have added that previous post was just food for thought. No one seems to be getting anywhere with the traditional arguments.

[Burbert]

I support the CWB, although I don't sell all our grain through the board. Only when the money is right. I DO NOT BELIEVE that turning marketeering over to brokers, grain companies or railroads will help farmers in the least. These groups will take advantage of farmers, drive prices down and deal only with their buddies, who buy them bottles of booze and suck up in other ways

[chaffmeister]

"...deal only with their buddies, who buy them bottles of booze and suck up in other ways..."

Hey, Weber! Sounds like the car allocation system when the CWB was in charge of it, don't it?!

[LWeber]

lock Stock n Barrel.

[rockhound]

I rest my case. No one has named a business that has survived a farmer elected directorship. They pack to much personal baggage of a mindset that they think will help their farm, for example they will break the code of conduct for that business on any occasion that suits their mindset (the cwb directors). Business suffers greatly with a single desk mindset.

[agstar77]

I had initially disagreed, about farmers doing a poor job as directors. However, when I look at the mess in the Federal Ag department , under the lack of thinking by a farmer, of sorts, I might rethink my position. What this means is that you cannot generalize. No matter how good intentions are, if the advice they are given is bad, bad things happen. You might look at the old SWP, that was almost run into the ground by appointed directors . MPE was broken by advice from high paid help.

[chaffmeister]

Agstar – I agree; you can’t generalize.

I believe people generally have good intentions, regardless of which side of the debate they are on. Where the wheels fall off is, as you say, they get bad advice, or I suggest they are stuck in their ways and won’t look at the big picture.

I think the CWB board is mired in a one-way mindset (at least 8 out of the 15). I’m going to guess you don’t agree. If so, what bad advice are they getting?

[agstar77]

You are presuming they are doing a bad job. I could say the same about a number of organizations. It really depends on ones personal philosophy, in my opinion we would not be better off in an open market regime. If we all had the same view it would be a very dull and boring world.