Wednesday With White

[parsley]

The CWB does not seem to be easily obvious/transparent about the movement of funds from pool to pool; from contingenncy fund to pool; from pools to special account; about money from heaven.. to heaven knows where.

In other words, farmers following their money find it has become a game of hide and seek, at times.

Could there be some effort made to quarantine the movement of farmers' money unless it openly disclosed and fully noted on the financial statement?

Parsley

[chaffmeister]

In 2006-07 the Contingency Fund went from $44.3 million to $9.2 million - a net loss of $35.1 million, mainly due to PPO losses of $38.6 million.

In market volatility and range of price movements has been much larger in 2007-08, leading to the educated guesstimate that the PPOs will lose much more this year - if they are still managed the same way.

If the PPOs lose more than the $9.2 million left in the Contingency Fund, how is the deficit managed? Since it can't come out of the pool accounts, where does the CWB get the cash to pay off the losses?

[GrainBeetle]

Do you really think Ian has time to waste reading this crap? "Shouldn't he be spending his time selling your wheat Parsely"?

By the way how many Mayo S's are logged on here? Is M.S. going after Ian? Do you know Ian "used" to run AGPOGRAIN.

[parsley]

Well, IW,

I am presuming GrainBeetle is a Taurus, and is having one of his ferocious temper tantrums, but look for the best qualities instead, will you?

My Best, Parsley


TAURUS - The Enduring One (April 20 - May 20) Charming but aggressive. Can come off as boring, but they are not. Hard workers. Warm-hearted. Strong, has endurance. Solid beings that are stable and secure in their ways. Not looking for shortcuts. Take pride in their beauty. Patient and reliable. Make great friends and give good advice. Loving and kind. Loves hard - passionate. Express themselves emotionally. Prone to ferocious temper-tantrums. Determined. Indulge themselves often. Very generous.

[Burbert]

Parsley, Your good ol' buddy White apparently is not checking his Angriville email site!
Is it possible that he is not up to the punishing/brutal confrontation that you marketeers are setting him up for? Maybe he isn't tough, or is it simply more CWB arrogance, teasing you, telling you that he wants to reach out and be friends with everybody! While quietly tearing the entire system down...... doing Harp's bidding! What say you eh!

[LWeber]

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[charliep]

My question would relate to how Mr. White sees his role at the board of directors table and the role of chief executive officer in charge of the operations side of the CWB. Will have to check with others but in many organizations, the CEO does not have a seat at the B of D table.

Will note that in about the first week on the job, Mr. White was the one who made the announcement about the dropping of the DPC program and the promise of a new program. It would be interesting the note the interaction of the B of D (role criteria related to the strategic direction/measures of performance) and the development/announcement of the new program (operations).

[charliep]

I would also highlight chaffmeisters question about the contingency fund and how funded. You can likely add on the contribution from revenue sources (a net loss of $48.7 mln - page 43 annual report) and the CWB has close to an $85 mln loss from risk management strategies (all reported in the annual report).

Based on previous performance, my question would relate to Mr. White's view on risk manage with regards to pricing pools and producer pricing options.

[parsley]

As I commented earlier, Ian White indicated he did not have time at the present time to reply, but he did also say he would read the entries from time to time.

His participation will naturally hinge upon what is posted.

It's a little like sitting down at coffee row together. If you're rude, he probably won't want to join you again.

If farmers really have nothing to ask him, so be it.

If you want to be insulting, so be it.

If you want to ask some intelligent questions, so be it.

However, this IS an opportunity for farmers to have their comments read by the CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board.

It is an opportunity parenthesized by a time frame. If you pride yourself on acting stupid, why would be tune in?

This is YOUR opportunity.

Your comments and questions posted will reflect who you are.

I would suggest you use this thread to and for your advantage, to benefit farmers and agriculture.

Many of you complain you do not like what is happening in farming.

Here's your opportunity to make some suggestions.

Parsley

[rockhound]

Mr. White may I suggest spenting some pool money on hiring some open market expertise to consul with our marketing and sales teams and the board of directors to ensure some personal mindsets are not interfering with farmer profitability in the present monoploy setup.
The CWB monoploy is duplication of grain marketing that is already in and has always been in place. The wheat board is just a middle man that is extracting $40 to $50/mt from farmers that would other wise would go to farmers if we were under a voluntary competitive marketing system.
Thanks from your enslaved supplier.

[d-45]

I would ask Mr. White as CEO of the CWB how he will deal with the ever increasing issue of western canadian farmers who want the freedom to market their grain to the buyer of their choice.

It appears that barley acres will be down for 2008 in western canada even though the world is asking for more production.

The cwb has put together several [ppo's] one being the cashplus barley program that was suppost to meet the needs of the 62% of barley producers who voted for choice.

Obviously the cashplus barley program is not what some farmers want as barley acres are predicted to be down in western canada for 2008.

What will you do as ceo of the cwb to satisfy the wishs of all western canadian farmers?

[stubblejumper]

I would ask Mr. White how he would deal with the 14% of producers who want no part of the CWB.

[Hopperbin]

I would like to ask also about that 14% which today is actually more likely doubled since we voted. With all this land changing hands lately the number of monopoly supporters are also dropping. We cannot deny that one. I alone have just bought out two monopoly supporters this last year.

[rbgordon]

Voted for #2 in Barley vote, if I was voting today it would be for option #3, elimination of the Board altogether, it is much like the Senate in Ottawa, a total waste of time.

[bucket]

I would like to point out to Mr.White that some of the jobs in Winnipeg should be on the line.

If we see a reduction in acres of the board grains and then a increase in prices like last year - that would speak volumes that the brass at the cwb are not representing farmers very well. They are to be working for farmers. I have neighbors who got sold on ethanol wheat for 2 years because the returns didn't look great for milling wheat. I also have neighbors who didn't grow durum for the first time in 20 years because the board hadn't accepted 100% and it didn't work for them. I would say the cwb marketing team let them down.

I also remeber speaking to Ward w. at a combine to customer thing in Edmonton in Jan 07 and I asked him "How are you going to get farmers to grow wheat with high fertilzer prices and horible looking wheat prices?" He assured me they were taking care of it. The whole country could have grown wheat last year and it would not have made a difference to wheat prices. But instead he and the cwb ended up with one of the smallest crops. In my view he didn't give good value to farmers and he should have been fired.

If it happens to barley prices like I think it will the cwb is doing a real disservice to farmers.