Wednesday With White

[parsley]

There are some thoughtful questions being raised.

With a little luck, maybe Ian White will chose one question to answer, as this will be the third week of questions.

At the very least, reading them i can be the first step for change.

Parsley

[Hopperbin]

I will ask about Wheat Storage as wd pointed out in last post. Why do farmers not get paid storage on the wheat pool account? Our barley storage has been basically crap, I want the CWB to come out with real cost of storage for wheat and barley. That is only one of my beefs. I don't have all night to chat I have to work for a living possibly catch ya 24 hours from now.

[TOM4CWB]

Parsley,

Here are the CWB business objectives:

STATEMENT OF CORE VALUES
Our commitment is to add value for Prairie farmers in every aspect of our business.

OUR CORE VALUES:
Create value for farmers
Build a results-oriented enterprise accountable to the farmer.

Deliver service excellence
Be dedicated to a customer focus in all we do.

Develop great people
Respect, develop and recognize people our most valuable resource.

Demonstrate integrity
Maintain the highest standards of ethical business conduct.

Be world class
Demonstrate an uncompromising commitment to excellence.

Embrace innovation and change
Create and implement new and better solutions from winning ideas.
Vision
Canadian farmers innovatively leading the way in the global grain market.

Mission
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage for farmers and customers through our unique business structure, innovative marketing, superior service, profitable investments and effective partnerships."

"Goals
-To be viewed by customers as a reliable supplier of consistently high-quality products and services

-To be flexible and responsive - able to take advantage of market opportunities that emerge

-To have legal authority to operate within our existing CWB mandate in international trade agreements and recognition internationally that we operate on a fully commercial basis

-To manage corporate and financial risk in the best interests of the CWB

http://www.cwb.ca/public/en/about/vision/

Interesting that Wilagro stated:

"I don't believe that I did claim that it was a fair or just action..."

Therefore... how can it be claimed that CWB managers... and the BOD... meet the above CWB pledge to us AS growers?

[Hopperbin]

Also since we are able to enter fixed prices throughout the year now. The issue about letting farmers pick a pooling account year near the end of the year has to go. If a farmer enters the pooling system he must be locked into the pooling year for payment.

[parsley]

Dear Ian White:

Rumor: The CWB are undergoing extensive renovations at the Winnipeg office.

Are the pooling accounts paying for them?

If so, exactly where is the announcement/updates/costing etc. situated on the Farmer page on cwb.ca?

I must have missed it.

Farmers cannot gauge what kind of job their elected directors are doing if they aren't informed about expenditures/projects/decisions.

Parsley

[TOM4CWB]

Dear President White,

According to the Core Values the CWB has to guide management;

1. The CWB is to be run in a commercial manner...

2.For Risk Management to meet commercial industry standards: i.) losses caused by growers are paid by those same growers... conversely; ii.) if a futures hedge position has a profit & a grower has a legitimate production shortfall... that profit is the entitlement of the grower who took the position (as in all other commercial hedge transactions I contract, often even the small fee to be held back is waved)... NOT kept in total by the CWB.

3. The Fixed Price Contract Basis, to be commercial, must be fairly based on some benchmark/visible standard; not a formula based on the POOL PRO which is 'a thin air' projection... until the main share/portion of the Pool is priced. This same basis has risk involved... that can be forward contracted... or cash settled.

a) US Pacific North West prices are easily bench-marked... and closely represent/mirror/proportionally... commercial trading values... An innovative CWB management team SHOULD be able to put together a basis for Vancouver B.C./Prince Rupert CWB sales of our wheat based on market reality. Thunder Bay should be bench mark-able against Great Lakes US prices.

b) The Basis must be open till the day of delivery... not an arbitrary point in time like Oct 31.

c) The grower who wants to pool, must sign into a pool... and have a contractual obligation to deliver... for that pool to keep itself whole.

d) The grower who has uncommitted stocks of grain, needs the opportunity to innovate and fill market gaps when they exist... and also to be responsible to take the risk of not making a commitment... by having a pool sign-up cutoff. Past that cutoff... the grower who wants to pool signs into the next pool period.

e) Producer Direct Sales... need a different contracting/delivery allocation system than regular CWB pool and PPO contracting programs. Right now... the Pool/PPO contracts are not kept whole... when the Producer Direct Sale is triggered/done... as the CWB has lost the ability to deliver that grain against outstanding sales commitments. This must end... if the CWB system is to operate actually using commercial standards.

f) i.) Seed Stocks of "Registered Varieties" exported for planting purposes, ii.) Organic Production using "Registered Varieties", iii.) Manufactured Feed (25% Ingredient board grains or higher); are not more entitled to no cost export licenses more than any other commercial Board produce... grown in the 'designated area'. This problem must be rectified one way or the other for the CWB to have integrity and meet the Core Values & Code of Conduct it claims to uphold.

g) Unregistered varieties grown by producers in the ‘designated area’ are the rightfully entitled recipients of no-cost export licenses... and should not be allowed in CGC Licensed elevators handling Board grains; or be handled by 'Agents of the Board' in the 'designated area'.

These suggestions are simple commercial standards that any marketer with integrity would consider reasonable.

How soon, President White, can we expect the CWB to implement these commercial principals?

Sincerely,
Tom Jackson

c.c. Agriville.com Wednesday With White... posted by Parsley posted Apr 29, 2008 22:59

CWB Directors: District 2 James Chatenay, District 1 Henry Vos, & District 4 Ken Ritter

Background

Above posted CWB Vision and Core Values