rolfpennerforcwb.com

[mcfarms]

cotton

yes

[agstar77]

Canola branding is done by the Canola growers , with their big checkoff. I suppose you would be proposing we hand over branding to the wheatgrowers creating a new bureaucracy and another checkoff, so much for saving money. I am not a user of forward pricing, while I believe they are useful for some to lock in prices, it seems like it has distracted the CWB from its primary function. In order for me to put a 1 beside your name you would have to go into the CWB with an open mind about yielding the best return for farmers as opposed to a dogmatic view of marketing. Making an assumption that dual marketing will work is like jumping into a pool without taking swimming lessons. Dubious outcome and no second chance. Thanks for stating your reasoning, it is always useful to have all opinions expressed.

[parsley]

Rolf, It suddenly struck me when I was writing on my blog this morning, something I should have said yesterday, and that is Congratulations for letting your name stand. Lots of whiners but few candidates. Good luck. Pars

[AdamSmith]

Yes, congrats Rolf for committing yourself to a possible four years of teeth knashing, pulling your own hair out and banging your head against a brick wall. It's good to know there are optimists out there who believe what they are doing is important enough to put themselves through the wringer of public scrutiny. Good on you Rolf.

On the subject of market development and "branding", whatever that is? I do believe Canola is making great strides on that front.

One of my weird quirks is that every now and then I like watching the food network. The grilling shows mostly. There is Rob Rainerford (sp) Matt Dunigan's (the ex quarterback) Road Grill and Bobby Flay. I'm getting hungry just writing about it.

Anyway back a few years I remember commenting to a MB Canola Grower director that what you need is to have these TV chefs and grilling guys use Canola oil. Every time they make their stuff they seem to be only using olive oil and they say it a hundred time a show. If you want to increase demand for Canola oil in the US have Emeril (the Bam guy) or Bobby Flay use the stuff on their shows. Well low and behold I'm watching Bobby Flay (he's a New Yorker) about a week or so ago and here he is using Canola oil in his recipies. And every time he adds ingredients he says so, " ... a bit of CANOLA OIL..." He didn't say American canola oil or Canadian canola oil, just canola oil. But that doesn't matter because now Canola was on the big stage. There is zero difference between the two just like flower made from high protien Canadian wheat is no different from flower made from high px American or Aussie wht.

Wheat isn't wine or even g****s for that matter and Canadian wheat isn't Australian Shiraz. There is no distinctive taste or consistency between our wheat or any other wheat.

Long story short, I just don't see the value in "branding" Canadian wheat. There is nothing special about it once it's in the bakers bowl.

[AdamSmith]

Right on cotton,

legislation put forward and passed is the issue.

my only concern with trying to do things internally is the friggen lawyers will be hovering over a majority choice board of directors like vultures. Everything they attempt will be a lawsuit.

Repealing the Act is the only thing that can cage the vultures. Once the Act is repealed, they have no legal recourse.

[Zaphod]

The branding comments are not just about saving money, but about directing it properly based on farmer and industry needs. Take a look at the funding sources for the Canola Council. Only 18.5% comes from farmers. Close to half comes from levies on crushers and exporters. Sask Pulse Growers surveyed members to ASK about establishing a check-off. They also have an annual meeting every year that discusses priorities. Did the CWB ask farmers about spending money on grain storage research or on anything else for that matter? And why is grain storage a priority for the CWB? Oh yeah, so they can force farmers to hold grain off the market and swallow storage costs. How's that for accountable?

[parsley]

In the eighties, I was invited to fly down to Arizona for a few weeks. While I was there, I had lots of free time, so I donned my gleamingest earrings and went to every grocery chain in Scottsdale, and politely asked for "canola oil". btw, We didn't grow canola either, but the canola growers, aka K Lewis in those days, were trying hard.

Every grocer wrote it down.

A good tactic for every farmer to try.

Pars

[RolfPenner]

Agstar you said,

<blockquote>"In order for me to put a 1 beside your name you would have to go into the CWB with an open mind about yielding the best return for farmers as opposed to a dogmatic view of marketing."</blockquote>

What measurement or series of measurements do you, yourself use to determine how the CWB gets you the best return?

Which is a good question for everyone else here as well. What measurments do you look at?

[agstar77]

That would be trusting you or other board members to look at the sales values and judge for yourself how things are going. There seems to be a lack of trust on this forum.

[charliep]

Sorry of budding in Rolf.

I have heard this comment many times. My
understanding is that the numbers that are
presented to the board of directors are those
developed by the operations side. When I have
heard this, I often wonder what due diligence the B
of D do in testing the validity of the prices or the
process from outside sources outside the CWB.

An interesting highlight from the CWB response to
the Informa study is the reference to how US prices
are adjusted to take into consideration they have
larger access to the domestic North American
market (page 8)

Quote from Market Mix section

Differences exist between the markets available to
U.S. sellers and the CWB. These differences exist
for numerous reasons including geography and
bilateral trade agreements. When the markets
available to sellers in the U.S. and Canada are
compared, the most obvious difference is that
sellers in the U.S. have a much larger domestic
market. This allows U.S. sellers to place less
emphasis on some of the lowest- value export
markets. To assess the impact to farmers of the
basket of markets available to the CWB
versus those available to the U.S., the CWB
calculated what its returns would be if it were
possible to market the entire western Canadian
wheat crop to the same basket of markets as the
U.S., in the same proportions. The chart below
compares the market mixes of both countries for
the 2007-08 crop year. Comparisons for the
2006-07 and 2005-06 years were very similar to
2007-08.

The most obvious difference between the actual
and hypothetical basket of markets is the greater
proportion of North American sales that would
exist if the CWB had the same market mix as the
U.S. In the CWB’s analysis, which showed that CWB
returns would be in the range of $30 per tonne
higher in 2007-08 if it enjoyed the same market
mix as the U.S., this factor contributed greatly to
the higher hypothetical CWB returns. This does not
imply that the CWB market mix should or could be
changed in future years to include more sales to
the U.S. market as there are logistical and price-
structure implications that serve to maintain the
relative stability of CWB sales into the U.S. End
quote.

I found it strange the CWB operations side (I
assume who wrote) criticized Informa Economics
for assumptions but they seem to make many
themselves in their analysis pieces. I would
question how aware the B of D are of the CWB
assumptions and whether they are tested using
outside sources.

Apologize again Rolf. Just drives nuts every time I
see the reference to the magical internal numbers
(the process by which the CWB 2006/07 annual
documented a pooling period risk management
process that cost farmers close to $50 mln - page
43).

[RolfPenner]

No need to apologize charlie you've probably dived into this question as much or more than anyone else here. So your insight is very much appreciated.

I think a lot of producers fall into the category of "trust but verify" and I think that it is very important for farmers to be able to judge for themselves whether or not the board is doing a good job.

[parsley]

There is an issue you might want to consider.

The CWB is the only entity that is allowed to license every pail of wheat and/or barley in Canada.

Take away the legislation entirely, some demand.Modify it, some add.

Fine, but but with the licensing restrictions gone, Rosann and Company is then able to pass a compulsory provincial wheat and barley marketing Board, (like the fish marketing Board, for example). She would, too.

However, if the Minister simply orders the Board to issue export licenses, we have instant choice, as does Ontario, in exactly the identical way, and Easter&Wells CO. cannot do a thing except squawk like magpies.

Parsley