Nothing is Broken About Canola's Record

[charliep]

To put a positive spin to the world, note the following press from the Canola Council Annual meeting.

Nothing is Broken About Canola's Record
TORONTO, March 12 /CNW/ - "At the risk of sounding like a broken record,
the canola industry broke nearly every record possible this past year," said
JoAnne Buth, President of the Canola Council of Canada (CCC) at the Council's
42nd Annual Convention in Toronto.
Speaking to about 200 delegates, Buth launched the CCC's 2008 annual
report, A Great Perspective, and enumerated the unparalleled successes of
Canada's canola industry:

<<
- Canada is on pace for record canola exports. In the first 6 months of
the 2008/09 crop year we exported 3.55 million tonnes of canola seed.
This is 800,000 tonnes ahead of the same time last year. Most of that
increase is sales to China which has already imported over 1 million
tonnes this year.

- Record canola crush at 4.14 million tonnes.

- Record prices for canola growers.

- Canadian farm cash receipts from canola increased 42.1 percent in
2008 over the previous year, topping out at $4.9 billion, making it
the Number 1 crop in farm cash receipts in Canada.

- A record 12.643 million tonnes of canola was harvested in 2008 on a
record 16.040 acres.

- Average canola yield was a record 34.7 bushels per acre.

- The quality of the crop was excellent, with near record oil content
of 44.3 percent.
>>

"We are normally rather modest about our successes," said Buth. "But
sometimes our industry needs to step forward and take credit for the
milestones we have achieved. That time is now."
Though cautioning that nothing is a certainty, Buth said the canola
industry is well on its way to achieving its Growing Great 2015 target - 15
million tonnes of demand and sustainable production by 2015.
As of today, the CCC's 2008 Annual Report A Great Perspective is
available for downloading. Go to www.canolacouncil.org and click on the
respective link.

[classicalliberal]

That is excellent.

[Zaphod]

Speaking of records, the CWB is up their usual spin. The problem is that, as of week 32, CWB exports of wheat, durum and barley are actually 700,000 tonnes BEHIND last year. And last year was a pretty crappy year. How does the CWB define "record movement"? And they accuse others of twisting the data?

WINNIPEG (Dow Jones)--The Canadian Wheat Board is seeing record grain
movement this winter and should be able to continue that pace through spring, a
CWB spokeswoman said.

From October through February, the CWB cleared a total of 7.7 million metric
tons of grain, including wheat, durum, and barley - well above the 10-year
average of 6.8 million tons for the period, said Maureen Fitzhenry, CWB media
relations manager.

In February alone, the CWB moved 1.0 million tons of grain through the west
coast, which compares with the 10-year average of 778,000 tons. She added that
weekly railcar unloads in Vancouver came in above 3,800 cars during the past
week, well above normal levels closer to 2,400 to 2,500 cars.

The winter rail program, which moves western Canadian grain to export
positions in the East, should also come in above the 10-year average of 8,701
cars, or 696,080 tons and the previous record of 9,806 cars, or 784,480 tons,
said Fitzhenry.

She added that the actual numbers for the 2008-09 (August-July) winter rail
program were not yet available.

Grain movement for the CWB got off to a slow start in 2008-09 due to tight
carry-in supplies from the previous year. However, once the large new-crop
supplies became available, activity picked up considerably in October.

"It has been really important that the program be ramped up in the
post-harvest period," said Fitzhenry.

She said the record pace of grain movement over the winter months had more to
do with the transportation system than the CWB itself.

"We want to give credit where credit is due, and the railways have been
performing very well for us this year," said Fitzhenry. "Our presumption is
that due to the economic recession, all movement in the other sectors that use
rail transportation is considerably reduced, so there are more crews and more
cars for grain," she said.

"Not only are we seeing more car availability, but when there are delays
because of weather, the railways' ability to catch up is much better than we've
seen in the past as well," said Fitzhenry. She added that railcar turnaround
has been considerably faster than average.

While the October-February period is normally the peak time for CWB grain
movement, "there is a strong possibility that March will be bigger than
February and April will be bigger than March," said Fitzhenry.

She said CWB analysts were expecting to see the strong pace continue through
June but added that volatile global market conditions could change that
outlook.

[SASKFARMER3]

But for this great record the farmer take home on average is down from last year.
Yes he has more to sell but the average farmer is in the same boat as last year.
We've come along way BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[agstar77]

Yeah, it's a wonderful record with the lowest prices ever, in adjusted for inflation dollars , and the highest cost of production. Canola truly is a cinderella crop. Chemical and seed companies love it.

[Fransisco]

Yes agstar, we all know you can't do basic math there's no need to keep reinforcing it.

[charliep]

agstar77

Is there an organization that represents the interests of the whole wheat
supply chain? Does it have a written and publicly available strategic plan
that sets targets for success agreed to by the entire supply chain?

[agstar77]

No, just a group that has a political agenda mixed in with some truth. There should be a unifying group but because of political differences the factions can't get along.

[furrowtickler]

Agstar, canola will pay the vast majority of bills on most farms unlike board grains. And it will in 2009 as well.Run the numbers, canola will net $50/ac over any board grain for '09.

[SASKFARMER3]

Yes it will but guess what the industry loves us farmers we keep over producing and our price just keeps going down down down. Watch if we grow the 16 million acre crop and the south gets a decent crop look out can you say bellow 8.00 look their is 7.00 oh crap here comes 6.00. (Yes you can forward price etc etc etc). But now throw in the Americans who can grow Soya without a lot of expensive fertilizer and oh crap the whole oilseed market goes to h e double hockey sticks.
Corn and Wheat are the sleepers. Am I the only one who doesn't see the mess that is coming.
The only ones who really really do good on us idiots growing a huge canola crop are the FERT CHEM SEED GRAIN AND DEALER NETWORKS.
To many acres of Canola and were all sitting ducks.
But again the seed reps I am talking to say sales are down quite a bit. So who's telling the tale. Farmers or the ones who want us to seed wall to wall.