Harper's brave new world

[bucket]

Food4u

That was a classic. I remember calling the cwb about that and asking why they did that considering they hadn't accepted 100 percent of the crop yet.

Then I asked why they couldn't have premiumed up a special call for what they needed instead of paying 50 bucks a tonne from the pool to do something that stupid.

But I see now where some people would approve of the logic or lack of it.


Blood flows better thru the brain when boiling. Lol.

[ado089]

Exactly bgmb! I don't even understand what the argument is anymore...I guess that's what they want.

[FarmRanger]

<i>“but the grain companies, no one really knows anything about them Bob.”</i>
Including James Nolan the economist. He predicts the “6 or 7 grain companies will dwindle down to 2 or 3”. Well, if there’s so much profit in the system, why would there be so much consolidation?

He mentions the rent the rail companies extract out of the system, but the real issue is that the rail system as it now exists can’t even begin to handle the surge of a massive crop like what we had in 2013. And the “orderly marketing” that we used to have only succeeded in masking the problem so that there was never any incentive to fix it. The farmers simply were forced to store their crop for 2 or more years, with no possibility of farmers clearing their bins until the supremely powerful entity allowed them to. (Don’t want to mention the name for fear of summoning the spectre to this discussion).

Personally I don’t trust his prediction of farmers getting 20% of the dollar, heck even the Peace farmers could truck it to the States for far less. Something we’ve done very little of, but sure is nice to have, is the stick of a threat to take our business elsewhere. Mr. Nolan models are still preprogrammed with the old system where we had no relief valve to force competition. It was take the single buyers price or don’t grow wheat. Even his pessimistic worst case scenario with 2 or 3 buyers is better than one supremely powerful buyer able to shut out all competition.

[Hopalong]

Heard James Nolan on CTV weekend Farmgate program.
Agree that his warning is not realistic.
Seems to follow Richard Gray thinking that growers lost huge sums of money by selling at costly basis levels.
Think that was the case with only a few who had not forward contracted and were forced to sell at worst time.

[Hopalong]

Not to say that rail shipping is not a problem for most of western Canada and other production besides grain.
Perhaps try and get that fixed before getting too wound up over grain company consolidation.

[Horse]

vvalk How many of your grain execs also farm, probaply none as they have thier intrests in marketing. And I dont supose they only sell one customers product they need many more bu than any one man grows. That is unles you can fill a boat , I sure as hell cant..
You failed to mention what part of the country you reside in, easyer to attack than share , but so be it.

[wmoebis]

Would it really be a good idea for everyone from Edmonton south loading trucks and heading south?

Just can't see that turning out that great for the whole industry/ highway/ boarder crossing and US system.

[FarmRanger]

<i>"Would it really be a good idea for everyone from Edmonton south loading trucks and heading south?</i>

No, if this was happening, then it would mean that the railroads had completely abandoned grain or disappeared altogether, the Elevator companies were missing from the market and/or bankrupt.

An extremely unlikely scenario unless we all lose our minds and vote in a Communist government or something equally as crazy.