Wheat vs. Coal

[parsley]

Vader,

The CWB has been the ONLY player in wheat in Canada since 1947. Every mill, every elevator, every grain licensed facility was declared "a works for the general advantage of Canada" at that time.

You may want to blame the multinationals and the corporations for all the ills farmers now suffer from wheat trades, but they are about as responsible for the state of the wheat trade in Canada as country western singers and mallard ducks are.

The ONLY maestro of the wheat trade in Canada has been the CWB. The CWB, and only the CWB, has conducted the wheat trade and we are enjoying the results.

No processing industry, no value-added and no investment in wheat by anyone with common sense.

The CWB owns this mess and you want more of the same.

Just as the organic farmer established an organic industry parallel to the conventional one, (and it actually does put some cash in farmers' pockets, and it is actually is thriving), the wheat growers in this country can set aside the CWB and thrive. Thrive. Thrive.

The only difference between you and I Vader, as farmers, is that I believe in my fellow farmers. I believe in his judgement and his work ethic and his ability to do a top rate job of doing what he knows best...growing and selling the best crops in the world.

You don't trust him to know his business. You don't trust his marketing acumen. You don't trust his ability to liase with other industries.

You don't trust.

The Canadian Wheat Board has failed miserably because they do not trust the farmers they are legislated to license. They do not trust the farmer who offers the grain to the CWB.

They show disrespect and comtempt towards the very folks who pay their bills.

And it has to stop. And it will.

Parsley

[Vader]

Tom, you have a strange definition of stealing. You know that the CWB returns 100% of sales revenues to farmers. The CWB simply reflects the best price it can obtain in the market and sell that amount of wheat which is offered by farmers given those market signals.

[Vader]

Parsley,

It is not a matter of trust. Look at the reality of agriculture around the world. Farmers are suffering world wide CWB or no CWB. How can you blame the problems of agriculture around the world on the CWB?

The Ukranian farmer has no Ukranian wheat board. He gets 50.00 per tonne for his wheat. $1.36 per bushel. Do you trust him to continue farming that way and earning a living. I don't think that trust has anything to do with it.

You throw out Trust as if this is some sort of religous debate. Perhaps fighting the CWB is a religion to you. I take this as a serious business. I deal in facts not beliefs. You should do the same.

[TOM4CWB]

Vader;

The CWB has a strange way of operating... when it puts pools ahead of farmers right to choose a fair cash price... it puts farmers in jail for giving a sack of wheat to a 4-H club in Montana... and does every possible thing to prevent transparent marketing signals from getting back to "designated area" wheat producers.

Like selling 1CWRS 13.5 wheat for $240-250/t while offering a CWB cash price for the same grain of $180/t.

And like we are supposed to believe you are doing this to maximise our returns?

How stupid do you think we are Vader?

[parsley]

Neither the CWB nor you, Vader, believe farmers have the ability to market their own grain. The big bad wolves out there will get us. You feel we need to be shielded, protected, because we do not have the ability to fend for ourselves, or to form liaisons with other groups we want to do business with. Or to make good decisions. You have a patriarchal attitude. You think you know best, and you want the use of force, the state, or jail to back up your “right” decision because I am “wrong”. That is what you are.

On the other hand I trust the farmer, whether Ukranian, Ethiopian, Norwegian or Arabic, to make decisions that are right for him. If he wants to form a Wheat Association, he will do so. If he wants a voluntary Wheat Marketing Board, he will form it. Working together, it’s called. Working together because you want to, and because you trust in the other partners you have. Liking them. Respecting them. Rather like a marriage of work. These concepts are foreign to the Canadian Wheat Board. It is a government agency, with the force of the state behind it. An arranged marriage and a big stick. They do not believe in farmers, nor respect them, nor have any intention to begin to.

“My way”, through force or jail is a commitment to an approach to life that can never move forward. It can never bloom or flourish. You cannot get respect if you won’t give respect. Serious businessmen understand that the way they do business will affect every transaction. How they look at the customers they serve is important. How they look upon their fellow partners is tantamount to succeeding. Many large multinationals actually are teaching philosophy and business ethics because as you say, they take this business serious. In that context, how can the CWB possibly survive?

I hope I never think like you do Vader.

[Everest]

Parsley, what if you or I got elected to the CWB Board of Directors? How would we think then? (I don't know about you, but I am NOT a CWB director or employee!) I've noticed that in a few cases at least, folks that have been appointed or elected to the CWB thinking one way, end up thinking another way after they are there for a while. I wonder what happens?

[cropduster]

Everest,I`ve come to think it`s because they are basically shallow people.If you look at the personal background of the chairman for example there is a trail of broken marriages,career changes as a result of personal allegations etc.They are adults who simply have no fixed standards.That`s why it`s so easy for them to take any stand that suits the moment.They truly have no vision for the future only the moment.History will show how SHALLOW they really are.

[parsley]

Everest,

Take a look at the "elite" and educated in our society.

Chartered Accountants, for example, have a serious problem as they "look the other way" or devise creative accounting instead of saying, "No, that's wrong", and "that cannot be done" in case they lose a customer.

Ethics is a very serious problem in our society. The law societies are filled with complaints about the greedy little lawyer who took off with Grandma's investments. Doctors push drugs to get free trips.

Everyone points to the multinationals and we can all cite Enron and so on, but the bottom line is that accountants are regulated and can be sued, and so corporations can be sued for mismanagement and so on.

Incidentally, Corps today are very interested in hiring on moral credentials as well as educational ones. A lot of "educates" that cannot make it in the real world end up in Government. In the old days, charliep, being employed by the government was a badge of honor, and the old boys from the old school are still treated with respect, and often it is well deserved respect, so don't get sensitive on me here.


What is particularly egregious, is when the ruling elite are not only the players, but the regulators.

The Canadian Wheat Board tries to pitch that they are a modern corporation, when in fact they are the mouth of Government. And worse, the Regulatory side of the Board regulates their very selves...the marketing side.

That spells trouble in our society, where the Federal Government has become a greedy devious player who regulates itself . It is is bound to result in conflict of interests. Especially with all those political appointees that can't get through the Corporate world's front door.

Everest, the folks who "turn sides" when they hit the Board table never really knew what or who they were themselves, to begin with. The kind of folks you never want to do business with have "I'm Taking Offers" signs written on their foreheads.

When you get to be my age you can smell the ink.

I do not and simply would not work at the CWB.

Parsley

[Vader]

Parsley, I admire your honesty in stating that you would not work at the CWB. It would obviously be a conflict of interest.

Anyone who works toward the end of the CWB should declare this conflict of interest and should not be allowed to run for election as a CWB director.

[parsley]

Vader,

Rod Flaman worked towards the end of the CWB. Are you saying he should have declared this conflict of interest and should not have been allowed to run for election as a CWB director?

Parsley